Page 102 of Before Eve

The sirens grow louder, closer, throbbing the air. Hope surges.

Beyond the bars on my window, dawn breaks, cloaking the surrounding woods in fog.

The sirens grow closer still. My pulse elevates, skipping through my veins.

Flashing lights strobe, ricocheting through the fog, leaving odd glowing trails clinging to the wet air.

The sound of multiple tires eats up the long driveway.

I don’t know how the police got through the front gate. I’m just so glad they did.

I don’t breathe.

Bang-bang-bang on the front door. Overhead, a floorboard creaks as Grayson wakes.

Voices. Shouting. Commotion.

Footstepspound the stairwell. Seconds tick by. I move forward, my ears tuned.

The knob rattles. I jerk away.

An unfamiliar woman’s voice calls out, “Laura?”

“I’m here,” I speak loudly and clearly.

“Can you open the door?”

“No, it locks from the outside. Grayson has the key.”

More voices. More footsteps.

The woman says, “Stand back, Laura. We’re going to break it down.”

I do.

A ram connects with the exterior door. It breaks open, bursting inward.

A female cop looks at me, her expression an odd mix of strength and disbelief.

I fall to my knees, and I cry.

I’m safe. I’m finally safe.

Outside, Grayson sits in the backseat of a squad car, handcuffed, his indifferent attention fixed on me.

“May I speak to him?” I ask the woman cop.

With a nod, she leads me across the yard. She opens the back door, and Grayson doesn’t waver. In his handcuffs, he looks defiant as he speaks, “I have the best lawyers in this country. This little conspiracy of yours, your pitiful fake video, will go nowhere. Mark my words.”

If I was hoping for pathetic and beaten down, I was sadly mistaken. He’s too much of a narcissist.

He’s also no longer my monster.

I straighten my spine, rolling a superior gaze over him. “Know from this moment on, you are nothingto me. You will rot in prison for the things you’ve done.”

He opens his mouth to speak, and I take the door and shut it in his enraged face.

As I do, an enormous weight lifts.