Chapter 17 - The Man at the Window

We ran upstairs.

The bedroom was empty.

The nurse lay awake on the floor, dazed but conscious.

"Someone hit me from behind," she whispered.

Clara looked at the open terrace door.

"Eleanor!"

I followed the wheelchair tracks through the wet garden.

They led toward the greenhouse.

The glass door stood open.

Inside, Marcus waited beside Mother's chair.

He looked older than he had yesterday.

Not weaker.

Unmasked.

Mother sat upright, furious.

"I told him he was making a dramatic entrance," she said.

Marcus held a small pistol at his side.

Clara froze beside me.

"Let her go," I said.

"Bring me the box from the chapel."

"No."

He raised the gun slightly.

Mother rolled her eyes. "Marcus, if you're going to shoot someone, stop waving that thing around like a stage prop."

"Eleanor, be quiet."

"You never liked being laughed at."

His face tightened.

I understood what she was doing.

Keeping his eyes on her.

Clara slowly moved toward the side aisle between the plants.

Marcus noticed.

"Don't."

She stopped.

"You killed my father," I said.

"Henry killed himself the day he decided sentiment mattered more than structure."

"You sabotaged his car."

"I protected what he built."

Mother laughed.

"No. You protected your chair at the table."

Marcus turned toward her.

Clara grabbed a metal watering wand and struck his wrist.

The gun fired into the glass roof.

I hit Marcus before he could recover.

We went down hard.

He reached for the gun.

Leo came through the door with two officers.

"Don't move!"

Marcus froze.

For one second, he looked at Mother.

Not me.

Not Clara.

Mother.

"You started this," he said.

She stared back.

"Yes. When I let fear make me cruel. The difference is I finally stopped."

The officers cuffed him.

As they pulled him away, Marcus looked at Clara.

"You think they will ever see you as one of them?"

Clara stepped closer.

"I don't need to be one of you."

Then she took Mother's hand.

"I already have a family."

Marcus was taken away.

I thought the danger was over.

Then Mother suddenly gripped her chest.

The color left her face.

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