Mountain Refuge (Mountain Mutineers #1)

Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Adam

I led him into Brooke’s bedroom so we could close the door. I knew how voices echoed around the cabin, and I didn’t want our conversation overheard easily.

Henry was still in my arms, but the kid was currently being entertained by his own foot. It was a fascinating discovery that took up his whole attention.

“What the hell, man?” Corbin asked, keeping his voice low. “What happened?”

I sat on the edge of the bed. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“Jack told me some of it. I didn’t know this before, but when I sent you that postcard years ago, he looked you up. He’s protective of those of us who live up on the mountain and he wanted to make sure you were a good person if you tried to contact me.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but his previous research explained a lot about our first conversation. As well as how Jack was able to jump into action so quickly to help us. Any other situation, I probably would care a lot more than I did right then. I was just grateful Jack had been able to help my kids and me out.

“It started eight years ago, right when you sent the postcard actually. When I received it, I was in the middle of packing. I’d been offered a new job and it included live-in quarters. I’d given up the lease on my apartment.” I shook my head at my own stupidity. “I should have done more research. Or I should have asked more questions. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty though. At the time, I just knew that this millionaire was moving me into his mansion to tutor his fifteen-year-old son. He would pay me to tutor him and pay for advancing my degree.”

“Sebastian Gunther?”

I nodded. “He seemed like your everyday millionaire. Stuck-up, condescending, and did not accept failures. When his son—Trenton is the son’s name—failed a math test, he was furious. Took a crystal vase that probably costs more than my annual salary and smashed it against the wall. The only reason I wasn’t fired within my first month of being there was because Trenton copped to not being the one that took the test at all. He’d ditched class to have sex with another student and had paid yet another student to take the test for him.”

Corbin snorted. “I really want to say something like ‘kids today…’ but we were probably just as stupid at fifteen.”

I couldn’t argue with him. Corbin and I had ditched class more than once too. Mind, neither of us did it to have sex. We weren’t exactly popular with the girls in our school. I’d only managed one kiss before graduation. Sex hadn’t happened for me until I’d gone to college. As far as I knew, Corbin hadn’t had sex before he’d gone to prison—and I certainly wasn’t going to ask him to verify the accuracy of that statement.

“Gunther was so proud of his son for having sex, called him a man, that he didn’t even care about the test. Looking back on it, maybe I should have seen something then, but I was just so thrilled to still have my job that I pushed any concerns I had aside. Gunther instructed me to continue tutoring him, and then added like it was a funny joke that I should also add Sex Ed to my curriculum.

“Less than a month later, it became common knowledge around the mansion that Gunther’s mistress , not his wife,” I clarified, “was pregnant. She was one of the maids. There were rumors that this was not the first time he’d gotten one of the staff pregnant. However, the difference this time was that the wife had recently moved out. They were living in separate households in different states. I guess Gunther didn’t care anymore if she knew about his affairs or an illegitimate child.

“He approached me about a change in my job responsibilities and title. Rather than being a tutor for his almost sixteen-year-old son, I would be the sole caretaker and nanny for the baby when he or she was born. Apparently now that the son was sexually active, he didn’t need a tutor anymore.” I shrugged, to this day still not understanding that logic. “I was honestly thrilled. Trenton was a horrible student. As bad as it is for me to admit this, I was happy to be leaving that position.

“I spent a lot of time with Helena, the pregnant mistress. She was excited about the baby and was completely convinced that Gunther was going to divorce his wife to marry her. What she didn’t know, and that I accidentally found out, was that most of Gunther’s business connections came from the wife’s side of the family. He was never going to divorce his wife and risk losing that standing with her family. Helena was so sure, though. She was utterly convinced that Gunther was going to marry her. The last couple of months of her pregnancy, she even started to refer to herself as his fiancée.

“Then Lydia was born, and Gunther didn’t show. When Helena was brought to the hospital, I had called and texted him, but all I got back was a single acknowledgement text of ‘fine’. Man couldn’t even be bothered to come to his own daughter’s birth.

“A couple of days after we brought Lydia home, I was informed by Gunther that Helena had been dismissed from her services and was no longer welcome in the mansion. It took me by surprise. How could she leave her daughter? I didn’t understand it. I was instructed by Gunther to care for and raise Lydia. He was fine with her being in the house, but he was not to see or hear her. Again, I didn’t understand. The man didn’t want his own daughter either.

