Teagan surprises us all when she pulls the handcuffs from her bra and snaps one side onto Pierce’s wrist, then closes the other around her own wrist. “How about we make you a deal?” she says, pointing the dagger’s tip at him. “You come with us and tell the world everything that happened here, and you get to live. You refuse, and Capri will shoot you and leave you to die here with him.” Her eyes blaze as she stares at Pierce, daring him to call her bluff. “Remember that you’ll also have to tell them that Quinn is the real brilliant mind behind the novels. You’ll most likely end up serving life in prison, as well. But, the choice is yours.”
Pierce lets out a sigh of defeat, and he and Teagan get to their feet. “I’ll do whatever you want. Just get me out of here.”
“It’s more than you gave us when you lured us here.” I scoff and push him toward the stairs, Teagan following right behind him with the dagger still pointed at his back.
We reach the top of the stairs, and Capri grabs the gas container. The door to Henry’s tomb closes loudly behind us, sealing him within his precious castle forevermore.
Chapter forty-two
Lexi and I take turns splashing gasoline throughout the halls of Windermere while Pierce and Teagan lead us toward the exit.
I can’t believe we’re actually getting out of here. I pictured this moment in my head so many times throughout this ordeal, but I never really thought it would happen. Every time I dreamt about it, I also dreamt that one of us was left behind.
We reach the front doors just as the canister runs dry.
It feels like fate.
We survived. We’re about to go home.
This place may have turned me into a monster and stained the walls of my soul for eternity, but it also gave me so much more. I would have never been reunited with my daughter if I hadn’t come here.
All the bad that happened doesn’t outweigh that miracle.
Teagan throws the door open, and Lee, Skye, Quinn, and Lochlan are waiting on the other side. They’re all huddled up near the front gate of Windermere.
We did it.
I run straight into Lee’s waiting arms and scoop Skye into the hug. “We made it. We actually made it out alive.” Lee kisses my head, and Skye squeezes me tighter before a tiny meow of protest breaks us apart.
“Oops,” Skye says sheepishly. “I forgot I was in charge of Paws.” She reaches into her hoodie pocket and pulls the kitten out to snuggle her. Quinn steps up and ruffles her hair before giving Paws some ear scratches, then makes his way over to Teagan.
“Where is everyone else?” Lexi asks from under Lochlan’s arm.
Lee points to the limousine waiting on the road just past the gates. “Most of them are at the ferry waiting for us. Allison went into the garden with a few others to do one more sweep of the grounds to make sure everyone was out. Besides, we couldn’t let you girls do everything yourselves, now could we?” he teases, pulling out an emergency flare from his back pocket. “Figured you’d need something to start the fire.”
Lexi’s jaw drops open. “How did we forget about matches? We can’t start a fire without, you know, actual fire?”
“Don’t worry, lassie. We got you.” Lochlan chuckles and takes the flare from Lee. “Found this puppy on the ferry boat. Who wants to do the honors?”
I set the rifle down, let it rest against the fence, and face my friends and family as Pierce keeps his head bowed next to me. He’s been nothing short of a model prisoner. “It doesn’t matter who does it as long as this place burns to the ground.”
Quinn steps up from behind Teagan, ignoring his brother’s presence entirely. “May I?”
I hand him the flare just as Teagan is yanked backward. She hits the wrought iron fence with a shout, banging her head and sliding to the ground. Pierce grabs the rifle, and he tugs her arm up with him, making her cry out in pain as she stumbles to her knees.
“Nobody move!” Pierce orders, pointing the gun at us in sweeping motions. “You really thought you’d win? You don’t get to come into my home and ruin my life. Windermere is mine now.”
We all look to each other, knowing it’s hopeless. Pierce has the gun that I stupidly discarded because I thought we were finally out of this nightmare. I was so stupid to believe it could be this simple. The only way out of this is to tackle him simultaneously, but even that leaves too much room for error.
An error right now will result in more deaths.
“You don’t want to do this, Atlas,” Quinn says in a low voice. “Just let us go, you can have the castle. You can have it all.”
Pierce chuckles. “The only way I get everything I want is with all of you in the ground.” Skye whimpers from behind me, and he turns toward us. “Skye, my dear. Come here.”
“Don’t you touch her,” Lee says through gritted teeth, stepping sideways to help shield her. “Leave my girls alone.” I interlock my fingers through his and squeeze tightly.
“You silly idiot, did you not hear me? There’s no escaping this island. You’re all going to die here.” Pierce laughs maniacally. “Might as well start with you.”
