Page 59 of Consume Me

It was an admission. It was a revelation.

It was a confession.

I didn’t think about what came next. I didn’t ask any more questions. I was the law of this land, of this place, of this family, and he was guilty.

I shot him without a second thought.

Chapter 23

CLARA

There wasn’t time to process his confession, so when Norris wrapped a steadying arm around me and helped me follow Hammond, I went with it. Besides, I had other things on my mind—like contractions that were coming approximately two minutes apart. I’d barely began to catch my breath from one when another started.

All I could think of was getting out of here, putting one foot in front of the other, and escape. We were so close. No guards barred our exit. Even the alarms had begun to fade or maybe I was just growing use to them. The eastern exit wasn’t in the room I’d led Norris to, but rather concealed behind a panel in the hall.

Hammond opened it and gestured to me. “Ladies first.”

I stared up at the ladder, wondering how on earth I was going to make it up or open the hatch above.

“C-c-can’t,” I panted, my breath catching.

“Let me.” Norris moved in front of me.

Hammond didn’t comment. He seemed at ease with whatever situation left him holding a gun to our heads. And Norris couldn’t act while I was stuck below with our enemy.

He shimmied up the ladder quickly. A second later and a hard twist of metal, a circular ray of sunlight broke over my head. Tears filled my eyes as its warmth washed over me.

I hadn’t hoped I would ever see the sun again. Now it was so close that I could feel it. But before I could make my way up, Hammond shoved me to the side. “I think it’s safer if Norris has to wait for you.”

Safer for him, I was sure. I clung to a metal rung, riding out my labor pains as Hammond ascended and disappeared to the top. Overhead, I heard shouting. Then a shot. I took a deep breath and forced myself up two rungs. It was harder than I’d feared. Between my swollen stomach and the exhaustion already starting to take over my body, I wasn’t sure I could make it.

“Clara!” Norris’s face appeared overhead.

“I’m trying,” I cried, tightening my grip as I breathed through a contraction. I was going to have this baby on a ladder if I didn’t find the strength to keep going.

I thought of my son. I thought of how much he needed me to get to the hospital. And I thought of his father.

Alexander was up there. Alexander was waiting for me. I would hold Elizabeth soon. The life I’d begun to say farewell to was now back within my grasp.

My love for them was all it took. Gritting my teeth, I continued upward until Norris’s hand grabbed hold of my arm, lending his strength to my climb. When my head finally emerged into the sunny afternoon, I nearly fainted.

Norris helped me up and out, and I looked around to get an idea of where we were. The grounds were oddly familiar, but before I could figure out where I was, I spotted Hammond. He had the gun raised and leveled at us.

“I’ll be going now,” he called. “But I’m sure we’ll see each other again, Your Majesty.”

“You’ll die before that happens,” Norris promised.

“I wonder how she’ll feel—how they’ll all feel—when the truth comes out. I believe you’ll find aid closer to the main house.” He tipped his head, the closest to a sign of deference I was likely to get, and bolted toward a hamlet of trees.

“Are you okay?” I asked Norris, looking for a signs of a wound. That’s when I noticed a dark, wet spot on his shirt.

He shook his head. “He didn’t get me. My wound’s reopened.”

The one he’d gotten on the night they had taken us. But that had been a lifetime ago—or maybe only days. I no longer knew what had happened. My own time was now measured in labor pains.

“We need to move closer to the house,” Norris urged me, concern washing over his face. He was a smart man. He knew we didn’t have long before I’d be past the point of no return and having this baby in some field was not an option.

“What house?” I asked, gripping the arm he offered for support. Grass crinkled beneath my feet, soft and lush. It felt like heaven. I loved everything about this world, especially being back in it.