Chapter 8
For three years, I had imagined seeing Emily again.
In every version, I hugged her.
I cried.
I asked a thousand questions.
I never imagined she would appear behind Richard Hale with a gun in her hands.
Richard slowly turned.
“Emily.”
She looked thinner.
Older.
A scar ran from her temple into her hairline.
But it was her.
My friend.
No doubt.
Vance aimed his weapon at her.
“Drop it.”
Emily laughed bitterly.
“You still giving orders, Tom?”
Marcus stared.
“You knew she was here?”
“No.”
Emily kept her eyes on Vance.
“I came through the kitchen ten minutes ago.”
Margaret whispered, “That explains the woman I hit with the tray.”
Emily glanced at her.
“Appreciated.”
Richard shook his head.
“You should have stayed dead.”
Emily’s jaw tightened.
“You tried very hard to make that happen.”
I grabbed Sophie closer.
“Emily, Noah is safe.”
Her face changed instantly.
“Where?”
“With Daniel.”
Her eyes flashed.
“No.”
“He knows the truth.”
“Sarah, Daniel—”
“I know.”
Richard laughed.
“This reunion is touching.”
Emily’s gun shifted back toward him.
“Shut up.”
Vance took a step.
Marcus warned, “Don’t.”
Sirens sounded faintly in the distance.
Vance looked toward the road.
Richard looked surprised.
I did too.
Marcus smiled.
“Helen.”
Apparently she had called someone after all.
Vance snapped, “Who did she call?”
“Not your department.”
The sirens grew louder.
Federal agents?
State police?
I didn’t know.
But Vance suddenly looked scared.
Richard looked furious.
He grabbed Sophie.
It happened so fast I barely understood it.
One second she was beside me.
The next, Richard had his arm around her and was dragging her backward.
“No!”
I lunged.
Vance swung his gun toward Marcus.
Emily shouted.
Everything exploded into motion.
Margaret kicked Vance in the knee.
Marcus tackled him.
I ran toward Richard.
He dragged Sophie toward the river.
“Stop!”
Sophie screamed.
I followed.
Richard reached the bank.
A small motorboat was tied to a dock.
He shoved Sophie inside.
I jumped onto the dock behind him.
“You’re not taking her.”
He turned.
His calm mask was gone.
“You ruined everything.”
“You did that yourself.”
“You think Emily is innocent?”
“I think she’s alive.”
“She stole from me.”
“She exposed you.”
“She slept with my brother and convinced him to betray his family.”
“Michael chose her.”
“He chose weakness!”
Richard’s face twisted.
“For thirty years, I protected everything my father built. Michael wanted to hand it over because he fell in love with a teller.”
A teller.
That was how he saw Emily.
Not a person.
Not family.
A threat beneath him.
“Did you kill Michael?”
He stared at me.
Behind us, shouting continued near the house.
Richard lowered his voice.
“I told Vance to stop him from leaving.”
My blood ran cold.
“Stop him how?”
“I didn’t ask.”
Coward.
Even now.
“Did Vance kill him?”
Richard’s silence answered.
“And Claire?”
Pain crossed his face.
“Claire wouldn’t let it go.”
“She found out.”
“She found Noah.”
“And she helped Emily.”
“She betrayed me.”
“You keep calling love betrayal.”
Richard flinched.
That one hit him.
Sophie was crouched inside the boat.
I looked at her.
“Baby, jump.”
Richard grabbed her shoulder.
“Don’t.”
I moved closer.
“Let her go.”
“Bring me Noah.”
“No.”
“Then your daughter stays with me.”
“You’ll never get out.”
“I have people everywhere.”
“Not anymore.”
Sirens were now at the estate gate.
Richard’s eyes darted toward the house.
I saw fear.
Real fear.
His empire was collapsing.
And desperate men were dangerous.
He reached into his jacket.
I didn’t think.
I charged him.
We hit the dock.
His gun slid across the wood.
He grabbed my hair.
I hit him with both hands.
Sophie screamed.
Then she picked up the gun.
My heart stopped.
“Sophie, don’t touch it!”
She froze.
Richard looked toward her.
I kicked the weapon into the river.
Richard slammed me against a post.
Pain shot through my shoulder.
Then someone hit him from behind.
Emily.
Richard fell.
She grabbed his coat.
“This is for Michael.”
He laughed despite the blood on his mouth.
“You still think Michael was some hero?”
“He was better than you.”
“He was going to leave you.”
Emily froze.
Richard saw it.
“He told me.”
“You’re lying.”
“He found out what you did.”
Emily’s face drained.
“What I did?”
Richard smiled.
“You never told Sarah where the first money came from, did you?”
I looked at Emily.
“What is he talking about?”
Emily’s grip loosened.
Richard pushed her away.
“He didn’t start moving money because he discovered my operation.”
Emily shook her head.
“Stop.”
“He started because Emily asked him to.”
I stared at her.
“Emily?”
She looked at me.
Tears filled her eyes.
“My mother was sick.”
“What?”
“Five years ago. Insurance stopped paying for her treatment. I borrowed money.”
“From who?”
“Richard.”
Richard laughed.
“Not borrowed. Stole.”
Emily turned on him.
“You told me the account was abandoned!”
“I told you what you wanted to hear.”
I slowly understood.
Richard had tested her.
Given her access.
Then used that secret to control her.
Emily continued.
“Michael found out. He paid it back. Then he looked deeper into Richard’s accounts.”
“And found the laundering.”
“Yes.”
Richard spat blood into the grass.
“Your precious Emily started everything.”
“No,” I said.
He looked at me.
“You did.”
His smile disappeared.
“You saw someone desperate and gave her a rope. Then you wrapped it around her neck.”
Federal agents reached the lawn.
“Hands where we can see them!”
Richard turned.
For one second I thought he would surrender.
Instead, he ran toward the boat.
Emily grabbed him.
They struggled.
The dock creaked.
Then Richard slipped.
He fell into the river.
Agents rushed forward.
Marcus appeared behind them, handcuffed Vance stumbling beside him.
Richard surfaced.
He grabbed the dock.
An agent pulled him out.
Handcuffs snapped around his wrists.
I finally breathed.
Sophie ran to me.
Emily stood several feet away.
She looked at my daughter.
Then at me.
“Where’s Noah?”
“We’ll take you to him.”
Her face crumpled.
For the first time since she appeared, she stopped being the woman fighting Richard.
She became a mother.
“My baby.”
I held out my hand.
Emily took it.
Then Marcus’s phone rang.
He listened.
His face changed.
“What?”
He looked at Emily.
Then me.
“Daniel and Noah never made it to Helen’s.”
My stomach dropped.
“Where are they?”
May you like
Marcus shook his head.
“No one knows.”
