Chapter 6
Natalie took my phone.
“You’re not going.”
“I know.”
“You’re not even considering it.”
“I said I know.”
She stared at me.
I stared back.
Then I said, “But someone is going to that house.”
Thomas stood.
“I’ll go.”
“No.”
“I know Ryan.”
“So do I.”
Thomas’s mouth tightened.
“Not this version.”
That hurt because it was true.
I had shared seven years with Ryan and still had no idea who he was.
Natalie called the sheriff’s department.
Within fifteen minutes, deputies were heading toward my house.
Ryan called me before they arrived.
I answered on speaker.
“Sarah.”
His voice sounded calm.
Too calm.
“Where are you?”
“Come home.”
“No.”
“I need to explain.”
“You can explain to police.”
He laughed softly.
“You really think this is about a bracelet?”
I said nothing.
“You always were too trusting.”
My hands tightened.
Natalie signaled for me to keep him talking.
“What is it about?”
“My mother went too far.”
“Your mother?”
“Yes.”
“You planted the bracelet.”
“She told me to.”
“You stole money.”
“She told me to.”
“You cheated on me.”
Silence.
“Did she tell you to do that too?”
He exhaled.
“Claire was complicated.”
From across the room, Claire rolled her eyes through tears.
I almost smiled.
Almost.
“What do you want, Ryan?”
“To fix this.”
“You framed me for a crime.”
“I needed you out of the house.”
“Why?”
Silence.
Then he said, “Because there was something you weren’t supposed to see.”
I looked at Natalie.
“What?”
“Come home.”
“No.”
“You want the truth? Come home.”
“Send me a picture.”
“That’s not how this works.”
A deputy texted Natalie.
Units arriving.
She nodded for me to continue.
“What was in the house?”
Ryan’s voice dropped.
“Your father knew.”
My skin prickled.
“Knew what?”
“About my mom.”
I looked at Thomas.
He leaned closer.
“What about her?”
“She didn’t start with you.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Ryan continued.
“She’s been doing this for twenty years.”
“Stealing?”
“Controlling people.”
I waited.
“My dad wasn’t her first.”
Thomas looked confused.
“What does that mean?”
Ryan heard him.
His voice changed instantly.
“Who’s there?”
I said nothing.
“Sarah, who is with you?”
Thomas spoke.
“Me.”
The line went silent.
Then Ryan whispered, “Dad?”
Thomas’s face crumpled.
For one second, I saw a father.
Not a coward.
Not a liar.
Just a man hearing his son after two years.
“Ryan.”
“You’re alive.”
“Yes.”
Ryan began breathing hard.
“You’re alive.”
“Yes.”
“You let me think you were dead.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“I was afraid.”
“You coward.”
“I know.”
Ryan laughed.
But it sounded broken.
“You ruined everything.”
Thomas opened his eyes.
“No. Your mother did.”
“My mother saved me.”
“From what?”
“From being weak like you.”
Thomas flinched.
I suddenly understood something.
Linda hadn’t simply protected Ryan all his life.
She had built him.
Every excuse.
Every lie.
Every consequence she removed.
She had taught him that love meant loyalty without morality.
Thomas said quietly, “Son, tell police where you are.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Ryan.”
“You abandoned us.”
“I know.”
“You abandoned me with her.”
Thomas had no answer.
Ryan’s voice cracked.
“You knew what she was.”
Thomas looked destroyed.
“Yes.”
“And you left me.”
I almost felt sorry for Ryan.
Then I remembered my hair in Linda’s fist.
The bracelet in my purse.
The forged documents.
The possible drugs.
Pain explains cruelty.
It doesn’t erase it.
Ryan suddenly said, “Sarah, I’m sorry.”
I closed my eyes.
“For which part?”
“All of it.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I never wanted you hurt.”
“You watched your mother drag me across the floor.”
“I panicked.”
“You planted the bracelet before she touched me.”
Silence.
“You planned to destroy my reputation.”
Silence.
“You tried to steal my inheritance.”
Silence.
“And you may have been drugging me.”
His breath changed.
There.
That was the reaction I was waiting for.
“What did you put in my food?”
“Nothing.”
“Ryan.”
“Nothing.”
Claire stepped closer.
“I saw you crushing pills.”
Ryan cursed.
“You’re with her too?”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“Yes, Ryan. The wives and mistresses have unionized.”
Even Natalie almost smiled.
Ryan didn’t.
“You stupid—”
I interrupted.
“Do not speak to her like that.”
Another silence.
Ryan sounded almost amused.
“You’re defending her?”
“She didn’t marry me.”
That ended that.
Natalie received another text.
Police inside residence. No Ryan.
She showed me.
My stomach tightened.
If he wasn’t at home, the picture had been staged earlier.
“Where are you?”
Ryan ignored the question.
“Sarah, listen carefully. My mother has something on everyone.”
“What?”
“Insurance.”
“What kind?”
“Records. Videos. Messages.”
The flash drive.
“Is it on the drive?”
Ryan stopped breathing for half a beat.
He knew.
“Emma took it.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Mom told me.”
“From jail?”
“She called.”
Thomas stared at me.
