Chapter 18 - The Edge

Darkness swallowed the room.

Someone hit me from the side.

I went down hard.

Claire shouted my name.

Glass cracked under my palm as I pushed up.

Outside, waves hammered the rocks two hundred feet below.

A flashlight beam swept across the deck.

Luis was dragging Daniel toward the stairs that led down to the old boathouse.

I followed.

Behind me, Claire and Vanessa crashed into furniture.

"Police! Drop your weapons!"

Marcus's voice thundered from the front of the house.

Luis ran faster.

At the bottom of the stairs, Daniel twisted free and slammed his shoulder into him.

They hit the railing together.

The wood snapped.

Luis grabbed Daniel's jacket and pulled him toward the edge.

I reached them and drove my injured arm around the post, catching Daniel's wrist with my good hand.

Pain blinded me.

"Don't let go!" Daniel yelled.

"Wasn't planning to!"

Luis tried to climb over us.

A police officer tackled him from behind.

Daniel collapsed onto the deck.

Up at the house, another gunshot cracked.

I ran back.

Claire stood near the broken window.

Vanessa was outside on the narrow stone ledge, barefoot, one hand bleeding, the gun hanging loosely from the other.

"Stay back," she warned.

Police filled the room.

Marcus lowered his weapon slightly.

"Vanessa, put the gun down."

She looked at me.

"You would've forgiven Claire anything."

"This was never about Claire winning."

"It was always about her."

"No," I said. "It was about Sophie surviving you."

Vanessa's face collapsed.

The gun slipped from her hand and fell into the darkness below.

For a second, I thought she might jump after it.

Instead, she stepped back inside.

The police handcuffed her.

As they led her away, she leaned close to me.

"You think this ends with me?"

I stared at her.

She smiled faintly.

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As police lights flooded the cliff house, I saw how close all of us had come to letting fear choose the ending. Luis had feared my father. Pierce had feared exposure. Daniel had feared telling me the truth. Claire had feared losing Sophie. I had feared questioning the story that allowed me to keep functioning. Vanessa had used every one of those fears like keys.

"Ask Claire what she did with the original files."