Chapter 7
Police reached my house first.
I arrived less than a minute later.
The front door stood open.
Lights were on.
An officer blocked me.
“Sir, wait.”
“That’s my house.”
“We’re clearing it.”
I heard a voice inside.
A woman’s voice.
My entire body stopped.
Even after three years, I knew it.
“Daniel?”
The officer turned.
I pushed past him.
She stood in the living room.
Emily.
Alive.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
She looked different.
Her hair was shorter.
There were lines around her eyes that hadn’t been there before.
A thin scar crossed her right temple.
But she was Emily.
My wife.
Sophie’s mother.
The woman I had cried over.
Dreamed about.
Buried.
Talked to in an empty cemetery.
She whispered my name again.
I crossed the room.
She opened her arms.
I stopped two feet away.
Her expression broke.
“You’re alive.”
“Yes.”
I slapped her.
The sound shocked everyone.
Emily staggered.
I stared at my own hand.
Then I grabbed her and pulled her against me.
She sobbed.
I sobbed.
I hated her.
I loved her.
I didn’t know which feeling was stronger.
“You’re alive.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re alive.”
“I’m so sorry.”
I pushed her away.
“Sophie.”
Her face crumpled.
“Where is she?”
“Hospital.”
Emily went white.
“What happened?”
“She was kidnapped.”
“No.”
“Because of this. Because of Marcus. Because of everything you didn’t tell me.”
Emily backed up.
“Is she okay?”
“Yes.”
She covered her face and started crying.
I wanted to comfort her.
I couldn’t.
Lauren entered behind Rachel.
Emily saw her.
Everything changed.
“You.”
Lauren froze.
“Emily.”
Emily crossed the room and slapped her.
Harder than I had slapped Emily.
Lauren took it.
“You promised me.”
Lauren’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
“You promised you wouldn’t get close to him.”
I stared between them.
“What?”
Emily looked at me.
“I told Lauren to watch you.”
Lauren whispered, “Emily.”
“No more secrets.”
I laughed bitterly.
“That would be new.”
Emily wiped her face.
“I asked her to make sure you and Sophie were safe. Nothing more.”
I looked at Lauren.
“You knew that.”
She nodded.
“And you started dating me anyway.”
“It wasn’t planned.”
Emily looked disgusted.
“You moved into my house.”
“Your house?”
Lauren snapped.
“You abandoned them.”
Emily stepped toward her.
“I kept them alive.”
“You broke them.”
“So you thought sleeping with my husband would fix it?”
“He wasn’t your husband anymore.”
Silence.
I looked at Lauren.
Then Emily.
Then I said, “Enough.”
Both women stopped.
“I am not a prize you get to argue over.”
Emily looked ashamed.
Lauren looked away.
“My daughter almost died tonight.”
Emily whispered, “I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
I pointed toward the stairs.
“She cried for you every night for a year.”
Emily covered her mouth.
“She stopped asking me when you were coming home because I told her dead people can’t come home.”
Tears streamed down Emily’s face.
“She drew pictures for you. Birthday pictures. Christmas pictures. She put them beside your grave.”
Emily sank onto the couch.
“I couldn’t contact her.”
“You contacted Mom.”
“To make sure you were safe.”
“You contacted Michael.”
“To track Marcus.”
“You contacted everyone except us.”
“Because you were the targets.”
I stared at her.
“We still were.”
She had no answer.
Rachel stepped in.
“I need everyone focused. Marcus is still missing.”
Emily straightened.
“He’ll go to Harlow Tower.”
Rachel frowned.
“Why?”
“There’s a private server room on the thirty-second floor.”
“We already secured the corporate offices.”
“You secured the official offices.”
Emily looked at Michael, who had been brought inside in handcuffs.
He nodded.
“She’s right.”
Rachel looked furious.
“How many illegal buildings does this man have inside legal buildings?”
Emily said, “Enough.”
“What’s on the servers?”
“Every payment. Every fake account. Every bribe. Every death tied to the company.”
Lauren’s face changed.
“Claire.”
Emily nodded.
I looked at her.
“Lauren’s sister?”
“Claire discovered what Marcus was doing before I did.”
Lauren sat down slowly.
“She didn’t die in a car accident, did she?”
Emily shook her head.
“I’m sorry.”
