Chapter 47
LYDIA
Twenty-four years ago:
Rain lashes down in sheets, bolts of lightning splitting the sky as thunder booms like an angry god.
“There! There! I see them!”
Agatha’s voice barely carries over the roar of the storm about to slam into the beach. I follow where she's pointing, clutching the tiny bundle to my chest.
Thank fucking God.
A little way down the shore, a black rubber dinghy surges out of the surf and up onto the wet sand. Two men jump out and start to run toward us. I look at Agatha, then at the little bundle in her arms that matches the one in mine.
So new, and already on the run, like me.
I never wanted this for them, just as I didn't want the life I was thrust into, with a man who thinks of me as property and the babies he’ll never meet as bargaining chips.
Well, he’ll never get his hands on them. And he’ll never touch me again.
It doesn’t matter that I’ve made a deal with another devil to get away from the one I’m married to.
Better the devil you know, isn't that the saying?
They’re wrong. Because the devil I know will probably kill me if I stay. He’ll definitely kill me if he finds me before I’ve made it to where we need to go. But staying will just delay the inevitable.
That’s what’s brought me here, to the rocky Maine coast in the dead of night, with two little girls that monster will never have.
He only knows about the one, anyway. I’ve kept so much of my life from him, including the details of my pregnancy. Details like the fact that my body decided to release two eggs that night he took what I’d kept from him for so long.
But none of that matters now.
All that matters is getting them away from him, forever.
“Come on, Lydia!” Agatha calls out over the wind as we start to run toward the approaching men.
I’d be truly lost without her.
She’s been like a mother to me these last few years, and the only reason I’ve had the courage to do this. It's even better that she’s coming with us.
We’re going to start a new life, the four of us. I don’t know where yet, or when, because it’s going to involve hiding for a while to stay off my husband’s radar.
But the Obsidian Syndicate has resources, and The Marquis has promised to take us in, for a very fair price, too. One I’m more than willing to pay.
He wants my husband’s secrets, so he can bring him under heel.
I want to run away from that husband.
It's so simple and elegant: I tell him everything I know about the inner workings of the Marchetti family, and he gives Agatha, the girls and I safe passage, shelter, and new lives.
I wince a little as I glance at Agatha, jogging beside me along the furious beach. She doesn’t know what’s about to happen: that I’m about to make the single hardest choice of my life, a choice no mother should have to make.
But I have to, for little Lark and Dove.
You can’t put all your eggs in one basket.
“Lydia Marchetti?!” one of the men in black wetsuits, like a SEAL team, says, flashing a light in our faces.
“Bancroft!” I scream over the wind, squinting into the glare. “Lydia Bancroft.”
I’m done with the name that was forced upon me. I’m going back to the one I was given at birth.
He nods, then shines his light on Dove in my arms, then at Lark, bundled up against Agatha.
“Boat’s moored just off the breakers,” he barks, turning and pointing into the black surf. “Which two of you are coming?”
Agatha’s face crumples.
I’m so sorry.
“Wait!” she screams over the roaring thunder. “There’s been a mistake! The agreement was for all four—”
“This is safer!” I yell. “You know he’s looking for us! If we’re all together—”
“No!” she cries out, shaking her head madly. “No, God, no! Lydia!”
“I need you to promise me something!” I scream. “Keep her safe from him! Whatever it takes, Agatha!!”
The wind howls, the rain lashing my face mixing with my tears.
“Lydia—!”
“Just keep her safe!!!”
I choke out a sob as I hurl myself at her, hugging her with one arm before I lean down and press my lips to the little bundle at her chest.
I’ll see you soon, Lark.
I swear it.
I'm truly sorry we can’t all go together.
“I love you,” I choke against my infant daughter. Then I pull away.
“Keep her away from him!” I sob again, tears streaming down my face as I hold Dove to my chest. “Promise me, Agatha!!”
She's sobbing as she nods, hugging Lark close to her body.
I swallow and turn to the two men. “Take them! Go!”
I stand with Dove in my arms on the black, moonless beach, the wrath of a furious god crashing around us, watching as half of my heart motors away into the night.
I will see them again.
I’ve arranged for two separate escapes. Agatha will take Lark and meet the Obsidian Syndicate’s people in Canada. Dove and I are being driven through the night to Chicago. Eventually, the four of us will meet up in London and start new lives.
Dove starts to cry as I run back up the beach, my breath ragged as I battle the roaring wind. I pause for a moment at the cabin where my daughters were born barely three weeks ago. A tight smile pulls at my lips.
We’re getting out, my darlings.
We’re starting over.
I lean into the wind, clutching Dove tighter as I rush up the gravel driveway to the main road.
Please be here.
Please don’t be late.
I round the last corner past the dunes, and when lighting splits the sky, I see the SUV waiting for us. The driver flashes his headlights when he sees me, and my heart surges.
“It’s okay, baby girl,” I coo into the top of Dove’s head. “We’re safe now. We’re going away. I can’t wait to show you the world.”
The back door swings open.
“Right on time!” I smile. “I’m so glad you—”
No.
This can’t be happening.
“Hello, Lydia.”
My husband stares blankly at me from the back seat.
“Is that my daughter? Is that our Dove?”
I shake my head, my heart thudding even louder than the storm against my chest. “No,” I choke. “She’s not yours. She’ll never be—”
I scream, flinching and turning away to shield my baby from the gun he’s just pulled out.
“Lydia!” he barks. “Give her to me. Now!”
I shake my head, sobbing into the wind and holding her close.
“Never!”
The gun clicks behind me.
“Give me my fucking daughter or I’ll leave you both to bleed out on the side of the road.”
My heart breaks as the thunder booms.
“You have five seconds. Five. Four. Three—”
“Okay!!”
I’m sobbing as I turn, clinging tightly to Dove as she starts to wail. It feels like an outside force is controlling my body as I find myself handing my heart to the man I hate.
“Be careful with her!” I choke, crying freely as Cesare takes her under one arm. He smiles down at her, his eyes glinting coldly.
“Fine!” I blurt, the wind and the rain whipping at my face as I reach for the door. “You win, you bastard! You can take me home and do whatever you like, just don’t you dare hurt—”
“Oh, my dear, that’s not how this is going to happen.” His eyes narrow at me as he raises the gun in his other hand. “Say goodbye to your daughter, Lydia.”
The gun fires.
My body folds in half as the scream and my breath are forced from my throat.
I stagger back, clutching my stomach, feeling hot, sticky liquid pour through my fingers.
I drop to my knees.
The car door shuts.
I fall into the mud and the rain as the SUV roars away.
No.
This isn’t how this is supposed to go.
I’ll come back for you, Dove.
Mommy will come back for you.