Chapter 15
326words
Rain began to fall, gentle at first, then heavier.
Lance appeared beside me with an umbrella. "Alice," he said quietly, "let's disappear."
I kept my eyes fixed on the tombstone, saying nothing.
Lance pressed on. "I know you've always hated this life—the violence, the darkness. We could escape it all."
Rain drummed against the umbrella's canopy, creating a cocoon of white noise around us.
I stared at my son's name until raindrops blurred the engraved letters.
"Alice, please," Lance whispered, as if afraid the dead might hear. "Let's run away."
After a long silence, I finally spoke. "Where would we go?"
"Anywhere," Lance said, gripping the umbrella handle until his knuckles whitened. "Leave the Wells name behind. Leave the guns and blood money. Go somewhere no one knows us. Open that restaurant you've always wanted. Or a bookstore. I'll work for you, protect you."
"We can't escape, Lance," I said, examining my hands as if seeing the invisible blood staining them. "These hands will never be clean. I've made more enemies than my father ever did. Without the Wells name protecting me, I wouldn't last a week."
Lance's jaw tightened. "I would protect you. With my life. Always."
"Thank you, Lance. Having you beside me all these years has been... a comfort. Even though I didn't appreciate it before."
Lance smiled sadly. "And now?"
"After everything I've become, do you really think I'm still capable of loving anyone?"
Lance had no answer to that.
"Just stay with me. That's enough."
"Always, Alice. I am yours until the end."
...
Ten years later, the Wells organization had grown into the largest criminal enterprise on the continent. Alice Wells became its first female leader in generations.
Alice never imagined that after spending her entire life trying to escape her father's shadow, she would ultimately become his perfect reflection.
