Chapter 11: The Trap
The trap was not Marco’s idea.
Elena planned it herself, using the only advantage she still had: Sophia’s arrogance. Her sister had always believed Elena was soft, emotional, and easy to corner. That belief could be used against her.
For two days, Elena deliberately loosened her own patterns just enough to look desperate. She left the bakery earlier. She let the twins appear briefly near the upstairs window. She allowed Marco to remain visible in town, as if the two of them were already fractured and poorly coordinated. Meanwhile, Marco’s men quietly cut off the back roads out of Gray Hollow and tracked every black SUV still circling the area.
The message Elena wanted Sophia to receive was simple.
Elena was frightened.
Elena was exposed.
Elena could be taken.
On the third night, one of the SUVs finally stopped near the old mill road and stayed there. Another shifted closer to the bakery. The net was tightening exactly as Elena had expected.
Just after ten, she sent Marco a final instruction.
Keep the children out of sight. If this goes wrong, you take them and run.
Marco’s reply was immediate.
It won’t go wrong.
Elena put the phone away and stood alone in the darkened bakery, listening to the rain return against the glass. She was no longer the woman who had fled Chicago with one bag and a secret pregnancy. She was a mother with a line she would not allow anyone to cross again.
Including her own sister.
When the side door of the bakery clicked open an hour later, Elena did not reach for a weapon.
May you like
She simply turned around.
Sophia stepped inside as if she had always owned the room.
