Chapter 6 - Midnight Escape
The clock on the dashboard of my old sedan read 1:15 AM. The house was pitch black.
Inside, Lily was fast asleep in the back seat, wrapped in her favorite dinosaur blanket. I had sneaked her out through the downstairs bathroom window while Evelyn and Taylor were asleep upstairs. I had risked everything for this moment.
My phone buzzed violently in my pocket. It was a text message from an unknown number—David.
‘They know you're gone. Evelyn called the sheriff’s department twenty minutes ago. They’ve issued an Amber Alert for kidnapping, claiming you’re unstable. Meet me at the county courthouse immediately. I’ve arranged for Judge Harrison to hold an emergency night hearing.’
My heart leaped into my throat. An Amber Alert? They were weaponizing the entire state law enforcement system against me. If I got pulled over right now, the police would treat me like a dangerous criminal and rip Lily from my arms.
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"Come on, old girl," I whispered, patting the steering wheel of my sedan as I stepped hard on the gas, bypassing the main highway and cutting through the dark, winding backroads of the county.
Behind me, in the distance, the flashing red and blue lights of a patrol cruiser suddenly cut through the night sky. They were already tracking my phone's GPS.
