Chapter 6 - Shadows in the Mirror
The autumn air in Cherry Hills Village was crisp and smelled of damp earth and burning leaves as I pulled my car into the circular driveway of our sprawling estate. It was my estate now. The courts had transferred the deed to my name exclusively within forty-eight hours of Julian's arrest.
I unlocked the heavy front door, stepping into the grand foyer where I had once stood frozen, clutching a box of caramel chocolates while hearing laughter echo from my own bedroom.
The house felt entirely different now. No longer a gilded cage, it was a fortress.
I walked up the grand staircase and pushed open the door to the master suite. The bed where I had discovered the betrayal was gone—I had ordered the movers to haul it to the municipal incinerator two weeks prior. In its place stood a minimalist, modern oak frame facing a panoramic window that looked out over the Rocky Mountains.
As I walked toward the en-suite bathroom to wash up, I noticed something strange.
The heavy sliding glass door of the master balcony, which looked out over the dense pine forest behind our backyard, was slightly ajar.
I froze.
The security system was active; every perimeter door and window required a high-level biometric code to bypass from the outside. Yet the latch was clearly thrown back, and a faint, muddy bootprint stained the imported Italian tiles near the threshold.
My heart didn't stutter with panic. It accelerated into a cold, hyper-focused rhythm. I didn't scream or run downstairs. Instead, I quietly stepped into my walk-in closet, reached behind the false panel of my safe, and wrapped my fingers around the cold, reassuring steel of a licensed Smith & Wesson M&P Shield.
I had learned the hard way never to assume danger was locked away behind bars.
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"I know someone is here," I called out, my voice echoing evenly through the master suite. "You can step out now, or you can find out why the federal prosecutors aren't the only ones with a file on the Vance family legacy."
A slow, deliberate clapping sound echoed from the shadowed hallway outside the bedroom.