“It was Trenton who informed me what had really happened. Surprisingly, he was actually attentive to Lydia. She was his half-sister after all. I was proud of him for showing her affection. Anyway, Trenton told me that Gunther had paid Helena a lot of money to sign away her parental rights to Lydia. She signed another document saying that she would never try to contact Lydia or come near the mansion again. If she did, she would forfeit her monthly stipend.”

Corbin, who had been silent for most of my story, shook his head in disgust. “What sort of mother does something like that?”

“A greedy one, I suppose.”

“What happened next?”

“Not a lot for the next several years. Lydia grew into a beautiful little girl. She is so smart and absolutely loves puzzles. Around her fifth birthday, though, things started to change. Up to that point, Gunther hadn’t paid any attention to Lydia. He would occasionally ask for a status update on her, but he’d never visited her. Lydia didn’t know him as her father. In fact, she called me her father. I corrected her when she was younger, but eventually I stopped. I knew it was wrong of me to call her my own, because I was being paid to care for her, but, Cor, she was my daughter . I raised her, I loved her, I taught her, I named her. Gunther was nothing more to her than a sperm donor. She didn’t even know who he was. She’d never even seen his face. She knew Trenton was her brother, but she knew nothing of her biological father.”

Corbin gave me a sympathetic look. “I get it, man. I’m not a dad, but I know I’d do anything, have done everything, to protect my mom.” I nodded, having been there for the aftermath of that protection. “What happened when she turned five?”

I cleared my throat. “Gunther suddenly started wanting her around. She was to be dressed up and presentable. She was to attend meals with him. It was a complete one-eighty to the first five years of her life. Lydia was confused. She did everything I asked of her, but she didn’t understand it. She would sit at these big meals and parties Gunther was hosting and look for me in the crowd. I wasn’t allowed to sit or talk with her during the parties. I was the servant ,” I spat the word, “and could only attend to her from a distance.

“I relied on Trenton a lot during those parties. He was the one allowed to be near her, and she knew him. We coached her on making sure to call Gunther ‘Father’ and to never call me ‘Daddy’ in public. Trenton told me that the change in Gunther’s behavior was from some new investors that Gunther had. He was trying to impress them by presenting himself as being a family man. He always explained his wife’s absence by saying she was ‘shopping in Paris’ or was ‘on a cruise’ with some girlfriends…

“Things went on like this for a couple of months. New investor, new party, and Lydia was dolled up like a piece of art to be shown off. And then…” My voice trailed off as a flash of that horrible night came to the surface.

Corbin came forward, resting his hand on my shoulder. He gave me a reassuring squeeze but didn’t speak. I appreciated him keeping his silence so I could get my thoughts in order.

“We were summoned to Gunther’s office. Trenton wasn’t there. It was Gunther, two bodyguards, and two other men I didn’t recognize. Lydia was to be brought in for a show of sorts. We’d rehearsed it numerous times. It was a skit Gunther put on for the investors. Lydia would barge into his office, run over to Gunther, and hug him. She would say what a great time she had at the park and try to tell him all about it. Gunther would then say that he’s got a friend over and she could tell him all about the park at dinner. In the last couple times we did this, Gunther would even boop her on the nose for effect. Lydia was to smile, wave to the investor, and then run back to me. I was always by the door. I was not allowed further into the room than the wall by the door.

“I always hated when Lydia had to do this, but we’d done it numerous times by then. I assumed this time would go just as smoothly as the others.” I flinched, the echo of the gunshot still in my head. “I was so wrong. The investor didn’t allow Lydia to run past him to come to me. Instead, he grabbed her by her skirt and brought her towards him. I started forward but Gunther gave me this look that told me I was to stay in my place and…” I had to fight through my shame to admit, “I froze. I stayed where I was told to stay like a good little servant while my daughter was dragged up onto the lap of a stranger.”

Bile rose in my throat. Henry curled up closer to me, as if he sensed I needed his comforting touch.

“The investor started talking about stock . I didn’t understand. Gunther was a businessman who dealt in trades. I wasn’t really paying attention to what was being said though because all my attention was on Lydia. She was sitting stiffly, her thumb in her mouth. She was so uncomfortable. And I just stood there .”

I hated myself for that. More than I would ever admit aloud.

