Meanwhile, the lady and master Pinkerton had managed to exit the mansion grounds. Since their speed was very low, they had taken quite a few minutes. Lady Pinkerton immediately received a call from Vine,
"I'm at the grey gate; where are you?" Vine asked.
"We moved along the mansion walls." The lady explained.
"I'm coming!" Vine said.
"What exactly is happening?" the grandfather asked.
Lady Pinkerton neither had time not desire to respond, she continued walking.
"Grandma! Grandma! Here, come to me!" Vine called.
Since it was already towards the early morning hours, it was no longer too dark. Lady Pinkerton spotted her grandson, and the elderly couple walked towards him.
"We need to leave. The whole main road is full of people. Not only our employees. The masses have joined." Vine explained.
"Where did they all come from?"
"Most of them must be from the university. I guess the university students saw the video at night, and they were marching to our mansion when they met our staff outside, now they are all chanting. They have placards too." Vine explained.
"Will you tell me what is happening?" Grandpa said. No-one responded. Instead, Vine went on to say,
"I have already called our guy. Our passports are ready; we can fly out within the next four hours maximum. Our offshore accounts will take care of us until things settle."
"Where is Dream? The doctor? And the other men?" lady Pinkerton asked.
"I left them. They will have to look out for themselves," Vine said.
"And Ray?"
"That stupid police officer? I have no idea where he went," Vine responded.
The young man was driving the car. He did his best to avoid the roads which were full of people. When he was about to turn into another road, he had to screech to as stop, for he heard voices of people. The Pinkertons were shocked. They would have never guessed that the number of people would have ballooned that much; especially considering the time of the day.
"Can't our IT guy delete the video?" lady Pinkerton asked in desperation.
"He's trying his best, but it's too late," Vine said while reversing the car. He made sure to hide it behind thick bushes which were used to decorate a house along the road.
"What video are you talking about? Can you tell me why we're running away?" master Pinkerton asked.
The grandmother and grandson remained silent. They watched in silence as the masses of people marched on. They had added more lines to their mantra:
Who killed Gareth?
Why do people disappear?
Give us answers!
Burn down the mansion!
Burn down the mansion!
Vine watched, and for the first time in his life, he got scared. They had placards too.
Meanwhile, when the tear gas was thrown, Jessica was left with no option but to run away. Both herself and Vincent Lisandro were choking and coughing badly, so she ran. She used the grey gate, for her intention was to avoid the crowd. She intended to call as soon as she got to a safe place. Alas! Kiara had no phone. The phone just continued to ring without being picked. It was lying somewhere in the lady's office; from the time that they took it away from its owner.
Jessica remained standing there, not sure of what to do. Her heart's desire was to get to her own home as soon as could be. She did not have Vine's number; but she sure had lady Pinkerton's; for she had once been her temporary personal assistant. Seeing no harm in leaving the boy with his grandmother, Jessica dialed the number.
"Hallo?" lady Pinkerton responded.
As soon as she responded, Vine ordered her to put the phone on speaker. They all heard Jessica talking:
"Lady Pinkerton, I still have the junior master with me. I really need to go to my home. I am scared."
Vine snatched the phone from his grandmother, and he spoke into it,
"Where are you?"
"I exited using the gray gate, and I crossed the road. Now I am on that road which connects with the university." She was breathless.
"Wait there, I am coming!" Vine said.
"Why do you need the child?" the grandma asked when the car had started moving towards the said place.
"We will use him, if the worst comes to the worst," Vine responded.
When they arrived at the place, they thanked Jessica for taking care of the 'young master', and they asked where Kiara was.
"I don't know where she is," Jessica lied.
She knew that Kiara was freeing her parents; and she fared to tell that to her employers; for she had no idea why the parents had been thrown in the cell in the fist place. The Pinkertons took the child and drove off.
***.
In another home, a man had personally created a secret room. The room, which was part of the main house, was intelligently concealed. By sealing up its main door and painting the place, making it appear as if it was just a wall, the man had gone all out in order to protect his daughter. The daughter, whose life had been confined to that room every single day, had slowly begun to accept her fate.
On the other side of the room, they had broken the wall, making a hole whereby she could sneak in and out, going to use the bathroom. The bathroom that she used was the one connected to her parents' bedroom.
And she got her food in the very same way. The young girl was tired of living such a life; but she and her family were too scared. She was not able to take chances; by leaving the secret room, for she had no idea what awaited her outside. No one except her father and mother knew that she was there. Even her young brother had no idea; for there were chances of him telling people at school or at church.
The couple had told everyone, family members, friends and workmates, that their child had flown out of the country.
After they had watched the video three times over, the couple rushed to the room.
"Tessa! Tessa my child! You can now come out! You're finally free!" the mother cried.
Upon hearing that, Tessa stood up and walked towards the hole in the wall. She exited the room and fell into her mother's embrace.
"You're finally free, my child!" the mother cried.
Tessa cried too, and her little brother ran into the room to meet his sister. He was more than shocked to see that his sister had been in the house all along.
"Here, watch," Tessa's mother showed her the video. By then, it had over a million viewers, and the comments were pouring in like showers of rain.
The whole country was in an uproar, for everyone knew the Pinkertons and their wealth, and they were shocked to know that the family was that shady. Ok, everyone already knew that they were shady; but who knew that they were that bad!! Confessing to murder online? And forcing vasectomy on a young man? And what made the video even more interesting was seeing the Police Captain in his pajamas, holding down a young man to undergo the said procedure.
Tessa cried like she had never cried before. They were tears of joy. It was difficult for her to believe that finally; she was free to go. At last; she could walk outside without fear.
When she continued to read the comments, she was shocked by what she read,
"Gareth died? Did the young master kill him?" she asked in shock.
"Don't address him as the young master any more, my child. He is no-one's master. His name is Vine," Tessa's father chuckled.
He too was overwhelmed with joy; seeing his own daughter finally free from the Pinkerton claws.
"Why don't we let Tessa write her own story too; along with the comments here?" the mother suggested.
"No," the dad chimed in. "If she writes anything now, it will just drown in the millions of comments. Let the noise die down first, then we can give a detailed story, telling people everything that we know about that Pinkerton family. I'm sure even the police will want to get a report from us."
The family continued to talk happily, enjoying the freedom which, although delayed; had finally come to Tessa, at the most unexpected hour.