Chapter 15 - The Morning After
Alexander woke beneath white hospital lights.
For several seconds, he did not know where he was.
Then he heard Sarah.
"Alexander."
She sat beside his bed.
Her eyes were swollen from crying.
He tried to sit up.
Pain tore through his shoulder.
"Easy."
"Lily?"
"Safe."
Alexander closed his eyes.
Sarah touched his hand.
"Nero is safe too."
Alexander smiled weakly.
"Edmund?"
"Annoying everyone."
That meant he was alive.
Marcus entered the room wearing a bandage around his forehead.
Alexander looked at him.
"Victoria?"
Marcus's expression answered before he spoke.
"They haven't found her."
Alexander became alert.
"The drainage channel connects to the river."
"Yes."
"So she may have survived."
Marcus nodded.
Federal investigators had arrested Silas.
Adrian Cole had also survived.
Both men were in custody.
Dozens of corrupt officers had been identified through records seized beneath Calder Warehouse.
The underground explosion destroyed part of the tunnel network, but federal teams recovered enough evidence to expose decades of criminal activity.
Sarah's false charges were dismissed immediately.
Alexander should have felt victorious.
Instead he thought about Victoria.
Sarah understood.
"You tried to save her."
"She chose the ring."
Sarah looked toward the window.
"Some people would rather hold onto the thing destroying them than accept the hand trying to save them."
Alexander squeezed her fingers.
Later that afternoon, Lily entered carrying a handmade card.
She ran toward the bed.
Alexander ignored the pain and hugged her.
"Did you find Mommy?"
He looked at Sarah.
"Yes."
Lily smiled.
Then her expression became serious.
"And the bad people?"
Alexander considered his answer.
"Most of them."
Sarah looked at him.
Alexander did not want his daughter growing up afraid of shadows.
He kissed her hair.
"But they can't hurt you now."
Lily placed the original golden coin on the bedside table.
"I don't want this anymore."
Alexander stared at the serpent swallowing its tail.
A symbol of endless cycles.
Power.
Revenge.
Greed.
He understood why Lily wanted nothing to do with it.
May you like
Neither did he.
But before destroying it, he intended to learn every secret it carried.
