Oh, God, could he see me now?
I was just about to give up and run when a sheet a paper with what I knew to be my sister’s writing caught my attention. Her letters always looked printed in all capital letters and they were easily identifiable. My heart stuttered a little as I reached for it. It read:
Gabby,
You must have known how much I need you right now. Things in my life are a mess. I need to get away. Please bring Clementine, a bag of her things, and as much money as you can. Meet me later tonight at 615 One Park Lane. Don’t tell anyone, especially Michael, and please, be careful.
Love, Lizzy
Tears stung the back of my eyes and I sucked in a breath to hold them back. My sister had tried to contact me and somehow Michael intercepted the note. The wave of sadness I felt was excruciating.
“Miss Sterling, are you still here?”
My eyes darted toward the door and I spotted a sealed vanilla envelope on the desk labeled Clementine’s Paternity. I had no time to look through it now, though; Mrs. R and Clementine were back and I had to get out of here. Frantic I was going to be caught, my hands were shaking hard and my mind was a scattered mess.
Clop, clop, clop, like a little racehorse I heard Clementine’s small footfalls on the wooden floor in the foyer.
Snapping into action, I shot like a rocket out of the door. The door. How was I going to close it? I hoped it was programmed as Miles had described. Holding my breath, I reentered the code and then closed the panel that covered it.
“Miss Sterling.”
I felt a flicker of terror. Was I going to get caught?
The panic room door continued to close and I hoped it wasn’t noticeable that I’d been inside. With no time to dwell over it, I tore toward the office doors, which, thank God, I’d shut before sitting at Michael’s computer, and placed my hand on the knob. My heart was in my throat. A quick glance back told me I’d left the desk the way I’d found it and that the panic room door had completely closed. I heaved a sigh of relief and shut the door behind me. Then I crept out into the hallway and saw Mrs. R and Clementine in the hall powder room.
Mrs. R hadn’t seen me, and I tiptoed toward the kitchen and then turned on my heels. I drew in the deepest of breaths that I could and said, “I’m still here.”
She peeked out of the bathroom. She was soaked from head to toe and so was my little princess, who came surging for me when she saw me. “Mommy.”
Mrs. R was still looking at me. I shrugged and gave Clementine a little huff of laughter. “What happened? Did you get rained on?”
“Wet,” she giggled.
I laughed harder and held my hand out. “Come on, I’ll take you upstairs and get you changed.”
“Oh, I can do that, Miss Sterling.”
“Please, call me Elle. And you get dried off while I take care of her and then I need to get going.” Peyton opened on Wednesdays, so I could be a little late.
The rain had become a downpour by the time I pulled away from Michael’s house. The minivans, swing sets, and porch swings along the road were a blur. Rain or shine, I didn’t care. I was just relieved that I’d made it out of there without Michael coming home and without getting caught by Mrs. R.
That woodsy, pine-like smell was still potent in the car. I glanced in the backseat and saw nothing. When I got to the boutique, I’d have to check the trunk. Something had to be in there.
Taking the shortest way, I turned the corner and I swear I saw Michael’s car heading in the opposite direction, toward his house. I hoped I was wrong.
When I felt like I could mask my overwhelming need to vomit, I fumbled for my phone and called Logan.
“Are you okay?” he answered, worried. “I saw you called and tried you back. Why didn’t you answer?”
Even through everything, the sound of his voice made me smile. “I couldn’t, but listen, I’m on my way to the boutique and everything went well. More than well, in fact.”
“Did you install the program?” he asked, clearly concerned.
Suddenly, I felt a little proud of myself. I’d done it. “Yes, and I got into the safe room.”
“What the fuck, Elle? I told you not to do that.”
“I know, but the code hit me and I had to try.”
His words were laced with anger. “I said it was dangerous. What don’t you understand about that?”
I wanted to argue with him, but I knew he was right.
“It was a stupid thing to do,” I agreed.
His sigh was heavy.
“Do you want to know what the code was?” I tried to extinguish his anger.
“Yeah.” His tone was still off.
“It’s Rose, Michael’s mother’s name.”
“Son of a bitch.”
There, he was fine. I laughed. “Can you believe it?”
“No. But you still shouldn’t have gone in there. What if you had been caught?”
The car in front of me engaged its hazard lights. I pulled around it. “Since when do you talk in the hypothetical?”