Chapter 5: The Mother Who Refused to Die
The gunshot still rang in Mara's ears when Lillian pulled her behind the black SUV.
“Stay down!””
Another bullet struck the pavement.
Thomas raised his weapon and fired once toward the far end of the alley.
The shooter disappeared.
Claire crouched beside Mara, breathing so quickly that her shoulders shook.
“Who are these people?”” she whispered.
Lillian ignored the question.
She grabbed Mara by the shoulders.
“Are you hurt?””
“No.””
“Your hands?””
Mara looked down.
Her palms were scraped and bleeding.
“I'm fine.””
Lillian's eyes remained fixed on her face.
For twenty-two years, Mara had imagined her mother's face from photographs.
Now the real woman was standing inches away.
Older.
Tired.
Terrified.
But alive.
Mara pushed her hands away.
“You don't get to do that.””
Lillian froze.
“You don't get to touch me and act like my mother.””
“I am your mother.””
“You died.””
“I know what they told you.””
“Who told me?””
Lillian glanced toward Thomas.
“He did.””
Thomas's expression hardened.
“I didn't tell her anything.””
“You knew she was alive.””
“I knew you were alive,” Thomas said.
“I didn't know where you were.””
Lillian looked back at Mara.
“I stayed away because I thought it would keep you safe.””
Mara laughed bitterly.
“Safe?””
She pointed toward the alley.
“Someone just shot at us.””
“I know.””
“My uncle shot at me tonight.””
Lillian's face went pale.
“He found the basement.””
“He was already there.””
Lillian closed her eyes.
For a moment, she looked as though she might collapse.
Then she whispered, “Then we're out of time.””
Mara stepped closer.
“No more secrets.””
Lillian nodded.
“You deserve the truth.””
“Everything.””
“Yes.””
“Starting with why my father died.””
Lillian looked at Thomas.
“He didn't die because of the accident.””
Mara's stomach tightened.
“I knew it.””
“Daniel was investigating the same network that killed Jonathan Pierce.””
“Richard?””
“Richard was part of it.””
“Part?””
Lillian nodded.
“He wasn't the person who ordered Jonathan killed.””
Mara stared at her.
“Who did?””
Lillian's lips trembled.
“I don't know.””
“You said you'd tell me everything.””
“I told you I would tell you the truth. Sometimes the truth is that there are still things I don't know.””
Mara folded her arms.
“Then tell me what you do know.””
Lillian looked toward the SUV.
“Get in.””
“No.””
“Mara—”
“No more running.””
Lillian's eyes filled with tears.
“You think I wanted to run?””
“I think you disappeared and left me with a father who never explained why I couldn't have a mother.””
Lillian flinched.
“I left because someone threatened to kill you.””
Mara said nothing.
“I was given a photograph of you sleeping.””
Mara's expression changed.
“A photograph?””
“You were five.””
Lillian's voice broke.
“They had taken it through your bedroom window.””
Claire covered her mouth.
Lillian continued.
“They told me that if I spoke to the police, if I contacted Daniel, if I tried to take you with me, you would die.””
Mara swallowed.
“So you abandoned me.””
“I left to save you.””
“You could have told me when I was older.””
“I tried.””
Mara stared at her.
“When?””
“Several times.””
“When?””
“The first time was when you were sixteen.””
Mara's eyes widened.
“Sixteen?””
“I came to San Diego.””
Mara shook her head.
“I would have remembered.””
“You did.””
Lillian reached into her coat and pulled out a small envelope.
She handed it to Mara.
Mara stared at the handwriting.
Her father's.
She opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Mara at sixteen, sitting outside a restaurant with a strange woman.
Her own face was turned away from the camera.
But she knew the jacket she was wearing.
The day suddenly came back.
Rain.
Her father picking her up early from school.
A woman at the restaurant watching them through the glass.
Mara had asked who she was.
Daniel had told her she was nobody.
Mara looked at Lillian.
“That was you.””
Lillian nodded.
“I sat ten feet away from you for forty minutes.””
“Why didn't you speak to me?””
“Because a man was watching from across the street.””
Mara looked at the photograph again.
In the background was a blurred figure.
A man wearing a dark baseball cap.
Thomas looked at the image.
“I remember him.””
Mara turned.
“You know him?””
Thomas nodded slowly.
“He worked for the company.””
“What company?””
“Bennett Holdings.””
Mara felt cold.
“My family's company?””
“It wasn't your family's company,” Thomas said.
“Not originally.””
He pulled the laptop from under his arm.
“Daniel inherited the legitimate business. The rest was built around it.””
“What does that mean?””
“Money laundering. Property manipulation. Offshore transfers. Bribery.””
Mara stared at him.
“Richard did that?””
“Richard helped manage it.””
“And my father?””
“Your father discovered what was happening after Jonathan Pierce died.””
“Then why didn't he expose Richard?””
Lillian answered.
“Because Daniel was afraid.””
“Of Richard?””
“Of the person above him.””
Mara's voice dropped.
“Who?””
Lillian looked at Thomas.
Thomas shook his head.
“Not here.””
Mara's anger returned.
“Then where?””
“Somewhere protected.””
“I am done being moved around like luggage.””
Lillian reached for her hand.
Mara almost pulled away.
But she stopped.
