Chapter 5
Nobody moved.
Marcus slowly raised his hands.
My mother’s grip on the gun looked steady.
Too steady.
That scared me almost as much as Marcus did.
“Mom?”
She didn’t look at me.
“Stay quiet, Daniel.”
Marcus smiled.
“Margaret.”
My stomach dropped.
He knew her.
Not casually.
There was history in the way he said her name.
My mother stepped closer.
“Tell Evan to release Sophie.”
Marcus glanced at Evan.
“Do it.”
Evan let go.
Sophie ran to Lauren instead of me because I was still tied.
Lauren immediately wrapped both arms around her.
“Are you hurt?”
Sophie shook her head.
Lauren moved her behind a stack of boxes.
I stared at Mom.
“How do you know him?”
“Not now.”
“Yes, now.”
Marcus chuckled.
“Daniel really hates being left out.”
Mom’s finger tightened near the trigger.
“You don’t get to speak to him.”
“He deserves the truth.”
“The truth from you?”
Marcus looked at me.
“Your mother and I were once partners.”
Everything inside me stopped.
“What?”
“Business partners,” Mom snapped.
Marcus smiled.
“Among other things.”
“Shut up.”
I stared at her.
“Mom?”
She finally looked at me.
For the first time in my life, I didn’t recognize my own mother.
“When your father died, I needed money.”
I was nineteen when Dad died.
A construction accident.
At least that was what we had always been told.
Mom continued.
“I started doing accounting work for Marcus.”
Marcus corrected her.
“You helped build my first billing company.”
“You were stealing.”
“Eventually.”
“You told me it was legal.”
“And you believed me because you needed to.”
Mom’s face tightened.
I whispered, “Emily knew?”
“Yes.”
My heart broke all over again.
“How?”
“She found old documents.”
“Documents from you?”
Mom nodded.
“She confronted me.”
“When?”
“Two months before she died.”
Marcus watched us like he was enjoying dinner theater.
I couldn’t understand how every person I loved had lived a separate life behind my back.
Emily.
Mom.
Michael.
Lauren.
“How much did you know about the threats?”
Mom looked away.
“Not enough.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I knew Marcus had people watching Emily.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“She made me promise.”
I laughed.
Everyone made promises.
Everyone decided I was too weak for the truth.
And Emily ended up dead.
Sophie ended up kidnapped.
I ended up tied to a chair in an abandoned warehouse.
Marcus stepped forward.
“Margaret, this reunion is touching, but Detective Monroe will be here soon.”
Mom aimed higher.
“Then you’re running out of time.”
“No. You are.”
He looked toward the ceiling.
I heard it.
A low mechanical hum.
Mom heard it too.
“What did you do?”
Marcus smiled.
“Fire suppression systems are fascinating things.”
Smoke began pouring from vents above us.
Not smoke.
Gas.
Lauren screamed.
“Daniel!”
Marcus dropped suddenly.
Evan tackled Mom.
The gun fired.
The bullet hit a metal support beam.
Sophie screamed.
Chaos exploded.
Lauren rushed toward me.
Mom fought Evan.
Marcus ran toward a side door.
I rocked the chair.
“Lauren!”
She grabbed a knife from a nearby table.
Her hands shook as she cut through my restraints.
The gas thickened.
My eyes burned.
“Get Sophie out!”
Lauren pointed toward the rear.
“There’s an emergency exit!”
I grabbed Sophie.
She clung around my neck.
“Grandma!”
Mom was on the floor.
Evan had both hands around her throat.
I put Sophie down behind a crate.
“Stay here.”
“No!”
“Stay!”
I ran at Evan.
I hit him from the side.
We crashed into a shelf.
Boxes fell around us.
He punched me twice.
I hit back.
He was stronger.
But I was angrier.
He reached for something at his waist.
A knife.
Before he could pull it, Mom grabbed the fallen gun.
She struck him in the side of the head.
Evan dropped.
“Move!”
Mom dragged me up.
We ran.
Lauren carried Sophie.
The gas was getting thicker.
My lungs burned.
Somewhere behind us, a siren started.
Not police.
A warehouse alarm.
We reached the emergency exit.
Locked.
Lauren kicked it.
Nothing.
“Move.”
