Chapter 13 - SOPHIE’S RED BOOTS
Sophie was wearing red rain boots when Margot carried her from the lodge.
Elena knew because one boot was visible beneath the hangar door.
She stood behind an armored vehicle while negotiators spoke to Margot.
Detective Torres had ordered Elena to remain out of sight.
Margot was holding Sophie near a small side exit.
She had no firearm.
But officers believed she possessed a knife taken from the lodge.
Elena listened through the police radio.
Margot’s voice was frantic.
“Bring Silas here!”
“He is in custody,” the negotiator answered.
“He promised he would fix this.”
“We can help you, Margot. Let Sophie walk outside.”
“You think this is my fault?”
“No one is discussing fault right now.”
“Elena ruined everything!”
Sophie began crying.
Elena closed her eyes.
Margot continued shouting.
“She had the shares. She had the company. She had the daughters. Silas would never be free while she was alive.”
The words revealed more than Margot intended.
A detective recorded every sentence.
Sophie called for Elena again.
This time, Elena stepped away from the vehicle.
Torres caught her arm.
“No.”
“She needs to hear me.”
“It is too dangerous.”
“She thinks I’m dead.”
Elena’s voice broke.
“My daughter has believed I was dead for nine days.”
Torres looked toward the hangar.
Then she handed Elena a loudspeaker.
“Stay behind cover.”
Elena lifted it with both hands.
“Sophie, sweetheart, it’s Mommy.”
The crying stopped.
Inside the hangar, Sophie gasped.
“Mom?”
“I’m right here.”
“Daddy said you went to heaven.”
“He was wrong.”
Margot screamed at Sophie to be quiet.
Elena forced her voice to remain steady.
“Do you remember our red-light game?”
The red-light game was something Elena used in parking lots.
When she said red light, the girls froze.
When she said green light, they ran directly to her.
“Yes,” Sophie called.
Margot ordered her not to answer.
Elena watched the small red boots beneath the door.
“Red light, Sophie.”
The boots stopped moving.
Margot pulled at her.
Sophie dropped to the floor and went completely limp, just as Elena had taught her to do if a stranger ever tried to carry her away.
Margot lost her grip.
A crash sounded inside.
Elena shouted.
“Green light!”
Sophie crawled beneath the partially raised hangar door.
Officers rushed forward.
Margot grabbed for the child but missed.
Sophie ran across the pavement in her red boots.
Elena left cover.
Torres shouted after her.
Elena did not stop.
Mother and daughter collided between the police vehicles.
Sophie wrapped both arms around Elena’s neck.
“You came back.”
“I never left you.”
Behind them, officers entered the hangar and arrested Margot.
Elena held Sophie so tightly that neither could stop shaking.
The waiting aircraft shut down its engines.
For the first time since River Road, the danger was ending.
But Lily was still at the hospital asking one question no one wanted to answer.
“Why did Daddy do this?”
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👉 Both daughters were alive, but the evidence recovered from Blackwood Lodge would reveal that Silas had planned their mother’s death months before the crash.
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