Lillian's fingers were trembling.
“There is someone you need to see.””
“Who?””
“Your brother.””
Mara frowned.
“Lucas?””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“Because Lucas knows more than you think.””
Mara stepped back.
“My brother was devastated when Dad died.””
“He was.””
“So?””
“Your brother helped Richard.””
Mara stared at her.
“No.””
Lillian nodded sadly.
“He helped him hide the financial records.””
“That doesn't make sense.””
“Lucas was twenty-six. He was drowning in debt.””
Mara remembered.
Three months before Daniel's death, Lucas had asked their father for money.
Daniel had refused.
Their argument had been explosive.
Mara had heard shouting from upstairs.
She had ignored it.
“What did Lucas do?”” Mara asked.
“He copied the records and gave them to Richard.””
“Why?””
“Because Richard promised to erase his debts.””
Mara felt betrayed.
“You're saying my brother sold our father out?””
“I’m saying he made a terrible choice.””
“What happened afterward?””
Lillian looked away.
“Daniel found out.””
“And?””
“He confronted Lucas.””
Mara's chest tightened.
“When?””
“The night before Daniel died.””
Mara stopped breathing.
The phone call.
Come to the shop tomorrow.
Her father's last call.
She hadn't been angry.
He had been trying to warn her.
“Lucas was there,” Mara whispered.
Lillian nodded.
“With Daniel?””
“Yes.””
“Did they fight?””
“Yes.””
“Did Lucas hurt him?””
“No.””
“Then who did?””
Lillian hesitated.
“I don't know.””
Mara turned toward Thomas.
He looked down.
“You know.””
“I know what Daniel suspected.””
“Tell me.””
Thomas shut the laptop.
“Daniel believed the person responsible wasn't trying to steal his money.””
“What were they trying to steal?””
Thomas looked at Mara.
“His evidence.””
Silence settled over the alley.
Mara thought about the archive.
The missing recordings.
The encrypted final file.
The photograph of her mother.
Everything pointed toward one horrifying possibility.
Someone had been cleaning up the past.
And Daniel had known he was next.
“Where is Lucas now?”” Mara asked.
Lillian's expression changed.
“He disappeared yesterday.””
Mara's heart dropped.
“What?””
“He left San Diego without telling anyone.””
“Where did he go?””
“We don't know.””
Mara immediately called him.
The phone rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then voicemail.
She hung up.
Called again.
Nothing.
“Maybe he's hiding,” Claire said.
“Maybe he's dead,” Thomas answered.
Mara glared at him.
“Don't.””
Thomas's face remained grim.
“I’m not trying to frighten you.””
“You're doing a terrible job.””
He almost smiled.
Then the laptop made a sound.
All four of them looked down.
A notification appeared.
*NEW FILE RECEIVED.*
Mara leaned closer.
The sender was unknown.
The file name was:
*LUCAS_11:43 PM*
Her blood ran cold.
“Open it,” Lillian whispered.
Thomas grabbed Mara's wrist.
“Wait.””
But Mara had already clicked.
A video appeared.
The screen showed Lucas.
He was sitting in a dark room.
His face was bruised.
His hands were tied behind a chair.
Mara gasped.
“Lucas.””
He looked directly into the camera.
“Mara, if you're watching this, they know.””
His voice shook.
“They know about the basement. They know about Mom.””
Lillian covered her mouth.
Lucas looked behind him.
“There's something Dad never told us.””
A door opened somewhere off camera.
Lucas's eyes widened.
“Mara…”
He leaned toward the camera.
“Don't trust Richard.””
A man's voice came from behind him.
“Who told you to record this?””
Lucas flinched.
The screen shook.
Then Lucas shouted:
“Mara, the third person is—”
The video cut to black.
Mara stared at the screen.
“The third person is who?””
No answer.
Lillian took a trembling breath.
Thomas looked toward the street.
A second black SUV turned the corner.
This one did not slow down.
It accelerated.
Thomas grabbed Mara.
“Get down!””
The SUV crashed through a parked car.
Its doors flew open.
Three armed men stepped onto the street.
Lillian pulled Mara toward the driver's door.
“Get in!””
Claire climbed into the back.
Thomas fired toward the attackers as Lillian started the engine.
The SUV tore away from the curb.
Mara looked through the rear window.
One of the men raised his weapon.
Then stopped.
He wasn't looking at Lillian.
He was looking directly at Mara.
And even from a distance, Mara recognized him.
He was the man from the photograph taken when she was sixteen.
The man who had watched her from across the restaurant.
The man her father had been afraid of.
Mara turned to her mother.
“Who is he?””
Lillian stared at the road.
Her face had gone completely white.
“That,” she whispered, “is the man who told me to disappear.””
“Who is he?””
Lillian finally looked at her daughter.
“Your father's attorney.””
Mara's heart sank.
“Mr. Hale?””
Lillian nodded.
“And he isn't working for Richard.””
Mara stared at her.
“Then who is he working for?””
Lillian gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white.
“He's working for the person your father spent twenty years trying to expose.””
Mara's voice was barely audible.
“Who?””
Lillian didn't answer.
Because her phone had begun ringing.
May you like
The caller ID displayed a name Mara had not seen in eleven months.
*Daniel Bennett.*
