Chapter 10 - A New Foundation
The rain began to fall in heavy, rhythmic sheets against the windshield of my car as I pulled back into the driveway of the farmhouse. The porch light flickered warmly in the dusk, casting a golden glow across the wet wooden steps.
I sat in the driver’s seat for a long time, listening to the steady thump of the wipers clearing the glass.
My phone hummed on the passenger seat. I picked it up. A text message from Arthur Vance flashed on the screen:Federal prosecutors just issued a multi-state warrant for Vanessa’s arrest. Her offshore accounts have been frozen.
I stared at the message, then looked across the passenger seat at the crumpled twenty-million-dollar lottery ticket resting beside my purse.
Twenty million dollars. It could buy a dozen houses, a fleet of luxury cars, and a life of quiet anonymity anywhere on the globe. But as I opened the car door and stepped out into the cool Virginia rain, breathing in the scent of wet pine and rich earth, I knew I wasn't going anywhere.
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The house Thomas had built wasn't just dead equity. It was a foundation. And no matter how much money was sitting in a bank account, some things were worth protecting with everything you had.
I walked up the porch steps, unlocked the heavy wooden door, and stepped inside, locking the world behind me.