“And then the investor put his hand under Lydia’s skirt. She was five . I started forward again. I didn’t care what Gunther said at that point. I was not going to stand by and watch Lydia be molested. But then Gunther, who was just sitting calmly behind his desk at this point, casually raised a gun and shot the investor in the head. With Lydia still on the man’s lap .”

There were no words to describe the fear I had felt in that moment. Lydia had screamed so loudly I’d thought she’d been shot too.

Corbin took Henry from my arms. I hadn’t realized until then that he’d taken off his jacket. He was wearing a long sleeve beige shirt. His pants looked like the same polyester material of the suit Brooke donned before going outside.

I appreciated him taking the baby. As much as it comforted me to have Henry in my arms, I needed space right then. I needed to move. We silently swapped seats. He sat on the bed holding Henry and I started pacing the room.

“I felt like I was running through Jell-o . I couldn’t get to her fast enough. The man started to slump over. She would have been crushed under him if he’d fallen with her still in his lap. I caught her just in time. She was covered in blood. It was all over her face, her hair, her pink dress… She was screaming and crying, clutching me like I was her lifeline.

“Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gunther put the gun down. Then he instructed me to take Lydia out of the room and he’d find me later.” I shuddered. “He was so calm . It was…unnerving. He’d just shot a man with his own daughter on the man’s lap, inches from where the bullet had passed by, and he was just sitting there cool and collected.

“I knew the man was cruel. I knew he was calculating and ruthless when it came to business. I’d been working for the man for six years at that point, I’d picked up on some things. But a murderer ? A psychopath?” I shook my head. “I never saw that coming.”

I continued my pacing. I could feel my palms sweating and my fast heartbeat. I was grateful I’d eaten a light lunch, or it probably would have already come back up by now.

“I knew I had to call the cops, but Lydia was my priority. I had to get her cleaned up and she was so hysterical. I kept going over and over in my head what I needed to say to the police. I didn’t want to forget a single detail, including which drawer in his desk Gunther had put his gun in. That would be evidence. It hit me then that I didn’t even know the man’s name. I hated him for having touched Lydia, but I’d also seen him be murdered. And I didn’t even know his name.

“I guess I was in shock myself. My thoughts just kept whirling in my head like my brain had been thrown into a blender. I remember thinking that nothing had to change once Gunther went to jail. Trenton would inherit the mansion and would take guardianship of Lydia. He’d let me stay and continue caring for her. Nothing had to change.” I shook my head, looking up at the ceiling. “I was so foolish. Of course, a man like Gunther was prepared for me to go to the police.

“I had just gotten Lydia calmed down enough to sleep when Gunther came to my rooms. I hadn’t had a chance to make my phone call yet. In the all the years that I’d been there, Gunther had never come to my rooms. When he needed to talk to me, I was always summoned to his office. It was where he held the most power and authority. That was his domain. So, for him to show up in my rooms… I truly thought he was there to kill me. Sick as it was, I was grateful Lydia was asleep, so she didn’t have to watch my murder too.

“Up to that point, despite the heinousness of the murder itself, a part of me believed or wanted to believe he’d done it to protect his daughter. After all, the man had had his hand up her skirt.” I turned to Corbin. “Cor, he didn’t even care about me seeing the murder. He didn’t care about the man touching Lydia. What he cared about was that I never repeated what I’d overheard about the shipment coming in.”

“What shipment?”

“Exactly. I had no idea what he was talking about. I’d been so concerned about Lydia that I hadn’t even paid attention to what was said between Gunther and the investor. Still, I swore that I’d never repeat what I heard. It was the truth, as I had no idea what was said anyway, but I knew he wouldn’t believe me if I said that. Gunther nodded once and told me that I wasn’t to bring Lydia around again until he specifically said otherwise. I was starting to get my hopes up that that was it and he would leave, then I could call the police and report the murder.

“But then, Gunther pulled a gun out of his coat pocket. I froze. Gunther waved off my concern like my reaction to the weapon was foolish. When Gunther held up the gun, I realized it was in a plastic bag. Now I’m no expert on weapons, but even I could tell that this gun was different than the one he’d used to shoot the investor. I didn’t understand why he was showing it to me.

“Gunther then reminded me of how I was fingerprinted at the start of my employment. He never came out and said my fingerprints were on that gun, but the implication was there. He said something along the lines of, it would be a shame if the police were made aware of what had happened that night because the only weapon they would find would be the one he was holding, and it wasn’t his fingerprints that were on the gun.

