“You can’t keep us here, Megan.” I struggle to my feet, but she holds up a hand.
“Stay where you are. You don’t want to end up like your friend.”
I sit back down and wrap my arms around Sadie, wishing I could glue her to my side forever.
“If there’s any further interference,” Megan continues, her mouth a straight line, the smile gone, “if anybody else attempts to come through those gates, they will suffer the same fate.”
My mind immediately goes to Gabriel. He’s still out there somewhere. If he wasn’t with Scarlett when it happened, he’ll be searching for us, putting himself directly in the line of fire.
My chest constricts until I can barely draw breath. “Please, don’t—I’m begging you?—”
Megan’s shoulders drop as she exhales slowly. “This isn’t what I wanted, Judy. Nobody was supposed to end up dead.” She lowers her voice. “It wasn’t part of the original plan. When Alice proposed to you that Sadie, who was a difficult teenager, should come here, I did not expect you to agree. I thought you wanted nothing to do with us. But she came, and I made sure to be in charge when she arrived. I’m sure you understand that I couldn’t let her go. It was like you had returned to me, in your daughter.”
What does she mean, she made sure to be in charge? Was Mandy’s accident not an accident at all?
Megan’s voice maintains its composure, but I can hear it, the anger leaking through the cracks between her words. “You ruined a good thing, Judy. I made a deal with your husband and it was working just fine until you got in the way.”
Blood drains from my face. “Gabriel? What deal?”
She nods. “He’s the one who gave Sadie to us.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I’m furious and confused, my cheeks burning with heat. “My husband…he would never?—”
“Well, he did. He wanted to take her home that night, but we reached an agreement that she would stay here.”
Lucille’s message flashes in my mind. Sadie was talking to some older guy, she said. Did she mean Gabriel?
“It wasn’t easy to convince him,” Megan adds, filling in the blanks in my mind. “He tried everything, but he did not have achoice. I knew something about him he didn’t want the world to know, something you probably don’t know either.” She pauses as Alice moves back outside and disappears from sight. “In the end we came to an agreement. Sadie would stay here, and I would send him photos as proof of life. In exchange for a little money that would go toward a good cause.”
“Gabriel knew Sadie was alive?” My voice cracks. The betrayal hits hard, and my rage feels like a live wire beneath my skin.
“Did you send me that photo?” I wonder if Gabriel refused to pay an installment, and she threatened him through me.
“I didn’t have to do it myself.”
Oh, my God, it was Alice.
I bite hard into my bottom lip, tasting blood. But I can’t allow the betrayal to derail me. We need to make it out of here alive.
“The money’s been a blessing, really.” Megan tilts her chin upward and sighs deeply. “I’ve put away every single cent of it. I added it to my growing savings. I’m almost at my goal actually.” She waves the flashlight with each word she speaks. “Once I buy up enough shares to control the board, Saltspray will finally have proper leadership again.”
“What about Mandy?” My mouth asks the question without my mind registering it.
She scoffs. “Mandy is too weak to be the director, and she and the others only see dollar signs. I see children who have been discarded. Like I was. Like you were. Mrs. Potter understood the heart of this place. And so do I. I will do anything to save the children, and I have to stop anyone who gets in the way.”
How many people has she “stopped,” I wonder?
She’s clearly deranged and I need to get out of here, to bring my daughter to safety. It hurts me almost physically to know she was kept inside this dark room for six months.
“Please, Megan.” I wipe my nose with the back of my hand. “Let Sadie go. Let us both walk out of here. I swear to you, we’ll disappear and never say a word to anyone.”
“Of course you won’t tell.” Megan’s smile doesn’t reach her eyes. “I think Scarlett’s fate has made it perfectly clear what happens to those who try to cross me.”
“So you will let us go?” I ask, hope jumping into my throat.
“I’m afraid I cannot do that. You have betrayed our friendship, our sisterhood.” She moves back into the doorway, blocking our way out. “You have betrayed this place. But now that you are here, you are home, this is your chance to make it right.”
In a desperate attempt to save my daughter, I pivot, making a heartbreaking split-second decision. “I’ll stay. I will stay and you let Sadie go. I’ll even ask my husband to send you more money to help you buy the shares. You’re right, Saltspray deserves someone running it who understands the true needs of children. You will get the money you need to make a difference in their lives, but promise me you won’t hurt Sadie or Gabriel.”
