Chapter 16 - The Awakening of Claire Ashford
"Claire, it's me. It's Ethan," the boy said, dropping to his knees beside the bed and grasping his stepsister's cold hand. "I'm here. We're getting you out."
Claire’s unfocused eyes darted wildly, fighting through layers of chemical sedation. When her gaze fell upon Nora standing in the doorway, her breath hitched. Her eyes dropped to the bundle strapped against Nora's chest—to the tiny tuft of dark hair and the small, sleeping face of the infant.
A sound tore from Claire's throat—not a cry of weakness, but a raw, primal sob of a mother who had clawed her way back from the edge of oblivion. She tore the plastic oxygen mask from her face, her chest heaving as she struggled to sit up.
"Lily..." Claire whispered, tears streaming down her pale, hollow cheeks. "My baby... they told me she was born dead. Vivienne told me my body failed her..."
"She's alive, Claire," Nora said, rushing to the bedside and gently kneeling down so Claire could touch her daughter's warm cheek. "She's healthy, she's safe, and she needs you. We have to go right now."
Claire's trembling fingers brushed Lily's skin, and for the first time in months, a spark of fierce, unyielding life ignited behind her dulled eyes. "She has my mother's chin," Claire choked out, the fog of heavy tranquilizers burning away under an avalanche of adrenaline. "Richard... does my father know?"
"He doesn't know anything," Ethan said bitterly. "Vivienne told him you were transferred to a private psychiatric clinic in Zurich three weeks ago. She has been forging medical updates from a fake doctor in Switzerland. Dad thinks you abandoned him and the family."
"We can explain everything later," Nora urged, hearing a distant metallic sound from the master wing. "We need to reach the service gate. I have my old car parked behind the boathouse."
Claire tried to swing her legs over the edge of the mattress, but her muscles, wasted from weeks of confinement and chemical restraints, gave out immediately. She collapsed forward, gasping for air. Ethan caught her under the arms, while Nora supported her waist.
"I can walk," Claire gritted out, her teeth chattering from withdrawal and terror. "I will crawl through glass if I have to. Just don't let her take Lily."
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They made it through the door and into the western hallway. But as they turned the corner toward the gallery overlooking the great marble foyer, the estate’s automated security lights suddenly flared to blinding brilliance, bathing the entire mansion in stark, merciless daylight.
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