“Before I could even fully process the threat, he was gone.”

“Fuck. And you were fingerprinted when you started?”

I nodded solemnly. “I thought it was all part of the background screening required to take the job.

“Later, after Trenton had heard what happened, he came to my room to check on Lydia. After I’d taken the job as Lydia’s nanny, I’d been moved to a bigger room that was attached to her then-nursery, now-bedroom. It was late and she’d already woken up screaming from a nightmare, so I had had her in bed with me. Trenton sat on the bed on her other side. For all his faults as a teen, he truly did care about his sister. That was when I discovered why that man had died. He’d been skimming money from Gunther. Trenton told me he would have died whether he’d touched Lydia or not. Then Trenton made me swear that, no matter what, I never repeated that I now knew his family money came from human trafficking.”

“Holy fuck,” Corbin breathed out. Then he winced when he looked down at the baby in his arms. “Oops. I mean, holy fudge-sicles.”

Despite the story I was telling, a humorless laugh escaped me. “Thankfully, he’s too young to remember any of this.”

“A good thing.” Corbin looked at the closed door then back at me. “What does Lydia remember?”

“Too much, unfortunately. She still has nightmares, wets the bed, and she knows that her birth dad is a very bad man.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

I gave him a sorrowful look. “It gets worse.”

“Well, shit.”

“Gunther didn’t summon Lydia again for about six months. I tried to make her life as normal as possible, tried to get her to open up about what had happened so she could process it, but she was terrified of Gunther. Sometimes when Trenton came in to visit, she was scared of him too before she realized he was her brother and not her father. Trenton never held it against her, but I could tell it bothered him.

“Lydia was six by then. She knew what had happened wasn’t right or normal. I started studying child psychology more in depth so I could better help her. She’d been making progress, less nightmares and she hadn’t wet the bed in a couple of weeks, but I didn’t know what facing Gunther would do to her. I was so grateful when it was Trenton who came to get us. I knew he would protect her if I couldn’t get to her in time.

“Lydia was very quiet during the meal. She hadn’t acknowledged Gunther as he demanded she did when she attended these gatherings. I could tell he was not happy about how she entered the room without greeting him, but he didn’t draw attention to it in front of his guests.

“Dinner came and went. Trenton was even able to get a smile out of Lydia by making funny faces at her from across the table. Then, after dinner, we were summoned to his office. Trenton, Lydia, and me.” I swallowed hard. “As soon as we entered, Gunther slapped Lydia across the face.”

“Fuck.”

I seconded the expletive. “I jumped between them. Biological father or not, no man strikes my daughter. Trenton got her off the floor and cradled her to his chest. She was crying. And then…” I let out a shaky breath. “And then Gunther informed me of the choice I had to make. Lydia was my responsibility. Therefore, her failures and wrongdoings were my own. I either had to step aside while she was punished, or I could take her punishment for her. But if I took it, it would be twofold.”

“I’m not going to like this, am I?”

I shook my head. “Trenton tried to talk his father out of it. He kept saying that she was just a little girl, and she was getting over a trauma, but Gunther didn’t care. I could see it in his eyes. He would punish Lydia for not greeting him in front of his guests when she entered the dining room.” I swallowed around the lump in my throat as I admitted, “I said that I would take her punishment for her.”

“Goddamn.”

“Gunther went over to his desk. I didn’t know what he intended. A part of me thought he was going to get his gun. All I knew was that I was not going to allow Lydia to be punished. I told Trenton to take her back to her room and stay with her until I returned.” I hadn’t said the if I returned to Trenton back then, but we had both known it was unspoken. “But Gunther told Trenton to stay. He wanted Lydia to see what happens when she misbehaves. I begged him to let her go. Told him that he could do whatever he wanted to me as long as Lydia wasn’t subjected to it.” I would never forget the stricken look on Lydia’s little face as she figured that I was going to be punished for something she had done wrong. Never. “Gunther still told Trenton to stay.”

I fell silent, terrible memories whirling around in my head. I wasn’t sure how to admit what happened next. Sometimes it still felt like a bad dream. If it wasn’t for the scars on my back, I might have been able to convince myself of that too.

“What did he do to you?” Corbin’s voice was low and gentle. It didn’t take a genius to figure out how hard admitting and reliving all this was for me.

“He flogged me.”

“He what? ” It was probably a good thing he was holding Henry just then or I had a feeling Corbin would have thrown a fit of rage with how angry he was at my admission.