Lauren began to cry.
I had never seen grief arrive in real time like that.
Her shoulders folded.
She covered her face.
Emily crouched beside her.
“Claire copied records. Marcus found out. Evan gave him her location.”
Lauren looked up.
“My brother-in-law killed her?”
“No. But he betrayed her.”
Lauren stood so fast the chair fell.
“I’m going to kill him.”
Rachel blocked her.
“No, you’re not.”
Lauren shoved her away.
Rachel grabbed her.
“Lauren!”
“He knew!”
“I know.”
“He sat at her funeral!”
Rachel held her.
“And he is in custody. Do not turn yourself into another prisoner.”
Lauren collapsed against the wall.
Emily watched her.
Then she looked at me.
“This is why I disappeared.”
I felt sick.
“How many people died?”
“At least eleven.”
The room went silent.
“Eleven?”
“Employees. Auditors. Patients who discovered records. Two investigators.”
Rachel asked, “Can you prove it?”
Emily opened her coat.
She removed a flash drive from an inside pocket.
“I can prove all of it.”
Rachel took it.
“What’s the encryption key?”
Emily looked at me.
“Sophie’s birthday.”
My stomach twisted.
Even while living as a ghost, she had carried our daughter with her.
That made me angrier somehow.
A police radio crackled.
Officer down at Harlow Tower.
Rachel grabbed hers.
“What happened?”
Static.
Then:
Shots fired. Suspect barricaded on thirty-two.
Marcus.
Rachel headed for the door.
Emily stood.
“I’m coming.”
“No,” Rachel said.
“He won’t surrender unless he sees me.”
“That isn’t happening.”
“He’s looking for this.”
She pointed toward the flash drive.
Rachel shook her head.
“He no longer knows who has it.”
“He knows I do.”
I stared at Emily.
“How?”
“Because I told him.”
Everyone froze.
“You what?”
“I contacted Marcus this morning.”
“Why?”
“To draw him out.”
“On our wedding day?”
Her eyes flicked toward Lauren.
“Yes.”
Lauren stared at her.
“You knew we were getting married today?”
Emily nodded.
“And you chose today to return?”
“I chose today because Marcus would be distracted.”
I laughed.
It came out empty.
“My wedding was part of your operation.”
Emily didn’t deny it.
That hurt.
Even my almost-marriage had become another piece on someone else’s board.
My phone was gone, but the house phone rang.
Everyone looked at it.
Nobody moved.
It rang again.
Rachel nodded to an officer.
He activated recording equipment.
I answered.
“Hello?”
Marcus.
“You have something of mine.”
I looked at Emily.
“No. I think you have things that belong to a lot of people.”
He laughed.
“Emily’s there.”
Not a question.
“Yes.”
“Put her on.”
Emily shook her head.
I said, “No.”
Marcus sighed.
“You’re finally becoming difficult.”
“You kidnapped my daughter.”
“That was Evan’s enthusiasm.”
“You ordered it.”
“I allowed it.”
My hand tightened around the receiver.
“What do you want?”
“The drive.”
“What do we get?”
“A chance to stop another funeral.”
My heart stopped.
“Whose?”
He paused.
Then a child cried in the background.
I looked upstairs instinctively, even though Sophie was at the hospital.
Emily went pale.
“That isn’t Sophie,” I whispered.
Marcus laughed.
“No.”
Lauren suddenly stood.
Her face lost all color.
“My niece.”
Emily turned.
Lauren whispered, “Claire’s daughter.”
I stared at her.
“You have a niece?”
“She lives with my parents.”
Marcus said through the phone, “Her name is Ava. She’s nine. Very sweet.”
Lauren lunged for the receiver.
“You touch her—”
Marcus interrupted.
“Thirty-two minutes. Harlow Tower. Emily comes with the drive.”
The line went dead.
Lauren looked at Emily.
“You brought this back to my family.”
Emily’s eyes filled.
“I’ll fix it.”
Lauren shook her head.
“You don’t get to say that anymore.”
Then she turned to me.
“Daniel, I need your help.”
I stared at both women.
One had married me in her heart and disappeared.
The other almost married me while lying about why she entered my life.
And now a nine-year-old girl was trapped between the secrets they had carried.
May you like
I said, “We’re getting Ava back.”
This time, nobody argued.
