Chapter 17:The hideout
284 Words
The city lights blurred past.
Mark took three sharp turns, cut through an alley, killed the headlights.
The SUVs shot past the intersection behind them, sirens wailing.
Lila was shaking. Not from fear. From adrenaline.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere she can’t find us,” Mark said. He pulled into an underground parking garage. Abandoned. Concrete and shadows.
He parked behind a pillar and cut the engine. Silence.
Only their breathing.
Mark finally looked at her. Really looked.
“You okay?”
Lila nodded. Held up the diary. “I need to read the rest.”
They climbed to the 4th floor of a forgotten apartment building. Dust everywhere. One mattress. One lamp. Mark’s safe house.
He locked the door. Three locks.
“She owns the police,” he said quietly. “She owns the courts. If we go to them, we’re dead.”
Lila sat on the floor and opened the diary. Her hands were steady now.
Page after page. Names. Dates. Bribes.
And then the last entry.
_If you’re reading this, she’s coming for you too.
Don’t trust Mark Hale. He’s just like her._
Lila’s head snapped up.
Mark was by the window, watching the street below.
He turned when he heard her gasp.
“What is it?”
Lila stared at him. At the man who’d just risked everything to save her.
“Did you know?” she whispered. “Did you know what my brother wrote about you?”
Mark’s face went blank.
“Lila, I—”
A knock at the door.
Three slow knocks.
A woman’s voice, muffled.
“Mark? It’s me. Open up.”
Not security.
Not the police.
Mrs. Hale.
*TO BE CONTINUED...*
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