The security guard picks Bailey up and places her on a seat in the helicopter. He handles her effortlessly. I stand on the step attached to the helicopter to take hold of Bailey's hand. Bailey is completely traumatized.
She is crying and struggling to talk to me. The security guard helps Ana into the helicopter and tries to get me to take a seat. Bailey looks back at the elevator doors.
"Ellie is still inside!" Bailey finally gets out between loud sobs.
"Okay, I will go get her!" I yell at Bailey, the noise of the helicopter drowning out most of my voice.
I turn to run towards the elevator doors. There is a sudden thunder rumbling in the skies. The clouds are pulling together. There is a storm brewing.
I get into the elevator and reach to push the button for the top floor. The button has a bloody thumb print on it. I hesitate for a moment and then decide to press it anyway. The doors closes slowly and the elevator begins its descend to the floor below.
As soon as the doors open is can see Ellie laying on the ground in front of the elevator. She does not move and the carpet around her is drenched in blood. I quickly poke my head out of the elevator, expecting to see Marcella with an axe held above her head. Ready to strike down any woman who dares to come close to her precious boys.
There is nobody else in the short hallway that leads to the penthouse doors. I grab Ellies arms and pull her into the elevator. I press the button for the rooftop and watch as the doors close again. Way too slowly.
As soon as the doors are closed I bend down to check if Ellie is alive. There is a feint heartbeat. She opens her eyes slightly and gives me half a smile when she sees me.
"Rachel, she is going to kill them all today." The words come from Ellie's mouth in a barely audible whisper. The doors of the elevator opens before I could tell Ellie anything. I wish there was something I could tell her to soothe her.
The security guard is there as soon as the door is completely open. He quickly assesses Ellie's wounds and then picks her up and hurries to the helicopter. He places her on the floor in front of the other two women.
He turns back to get me to get into the helicopter. I can see in his eyes the torment he must be feeling as he sees the elevator doors closing between us. I can only hope he chooses Ellie's life above his orders to get four women off the roof tonight.
He also does not have a lot of time to wait for me. The storm is brewing and the skies are growing darker by the second. They need to leave.
The elevator comes to a stop on the top floor of the building. The doors open and the first thing I notice is the blood stain on the carpet where I found Ellie.
I exit the elevator, walking on my toes towards the penthouse doors. The doors are not completely closed. One of the doors are slightly open. Luckily penthouse doors don't creek when you open them. I push the door open slowly and put my head through the opening. I can hear voices inside but I do not see anyone.
I slip in through the opening and have to quickly put my hand over my mouth. Just inside the door lays a security guard on the floor. I stepped on his hand before I saw him. I am not sure if he is dead or just unconscious. I bend down to take the gun from his one hand. I honestly hope there are ammunition in the gun. I do not have enough knowledge of guns to actually check if there is.
I sneak deeper into the penthouse towards the voices.
The very large living room is freezing cold. There are gushes of wind blowing through he vast open space. I peek around the corner of the entrance way to see one of the large floor to ceiling windows are broken.
Marcella is standing with her back towards the broken window. She is dressed in a bright red sequined dress that looks like it painted onto her body. In any other setting I would say the dress looks perfect on her. Today she is definitely overdressed for the occasion.
"My boys!" She croons. Her voice sounds as if she is extremely happy to see them. They are all positioned in a half moon in front of her, a few feet away from her and from each other. They actually look like they are caging her in.
Did she break the window to get away from them?
Thunder strikes outside the open window and rain starts pouring in. It is only in the flash of lightning that I notice the large knife in Marcella's hand. There is also blood on her arm and other hand. Is it her blood? Is it Ellie's blood?
The men all have strained expressions on their faces.
"Mother, you need to stop this! Give me the knife!" Ryan pleads with his mother and takes a step closer to her. She looks at Ryan and smiles lovingly at him.
"Ryan, my eldest. You have always been my favourite." Marcella croons.
I cannot help but roll my eyes. Ryan has always been her favourite and she has never made a secret about it.
"Oh how I miss our little vacations together." She smiles at him.
"We can go on more Mother. Give me the knife." Ryan is still pleading with her. There is blood on his shirt. What on earth happened before I came here?
"You boys have made the most horrible life choices. Luckily Mother is here to fix it now." She looks from Ryan to Adrien.
"Adrien, my little follower. You could have been your own kind of greatness if you had not always followed Ryan so blindly." There is less love in her voice when she speaks to Adrien.
Her gaze travels from Adrien to Greyson and then to Brandon.
"Brandon, you could not amount to anything even if Ryan helped you." There is a distinct disapproval in her voice. "And Greyson, marrying a whore! Really?" More disapproval.
She turns back to Ryan. "Don't worry baby. I will not let you make the same mistakes." Her voice has turned motherly and lovingly again. It is amazing how her love for each of her quadruplets are so audible in her voice.
"Mother" Ryan says, "I love Rachel. I want to marry her!"
The look on Marcella's face is one of complete horror and disgust.
"No!" she yells at him. "I will never allow it!"
"Mother, please. We can talk. Give me the knife!" Ryan pleads again.
The expression on Marcella's face turns into sharp anger. She lets out a scream as she flings the knife at Ryan. It huts him in the stomach and he folds over from the blow. He falls to the ground and lays in a lifeless bundle.
It could not have been more than a few seconds, but it felt like a very long time that everyone stared at Ryan laying on the ground. Not moving.
"No!" I hear the cry piercing the air. When everyone turns to look at me, I realize that it's me screaming. I come out from behind the corner and walk towards Marcella at a fast pace, while getting my finger ready on the trigger of the gun. I lift my arm to aim just as Adrien encircles his arm around my body.
I aim for her head and pull the trigger. The bullet hits her in her shoulder and makes her stumble backwards.
Grayson comes closer to take the gun from me. I realize I have very little time to shoot again.
I aim at her head again and pull the trigger just as Greyson grabs my hand. The bullet hits her just below her collar bone, to the same side as the previous bullet.
Marcella staggers backwards. Her high heel gets caught on the frame of the broken floor to ceiling window and she trips and topples out of the window. She doesn't even scream.
Everyone in the room is stunned for a few seconds. Greyson gently pulls the gun from my hand. Brandon makes his way quickly to the broken window. Adrien lets go of me and he and Greyson follows Brandon to look out the broken window.
The penthouse has an overhang over the ocean. It was built on the edge of the cliff to give the occupants the illusion of hanging over the ocean. Looking down all one could see are rocks and deep dark waters.
There is no sign of the brigh sequined red dress in the waters.
I run to Ryan and kneel next to him. He is breathing faintly. I can hear Brandon talk in the background.
"There is no sign of her."