“My daughter and her brother watched as I was stripped of my shirt, told to stand up against the wall, and then I was flogged with a whip. I don’t know if he would have used the same whip or a smaller one for Lydia, but I received twenty strikes, which meant she would have gotten ten. The man was going to flog his six-year-old daughter.”

“Dear God. Did you go to the hospital? What happened?”

I turned my back to him and lifted up my sweater to my pits. I had three scars from my ordeal. One was long and went from my right shoulder blade, across my spine, and ended at my left side. That had been one of the first to bleed when I’d been struck. Most hadn’t broken flesh, but the ones that had were permanently with me. The second scar was shorter than the first and almost directly below it. The third went from the left side of my spine around my side to almost my bellybutton.

“That rat bastard. I’ll kill him.”

Coming from a convicted murderer, I wasn’t sure how seriously to take that statement. I lowered my shirt and turned back around. “If you’re going to kill him, do it for what he did next to Lydia and not for what he did to me. I took that punishment to save my daughter. I’ll never regret that.”

“You’re a better man than I am, Adam. I don’t know if I could have done what you did.”

“When you have kids, you’ll understand. There isn’t anything you wouldn’t do for them.”

A haunted look crossed his face. It was there and gone again in the blink of an eye. “I don’t think kids are in the cards for me.”

That was a conversation for another time. “To answer your question, I didn’t go to the hospital. That would have raised too many red flags. Instead a physician came to the mansion to check on my wounds. Trenton called him, by the way, not Gunther.”

“I’m actually starting to like this kid.”

I gave a wry smile. “Me too. He took charge of Lydia while I couldn’t. He’d bring her in to me so I could see her and spend time with her. Otherwise, he was with her twenty-four-seven while I was laid up. He even changed my bandages and put the medication the doctor had prescribed me on my back.”

I had been stuck on my belly for over a week so the cuts could heal. The doctor had said I could get up if I felt up to it, but any movement would break the cuts open again. It was better to let them heal as quickly as possible to lessen the scarring.

“One night, it was super late, probably around two or three in the morning, I woke to find Trenton sneaking into my room. He’d been sleeping in Lydia’s, but he’d never come into my room like that before. He told me he had a plan to get Lydia out of the mansion and away from their father. After what had just happened to me, I was all for it. But we had to do it safely. We had to somehow escape and assume new identities that Gunther couldn’t track or trace. Trenton said he would start to work on it, but he wanted to make sure I was willing to leave with her. I never even hesitated. I told Trenton to do what he had to do and, when everything was ready, we would leave and never look back.

“It took almost a month for Trenton to get everything together. But fate had a plot twist neither of us were expecting.” I gestured to Henry, now asleep in his uncle’s arms. “Trenton found out another one of Gunther’s mistresses was pregnant.”

“Wow, this guy needs to learn to glove up or pull out.”

Surprisingly a snort escaped me. “I truly don’t think the man cared.”

“Obviously, you stayed.”

I nodded. “We had to. I wasn’t about to subject another child to that life. Trenton and I considered Lydia and I leaving before the birth and then Trenton would somehow get the baby to me, but we nixed that idea almost as soon as we had it. Once I was away with Lydia, I couldn’t ever contact Trenton or risk leading Gunther back to Lydia.

“So, we stayed. Once again Gunther came to me and told me that I was to be his son’s nanny too. The woman was further along than I’d expected. I was with Helena for almost six months of her pregnancy. This woman was almost eight months along when I met her.

“There were complications with the birth, though. The woman had preeclampsia and her heart gave out during delivery. Henry was a preemie too, so he was in the NICU ward for several weeks because his lungs weren’t fully developed yet .

“Once again, Gunther wasn’t there for any of this. Trenton took care of Lydia at home because I didn’t want her in the hospital. I stayed with Henry until he was released to go home. There was actually a clerical error when they made the birth certificate, and I was named as Henry’s birth father.”

Not that that mattered now. I didn’t have that document with us. Plus, I doubt a piece of paper would stop Gunther from claiming Henry as his son.

“By the time I brought Henry home, he was almost six weeks old. Trenton and I didn’t know what to do. We now had a baby to get out of the mansion too. A baby needed more supplies and care than a seven-year-old did. Trenton said that Gunther was so ecstatic about having a son that he was actually acting nicer. We decided to wait until Henry was a year old to leave. He would be bigger by then, able to handle more. Lydia would be eight by then too, so she’d be able to help out more.”

