Chapter 14 - GARRETT TOOK THE BULLET MEANT FOR HERChaos erupted.
Victor slammed Richard into a metal support beam.
Thomas grabbed the gun.
Evelyn rushed toward Garrett.
Blood poured from his shoulder.
“You idiot.”
He gasped.
“Nice to see you too.”
“Why did you do that?”
He looked toward the bassinet.
“Our son.”
The answer was simple.
No performance.
No manipulation.
Evelyn pressed fabric against his wound.
Outside, police sirens erupted.
Thomas stared at Richard.
“You brought police?”
Richard shouted:
“She did!”
“No,” Evelyn said.
Everyone looked at her.
“I brought insurance.”
Tracking devices.
Samuel.
Detective Reed.
Richard cursed.
Thomas suddenly lifted his gun.
Victor raised his.
For one terrible second, Evelyn expected a firefight.
Then Thomas aimed at Richard.
Richard stared.
“What are you doing?”
“What I should have done thirty years ago.”
Richard laughed.
“You think Evelyn will forgive you?”
“I don’t care.”
Thomas lowered the weapon and stepped away.
Police stormed the hangar.
Richard attempted to run.
Victor tackled him.
Officers surrounded both.
Evelyn grabbed her son.
The second he touched her chest, she broke down.
“My baby.”
Alive.
Warm.
Safe.
Garrett lay several feet away while paramedics rushed toward him.
He watched Evelyn hold their child.
For the first time since she had known him, he smiled without arrogance.
Then his eyes closed.
“Garrett!”
He survived.
The bullet passed through his shoulder without striking major vessels.
Richard was arrested.
Thomas surrendered.
It seemed like the nightmare might finally be over.
Then Detective Reed opened Richard’s forged authorization.
His face changed.
“What?”
Evelyn asked.
“This document was used yesterday.”
“For what?”
“A safe-deposit facility.”
Her heart sank.
“The bank.”
Reed nodded.
“Someone accessed the Mercer vault at 11:07 a.m.”
“Garrett and Eleanor.”
“No.”
Reed showed security images.
Garrett and Eleanor entered the building.
But they never entered the protected vault.
Another person did.
Dr. Laura Bennett.
Evelyn stared.
“Laura has the archive.”
Victor cursed.
Richard smiled from inside the police vehicle.
Evelyn saw him.
“He wanted us focused on him.”
Victor nodded.
“Laura was always the extraction plan.”
“Then where is she?”
Nobody knew.
Thomas, handcuffed beside another vehicle, laughed bitterly.
“You still don’t understand.”
Evelyn turned.
“Understand what?”
“Laura doesn’t work for Richard.”
Richard’s smile disappeared.
Victor stared at Thomas.
“Then who?”
Thomas looked toward Evelyn.
“For Charles Mercer.”
Silence.
Evelyn felt the world stop.
“My father is dead.”
Thomas smiled sadly.
“So was Richard.”
Evelyn walked closer.
“What are you saying?”
Thomas looked at Richard.
Then at Victor.
“Charles survived the crash.”
Victor’s face went white.
“No.”
“I found him.”
“When?”
“Thirty minutes after impact.”
“You told investigators—”
“I lied.”
Evelyn could barely speak.
“Where is he?”
Thomas’s expression became tired.
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I kept him alive for six months.”
“Why?”
“Because he promised to expose Richard.”
Victor grabbed Thomas by the shirt despite the cuffs.
“Where did Charles go?”
Thomas looked into his eyes.
“After someone tried to kill him in the hospital, he disappeared.”
“Who?”
“I never knew.”
Evelyn thought about Laura.
The archive.
Martin’s warning.
Someone above Eleanor.
Someone above Richard.
Maybe someone else had been controlling everything.
Then her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
No voice.
Just breathing.
Then a man spoke.
Older.
Weak.
Familiar.
Evelyn’s knees buckled.
“Evie?”
Nobody had called her that with that exact tone since she was twenty-two.
Tears filled her eyes.
“Dad?”
Victor froze.
The voice answered:
“I need you to listen carefully.”
Evelyn could barely breathe.
“Where are you?”
“Laura has the archive.”
“I know.”
“And if she opens the final file…”
A pause.
“Everyone you love becomes a target.”
The call ended.
Evelyn stared at the phone.
May you like
Charles Mercer was alive.
And after eight years of silence, the first thing he had done was warn her that the worst part had not even begun.
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