Chapter 2 - The Man Outside the Cabin
Leo reached beneath his coat and pulled out a compact pistol.
I stared at it.
“You had that the entire time?”
“One magazine.”
“And you let me drag you half a mile through a forest?”
“The gun doesn’t have legs.”
“Unbelievable.”
The knock came again.
Three slow strikes.
Leo raised one finger to his lips.
“Who knows your signal?” I whispered.
“Three people.”
“How many do you trust?”
“Tonight?”
His eyes hardened.
“One.”
The voice outside came quietly.
“Leo.”
Leo exhaled.
“Marco.”
He opened the trapdoor only after ordering me behind the stone foundation.
A broad-shouldered man entered the cellar seconds later, snow melting across his black coat. His left eyebrow was split and his right hand held a pistol.
Marco Bell had been Leo’s personal driver when I first started at Blackwood.
Apparently he was much more than that.
“Jesus Christ.”
Marco dropped beside Leo.
“I’ve been looking everywhere.”
“Samuel?”
“Controls the main house.”
“My father?”
“Alive when I got out.”
“Where?”
“East wing. Reed has him contained.”
Leo’s eyes narrowed.
“Contained?”
“Calls it protection.”
“That bastard.”
Marco looked at me.
“You’re the housekeeper.”
“Cleaner.”
“Leora.”
I blinked.
He knew my name.
Leo noticed.
“She saved my life.”
Marco’s expression shifted.
Then he nodded once.
“Thank you.”
“My sister.”
Marco looked confused.
“Men outside said someone took her from the hospital.”
He closed his eyes briefly.
“I heard Samuel order a team toward St. Anne’s.”
My throat closed.
“Why Sophie?”
“Because of you.”
Leo struggled to stand.
Marco stopped him.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“I’m going to St. Anne’s.”
“You’ve lost half your blood.”
“Then I’ll lose the other half in the car.”
Marco looked at me as though expecting me to be reasonable.
I wasn’t.
“We go now.”
“You’re both insane.”
“Yes,” Leo and I answered together.
Twenty minutes later, Marco’s SUV was cutting through the storm without headlights.
Leo lay across the back seat while I kept pressure against his wound.
“You’re not allowed to die.”
His eyes opened.
“Bossy.”
“My sister is missing because I saved you.”
“That isn’t your fault.”
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“Don’t give me comforting lines because you think I’m fragile.”
His mouth tightened.
“I don’t think you’re fragile.”
“Good.”
“I think you’re terrifying.”
Marco muttered from the driver’s seat, “Finally, something we agree on.”
St. Anne’s appeared through the rain just after one in the morning.
The emergency entrance was chaos.
Police cars.
Ambulances.
Storm victims.
Leo could not walk through the front lobby without being recognized.
Marco handed me a phone.
“Call Sophie.”
I did.
Straight to voicemail.
Again.
Nothing.
Then my own phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I answered immediately.
“Hello?”
A man spoke.
“Leora Hayes?”
My blood froze.
“Yes.”
“Your sister is safe.”
“Let me talk to her.”
“Soon.”
Leo sat up despite the pain.
I put the call on speaker.
The man continued.
“You made an unfortunate decision tonight.”
“Who are you?”
“You know who I work for.”
Leo’s eyes went flat.
“Samuel.”
The man laughed.
“Mr. Moretti. I’m glad you’re still breathing.”
Leo’s voice became frighteningly calm.
“Put Sophie on.”
“You’re in no position to make demands.”
“I’m always in a position to make demands.”
“Not anymore.”
I grabbed the phone.
“If you hurt her—”
“Then come home.”
Leo stared at me.
The caller said, “Blackwood. Sunrise. Leo comes with you.”
“And Sophie?”
“You’ll see her.”
The call ended.
I looked at Leo.
“No.”
He understood instantly.
“You’re not going back.”
“My sister is there.”
“That’s exactly why you’re not walking into Samuel’s trap.”
“She’s nineteen.”
“I know.”
“She has a heart condition.”
“I know.”
“She could die if they scare her badly enough.”
“I know.”
“Then stop telling me no!”
My voice cracked.
People across the parking garage turned.
Leo said nothing for a moment.
Then he reached into his coat and removed a tiny black flash drive.
Marco looked in the mirror.
“What is that?”
“The reason Samuel shot me.”
Leo placed it in my palm.
I stared down.
“That little thing?”
“It contains twelve years of financial transfers, shell companies, police payoffs, and security contracts.”
Marco swore.
Leo continued.
“Samuel has been selling access to Moretti operations for years.”
“To who?”
“Everyone willing to pay.”
“And you found out?”
“Three days ago.”
“Why didn’t you tell your father?”
A humorless smile touched his mouth.
“Because one account belonged to someone in my father’s inner circle.”
Marco’s expression darkened.
“Who?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“So Samuel wasn’t acting alone.”
“No.”
I closed my fingers around the drive.
Leo looked at me.
“That is our leverage.”
“We trade it for Sophie.”
“No.”
I stared at him.
“You just said—”
“We make Samuel believe we’ll trade it.”
“And then?”
“We take your sister and my father and get everyone out alive.”
Marco laughed once.
“That sounds easy.”
Leo looked at him.
“I didn’t say easy.”
My phone buzzed again.
This time it was St. Anne’s.
A nurse named Caroline spoke rapidly.
“Ms. Hayes, I’m calling about your sister.”
My knees almost gave out.
“Is she there?”
“She is now.”
I looked at Leo.
“What?”
“She was brought back ten minutes ago by two men who said they were family security.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s extremely upset. Her heart rate is elevated, but she is stable.”
I started crying before the nurse finished.
Leo closed his eyes with visible relief.
But Caroline continued.
“There’s something strange.”
“What?”
“Your sister says the men wanted her to give you a message.”
I wiped my face.
“What message?”
Caroline lowered her voice.
“She said they told her, ‘Tell Leora we know where her father hid the key.’”
Everything inside me stopped.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
Leo stared at me.
Marco slowly turned in his seat.
My father, Daniel Hayes, had been dead for six years.
He had also been the groundskeeper at Blackwood Estate before anyone ever called it Blackwood.
Leo spoke first.
“Leora.”
I barely heard him.
“What did your father do for my family?”
I swallowed.
“He worked for your father for twenty-two years.”
“And why did he leave?”
My mouth went dry.
“He didn’t leave.”
I looked down at the flash drive in my hand.
“He was fired for stealing.”
Leo’s expression changed.
“What did he supposedly steal?”
“A security ledger.”
Marco whispered, “No way.”
I looked between them.
“What?”
Leo sat up straighter despite the pain.
“My mother accused someone of stealing a security ledger sixteen years ago.”
“So?”
“So Samuel was promoted the week after it disappeared.”
The parking garage suddenly felt colder.
I thought of my father coming home that night, carrying one cardboard box, refusing to explain what had happened.
I remembered him telling me never to return to Blackwood.
I remembered the shame in his face.
And for the first time in six years, I wondered whether my father had actually been a thief.
Leo looked at the flash drive.
Then at me.
“Samuel isn’t afraid of you because you saved me.”
May you like
My heart sank.
“He’s afraid because of who your father was.”
