Chapter 5 - The Stranger in the DrivewayWe scrambled behind the tall hedges lining our backyard property, crouching in the muddy flowerbeds as the freezing rain soaked into our skin. Lily buried her face in my shoulder, muffling her sobs against my wet jacket.
"We're safe, baby. We're safe," I whispered, though my own teeth were chattering so hard I could barely form the words.
Through a gap in the dense boxwood hedges, I watched our front driveway. At precisely 5:28 AM, a sleek, unmarked black sedan pulled up silently to the curb. Its headlights were turned off.
The driver's side door opened, and a tall man in a dark trench coat stepped out. He didn't look around. He walked briskly up our front steps, bypassed the locked front door with a small electronic device that beeped softly, and let himself inside our home using a master code I had never been given.
My mind raced. Who was that? An associate? An accomplice?
“The insurance policy is finalized,” Lily’s voice echoed in my mind.
May you like
Millions of dollars. Adrian had taken out a massive, multi-million-dollar life insurance policy on me and Lily six months ago, claiming it was standard financial planning for our future. He had handled all the paperwork, insisting I just sign the dotted lines without reading the dense legal jargon.
He hadn't planned a new life for us. He had planned our executions to cash out and vanish with another life, another identity, and another woman.