If only, if only…

“Then, three weeks ago, Gunther called us to his office again. We hadn’t been summoned there since the night I’d taken Lydia’s punishment. I didn’t know what to expect. As soon as we entered, though, I saw the look of horror on Trenton’s face… I should have run then. I had Henry in my arms, I had Lydia’s hand… I should have just run then.

“But we would have been stopped. We would have been caught if I’d done that. And yet, what I wouldn’t give to have spared Lydia that next hour.”

“Shit, man. You don’t need to tell me if you’re not ready.”

I shook my head. “You’re taking a risk protecting us. You need to know. You have a right to know why I’m risking your life too.”

Corbin hesitated but then nodded his agreement.

“There was a group of men in the office with Gunther. From the way they held themselves and the weapons I could see, I guessed them to be gangsters or maybe even the mafia. Hell, I still don’t know what organization type Gunther was in. Not that that matters now.

“Lydia was instructed to walk forward for ‘inspection’,” my tongue soured at the word. “She looked at me and Trenton, but we couldn’t tell her no. She walked over to where Gunther stood with the group of men.

“This time, I paid attention to what was said.” Yet, there were times when I wished I hadn’t. I had that image of Lydia’s intended future permanently stuck in my head for the rest of my life. “And from the moment I understood what was happening, I was beyond horrified. Gunther was arranging Lydia’s marriage to the other boss’s son. His late thirties son.”

“The fuck!” Corbin’s exclamation was so loud it woke Henry, who started crying.

I reached for my son, rocking him to my chest to calm him. “Cor, it was disgusting. Apparently, the one boss wouldn’t do business with Gunther unless there was a family connection. They needed to be bound with more than just a handshake. Since his only adult child was male, Gunther offered up his daughter—who is still a little girl!

“The deal was struck. I watched them shake hands before ordering champagne to be brought out like it was an engagement party. Lydia was to go live with her intended husband at his estate. She would leave in the morning. Gunther instructed me to pack her things, just hers. I was not going with her. Then he stated like he was assuring me that the actual wedding wouldn’t take place until she was twelve. As if that would make me feel better about him selling off his daughter or the statutory rape that would follow.”

Corbin made a gagging sound. I wasn’t that far behind him.

“Trenton was outraged. I was so shocked I’m not even sure I uttered a single word during the entire meeting. He started shouting that his sister was not one of his father’s inventories that he could sell off. He called his father a child molester and a murderer. He told the other boss that he shouldn’t want to do business with his father because he would double cross them and cheat them out of their share.” I shook my head in shame. Henry had finally started to quiet down. “I should have seen it coming. I’d seen that look in Gunther’s eye before, that eerie calm that meant something bad was about to happen.

“Cool as a cucumber, Gunther picked up his gun and shot Trenton.”

“No!”

I nodded morosely. “He didn’t kill him, but he shot him in the shoulder.”

I didn’t know Trenton’s current fate, and that haunted me. Had he died while I’d kidnapped his brother and sister? As far as the law was concerned, I had kidnapped them. I was not their legal guardian. To anyone other than my children, I was just the nanny. The law didn’t take actions and love into consideration or the fact that I was the only father either child had ever known. If we were caught by the police, I would go to jail, and maybe for more than just kidnapping if that gun Gunther had with my fingerprints on it was also found. The children would go back to their psychopathic father. If we were caught by Gunther… Well, I doubted I would live long enough to learn what would become of my children.

I had to finish. I had to tell Corbin everything, to get it off my chest. “Lydia started screaming and that woke Henry up. He started crying. On top of the children’s hysteria, the other boss had pulled a gun on Gunther. His bodyguards pulled theirs and the other bodyguards pulled theirs.” I flinched, still hearing the piercing echoes. “Trenton was lying on the floor. I could see the pain in his eyes, but he looked right at me and yelled ‘run!’

“I’m still not sure how Lydia got to me. She had been across the room next to Gunther. Then suddenly she was next to me. I took hold of both kids, and I ran out of the office. Seconds later, gunshots were fired.

“Other guards started running towards the office. In the chaos, I got the kids into my car. I had grabbed the diaper bag, which already housed a spare set of clothes for me and Lydia, and, at the last second, your postcard.” With a heavy sigh, I ended my story. “You know the rest.”