Chapter 9 - Silence After the Storm
"Andrew!"
Clara’s scream pierced the quiet night as she rushed to the edge of the shattered banister, looking down into the dark foyer.
The grand lobby was bathed in eerie shadows. For a long, agonizing moment, there was complete silence. Not a sound came from the heap of shadows sprawled across the marble tiles near the front entrance.
"Andrew... please," Clara choked out, tears streaming down her face as she hurried down the curved staircase, her bare feet sliding against the polished wood.
She reached the bottom of the stairs, dropping to her knees beside the two motionless figures. Marcus Vance lay crumpled awkwardly against a marble pillar, unconscious and bleeding heavily from a head wound.
A few feet away, Andrew groaned, slowly pushing himself up from the cold floor. He clutched his shoulder, wincing in pain as a dark stain of blood began to seep through his shirt, but his eyes were open, clear, and focused entirely on her.
"Clara..." he breathed, coughing slightly. "Are you... are you alright?"
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Clara threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder, sobbing not with sorrow, but with the overwhelming, incandescent relief of a nightmare finally ending. "I'm okay. I'm right here. You're safe."
Sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder by the second as state police cruisers and ambulances finally turned down the long gravel driveway, their flashing red and blue lights painting the grand foyer in safe, steady strokes.