Ryan continued.
“If you have the drive, don’t open it.”
“Why?”
“Because there are people on it who will do anything to get it back.”
Natalie wrote on a piece of paper.
Ask names.
“Who?”
“I don’t know all of them.”
“Give me one.”
“No.”
“Then this conversation is over.”
“Sarah—”
I hung up.
Natalie nodded.
“Good.”
My phone rang again immediately.
I rejected it.
Again.
Rejected.
Then a text.
YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT SHE RECORDED.
A second text arrived.
ASK MICHAEL WHY HE REALLY CAME BACK TO TEXAS.
I showed Thomas.
His face changed.
“What?”
“What is it?”
“Michael lived in Colorado until three years ago.”
“I know.”
“He moved back right before I disappeared.”
“So?”
Thomas looked troubled.
“He told everyone it was for work.”
“You don’t believe him?”
“I never thought about it.”
I called Michael.
He answered immediately.
“Sarah? Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Emma’s with me. She’s safe.”
“I need to ask you something.”
“Okay.”
“Why did you move back to Texas?”
Silence.
“Michael?”
“Who asked you that?”
“Ryan.”
Another silence.
Longer.
My stomach tightened.
“Tell me.”
Michael exhaled.
“Not over the phone.”
I almost screamed.
“No more secrets. Tell me now.”
Emma’s voice came faintly through the background.
“Dad?”
Michael said, “Three years ago, Mom called me.”
“And?”
“She said Dad was having an affair.”
Thomas looked stunned.
“She said she needed help proving it.”
“Was he?”
Thomas immediately said, “No.”
Michael heard him.
“Who was that?”
I looked at Thomas.
“Your father.”
Nothing.
Then a chair scraped on Michael’s end.
“What did you say?”
“Your father is alive.”
Michael stopped breathing.
Emma said, “Dad?”
I hated doing this over the phone.
But the truth had already waited two years.
“Thomas is here.”
Michael’s voice changed completely.
“Put him on.”
Thomas took the phone.
“Michael.”
Michael started crying.
Not quietly.
A grown man breaking apart through a speaker.
“You’re alive?”
“Yes.”
“You’re alive?”
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?”
Michael shouted so loudly Emma began crying too.
“You let me bury you!”
“There was no body.”
“I buried you anyway!”
Thomas covered his face.
“I know.”
“You let Emma cry herself to sleep for months!”
“I know.”
“Stop saying you know!”
Thomas lowered the phone.
Tears ran down his face.
I took it back.
“Michael.”
He breathed hard.
“Where are you?”
I told him.
“I’m coming.”
“Bring Emma only if she wants to come.”
“She does.”
Before he hung up, he said, “Sarah?”
“Yes?”
“There’s something else about Mom.”
Of course there was.
“What?”
“When I moved back, I found cameras in Dad’s office.”
Thomas stared at the phone.
“Cameras?”
“Mom had hidden cameras.”
My stomach turned.
“She said she was catching Dad cheating.”
Thomas shook his head.
“I never knew.”
“I removed two. Then Mom threatened me.”
“With what?”
Michael became quiet.
“She had footage of me.”
“What kind of footage?”
“Nothing illegal.”
He sounded ashamed.
“Just personal. Arguments with my ex-wife. Me drinking after the divorce. Things I didn’t want used in the custody case.”
Linda had blackmailed her own son.
That was the insurance Ryan mentioned.
“What happened?”
“I stopped asking questions.”
Thomas sat heavily.
Michael continued.
“A few weeks later, Dad died.”
Thomas whispered, “I’m sorry.”
Michael heard him but ignored it.
“And Sarah?”
“Yes?”
“If Emma found that flash drive under Mom’s desk…”
He paused.
“Don’t assume the videos are only about us.”
The call ended.
Nobody spoke.
Then David said quietly, “Robert suspected Linda was recording him too.”
I turned.
“My father?”
David nodded.
“He once found a listening device inside a conference room after Linda visited.”
My blood ran cold.
Everything went back farther than I knew.
Natalie looked at the sealed evidence bag containing the drive.
“We need law enforcement involved before opening that.”
Thomas nodded.
Then Claire looked toward the balcony.
“What is that?”
We all turned.
A small red light blinked near the ceiling.
For half a second, nobody understood.
Then Thomas stood.
“Camera.”
Claire went white.
“That wasn’t there before.”
Natalie took out her phone and photographed it.
I looked around the apartment.
If Linda owned this place, maybe we had been watched since we arrived.
Maybe someone knew Thomas was alive.
Maybe someone knew David had brought Dad’s letter.
Then the building fire alarm exploded.
A siren screamed overhead.
Lights flashed.
Claire jumped.
Natalie shouted, “Everyone out.”
We moved toward the door.
Smoke began curling under it.
Not from inside our apartment.
From the hallway.
Someone had set a fire outside.
Thomas opened the balcony door.
“We can’t use the hallway.”
We were eleven floors up.
The smoke thickened.
Claire coughed.
Natalie called 911.
Then my phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
May you like
One sentence.
GIVE BACK THE DRIVE OR THE NEXT FIRE WON’T COME WITH AN ALARM.
