The Unknown Secret

Chapter 15:Blood over loyalty

The air froze.

Mrs. Hale’s smile widened. “Now,” she said softly. “The question is... what are we going to do with you?”

Mark didn’t move.

Not until Lila flinched.

Then he stepped between them.

“Mom.” His voice was quiet. Deadly. “Step away from her.”

Mrs. Hale blinked. Once.

“Excuse me?”

“I said step away.” Mark’s hands were in his pockets. But his jaw was tight. “You’ve done enough.”

For the first time, Mrs. Hale’s perfect mask cracked.

“After everything I’ve done for this family? For YOU? You’d choose her? A stranger who snooped through things that don’t belong to her?”

“She’s not a stranger.” Mark’s eyes flicked to Lila, then back to his mother. “Her brother worked for us. He found out what you did to those workers 5 years ago. The ‘accident’ at the factory.”

Lila’s grip on the diary tightened.

Mrs. Hale laughed. Light. Musical. Terrifying.

“And you think I’ll let you walk out of here with her? With proof?”

“I think,” Mark said, pulling his phone out, “that you’ll let us leave. Or I send this recording to the police. Every confession you’ve made to me since I was 16.”

The attic went silent except for Lila’s breathing.

Mrs. Hale stared at her son. Then at Lila.

The smile dropped.

“You ungrateful boy,” she whispered. “I made you.”

“Then you made me wrong,” Mark said. “Lila, run. Now.”

The door was 3 feet away.

Behind it, footsteps. Security.

*TO BE CONTINUED...*