Chapter 14 - The Silent House
I moved through Rachel's hallway like a ghost. The silence in the house was heavy, broken only by the rhythmic drumming of rain against the windows. I found Rachel in the living room. She was unconscious on the floor, bleeding from a nasty cut on her forehead, but her chest was moving. She was breathing.
But Leo wasn't there.
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
I bypassed the stairs, climbing the banister silently to avoid the noisy steps. When I reached the top landing, a sliver of light spilled from Leo’s temporary bedroom.
I peered around the doorframe. Arthur Thorne stood at the foot of the bed, soaked in rain, holding a suppressed pistol. Leo was sitting up in bed, clutching his blanket to his chest, his wide eyes completely paralyzed by fear.
"Hello, Leo," Arthur said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "Your father has been very bad. I have to punish him."
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"Don't touch him!" I screamed, launching myself into the room.
Arthur spun around and fired. The bullet grazed my ribcage, a searing streak of white-hot fire, but the momentum carried me forward. I slammed into him, driving him through the bedroom door and out into the second-floor hallway. We crashed through the wooden railing, plunging over the edge and plummeting into the dark foyer below.