I hit the crash bar with my shoulder.
Again.
Again.
The rusted latch broke.
We stumbled outside into fresh air.
Mom collapsed on the pavement.
Sophie coughed violently.
I grabbed Lauren.
“Where’s Marcus?”
“I don’t know.”
Police vehicles appeared from both ends of the road.
Rachel jumped from the first car.
“Hands!”
Officers rushed us.
I raised mine.
“My daughter needs medical help!”
Paramedics came moments later.
Rachel searched the warehouse with officers wearing respirators.
Evan was arrested unconscious.
Marcus was gone.
There was an underground service tunnel beneath the building.
By the time police found the exit, an abandoned vehicle sat at the other end.
Marcus had disappeared.
But he left something behind.
A laptop.
It was encrypted.
And according to Rachel, it might contain enough evidence to bring down half of Harlow’s network.
We were taken to a hospital.
Sophie suffered mild smoke inhalation but was otherwise okay.
Mom needed stitches in her forehead.
I sat beside Sophie’s bed while she slept.
Lauren waited outside with a police officer.
I didn’t know whether she was a suspect, witness, victim, or all three.
Rachel came in just after midnight.
She closed the door.
“Evan is alive.”
“Good.”
“I’m not sure good is the word I’d use.”
“I want him talking.”
“So do we.”
I looked at Sophie.
“What about Lauren?”
Rachel sat down.
“She’s cooperating.”
“Do you believe her?”
“I believe parts of what she’s saying.”
“What parts?”
“She knew Emily.”
“I know.”
“She was helping Emily investigate Harlow.”
“I know that too.”
Rachel paused.
“She also met you intentionally.”
That hurt more than I expected.
I looked at her.
“What?”
“Your first meeting with Lauren wasn’t accidental.”
I remembered it perfectly.
A coffee shop.
She spilled coffee near my laptop.
Apologized.
We talked.
She recognized my wedding ring even though Emily had been dead more than a year.
I thought she was charming.
Rachel continued.
“Lauren says Emily asked her to find you if anything happened.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“To protect Sophie.”
“That makes no sense. Why not tell me immediately?”
“Because Lauren claims she suspected someone close to you was involved.”
Michael.
Mom.
Maybe me.
“Who?”
“She didn’t know.”
I looked at the door.
“Can I talk to her?”
Rachel hesitated.
“Not alone.”
“Fine.”
Five minutes later, Lauren entered wearing hospital scrubs someone had given her.
Her wedding dress was in an evidence bag.
She looked exhausted.
She sat across from me.
Neither of us spoke for a while.
Then I asked the only question that mattered.
“Did you love me?”
Lauren started crying.
“Yes.”
“Was that part of Emily’s plan too?”
“No.”
“You approached me because of her.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me.”
“Yes.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever intend to tell me?”
She wiped her face.
“After we were safe.”
“We were about to get married.”
“I know.”
“When exactly were we going to become safe?”
She couldn’t answer.
I looked toward Sophie.
“What did Emily ask you to do?”
Lauren’s voice trembled.
“She gave me a letter.”
My heart stopped.
“For me?”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“I hid it.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere Marcus couldn’t find it.”
“Lauren.”
She looked me in the eyes.
“It’s in Emily’s grave.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“Inside the lining of the casket.”
Rachel leaned forward.
“You opened a grave?”
“No. Emily arranged it before she died.”
My skin crawled.
Lauren continued.
“She knew she might be killed.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“And she still got into that car?”
“She thought she had a way out.”
“What way?”
Lauren shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Rachel asked, “What does the letter contain?”
Lauren looked at me.
“The name of the person Emily believed betrayed her.”
Silence filled the room.
I asked, “Who?”
“I never read it.”
“Why not?”
“Because it was addressed to you.”
I stood.
“We’re getting it.”
Rachel shook her head.
“Not tonight.”
“Yes.”
“The cemetery is closed and now part of a potential evidence recovery operation.”
“I don’t care.”
“I do.”
I stared at her.
Then my mother appeared in the doorway.
Her face had gone white.
“You can’t open that grave.”
Everyone turned.
I looked at her.
“Why?”
May you like
Mom’s lips trembled.
“Because Emily isn’t in it.”
