Chapter 17 - WHEN THE DEVIL WEARS WHITE PEARLS
Claire tore across the snow, her boots slipping on the frozen crust, the sub-zero air burning her lungs with every desperate breath.
"Noah! Hold on!" Claire screamed.
Ahead of her, Victoria turned back. Her designer wool coat was splattered with mud and slush, her blonde hair coming undone from its pristine knot. She wasn't running anymore; she was waiting at the edge of the frozen pond that divided the Hartwell property from the public nature preserve.
The ice on the pond was thin, marked by warning signs Daniel had posted weeks ago. Victoria held Noah firmly by the collar of his coat, positioning him directly over the translucent, fractured ice.
"Stop right there, Claire!" Victoria yelled, her voice piercing the winter wind. "One more step and I let go. You know how deep this retention pond is. He won't last sixty seconds under the ice."
Claire skidded to a halt ten feet away, her hands raised, chest heaving. "Let him go, Victoria! It’s over! The police know you were at the school! They have your prints in the kitchen!"
Victoria sneered, her eyes gleaming with manic certainty. "Prints? I was defending myself. Daniel attacked me when I came to collect my legal belongings. And as for you... a hysterical teenager who couldn't accept her new mother. Who do you think the jury believes, Claire? A distinguished philanthropist, or an unstable family unraveling after a tragedy?"
Noah was sobbing, tears freezing on his pale cheeks. "Claire... I'm scared... the ice is cracking..."
"Don't look down, Noah," Claire said softly, keeping her voice as steady as steel, locking her eyes with her little brother. "Look at me. Keep your eyes on my face."
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Under Victoria’s designer boots, a deep, resonant *groan* echoed through the ice sheet. A hairline fracture spiderwebbed out from her heels.
***
