THE VOW

MARFA

We didn't wait for Atlanta PD.

Rollins left Judge Holt handcuffed to my stove for his own cops to find. Mae was breathing, loaded into the ambulance that had just arrived for "possible concrete inhalation."

Priya couldn't breathe. She kept touching her thigh where the USB had been.

"Simone hugged me at the lake," she kept saying. "She said 'good luck, girl.' She stole it when she hugged me."

Lena knew Simone better than any of us. "Simone doesn't drive to Marfa. She flies. Private. Eleanor has a plane at PDK airport. Small jet. Tail number N6VOW. If she has the USB, she'll be in Texas in 3 hours."

Rollins checked his watch. 5:12 a.m. "PDK is 20 minutes. If we drive now we catch her before takeoff."

We took Rollins' Crown Vic. All four of us. Me in passenger, Lena in back with Priya, Kevin locked in my pantry with a chair against the door - Rollins said, "He's evidence, not family right now."

P DeKalb Airport was empty at 5:30 a.m. Fog on runway. One jet, white, six seats, engines on.

Simone, in full House Two uniform - white linen, perfect hair - was loading a small black safe into the jet. Not the USB. The safe that held ALL the USBs.

Rollins didn't do police procedure. He drove the Crown Vic straight onto the runway, blocking the jet, lights on, siren screaming.

Simone froze.

Priya was out first, running barefoot on tarmac.

"SIMONE!"

Simone turned, saw us, and laughed. That pretty neighbor laugh from House Two.

"Priya, babe, you weren't supposed to come back. Early returns are so messy."

She pulled a g*n. Small. Pink. From her Birkin.

Lena stepped in front of Priya.

"House Two, 2021," Lena said. "You were supposed to be my sister wife. Mae hid you in House Zero for two weeks. You promised you'd blow it up. Then you became her daughter instead."

Simone's hand shook. Just a little.

"Eleanor gave me a choice, Lena. Be a wife or be a daughter. Wives get sold. Daughters get the company. You chose woods. I chose empire."

Rollins had his g*n on her now, too. Two guns on a runway.

"Put it down, Simone."

Simone looked at the jet, then at us, then at the safe at her feet.

"Do you know what's in there?" she said to me. "Not just contracts. Tapes. Every husband. Including yours, Zuri. Kevin begging Eleanor not to take you. Crying. Saying he loves you but he needs the house. Eleanor filmed it all. For insurance."

She kicked the safe toward me. It slid across wet tarmac.

"Take it. Take your revenge story. But you will never find Marfa. Even with that, Judge Holt's wife will burn the doll house before FBI gets there. She always burns it when we get caught. Six girls inside. Size 6. June 14th. All alive until fire."

My stomach dropped.

Priya opened the safe. Inside, six USBs, six contracts, and six Polaroids. Six girls in white dresses, in a pink desert room, hair brushed, sitting like dolls.

House Three Polaroid on top.

Priya. But not Priya. Another House Three girl, 2019. Same house, same closet, same name tag: PRIYA - 2019 - RETURNED.

"That's my name," Priya whispered. "That's my house. She was before me."

Lena picked up the Polaroid. "They recycle names. Eleanor recycles everything. Houses, dresses, names, husbands."

Sirens again. Airport security now.

Simone put her g*n down, put her hands up, smiling like she knew something we didn't.

"You can arrest me," she said to Rollins. "But my mother will have me out in 2 hours. And while you are booking me, the judge's wife is already pouring gasoline."

Rollins cuffed her, but I wasn't looking at Simone anymore.

I was looking at the jet.

Inside the jet, back seat, a white dress bag. Zipped. With a name tag hanging out.

ZURI - 2024 - MARFA DOLL

She packed my dress already.

I unzipped it.

Not a dress inside.

A girl.

Alive. 17. Black. Size 6. Gagged. Duct tape on mouth. Wearing my name tag.

"Who are you?" I ripped tape off.

She gasped: "House One... 2025. You... you are 2024. I'm supposed to be next year. They said House One always early..."

Eleanor wasn't just selling 2024.

She was already selling 2025.