Chapter 4
Daniel moved before anyone else.
He pointed at Agent Torres.
“Back room.”
Torres grabbed my hand.
Mom didn’t move.
“Sarah,” Daniel warned.
“That’s my mother.”
“That is exactly the problem.”
Grandma Linda knocked again.
“Sarah?”
Mom whispered, “How did she find us?”
Daniel pulled his weapon.
“I intend to ask.”
Torres guided me toward the bedroom.
I resisted.
“I want Mom.”
“She’s coming.”
Mom finally followed.
Daniel locked us inside.
“Stay away from the door.”
Then he returned to the living room.
I pressed my ear against the bedroom wall.
Mom stood beside me.
“You’re shaking,” I whispered.
“So are you.”
Grandma’s voice came faintly through the apartment.
“Daniel Cole. Still pretending you’re a hero?”
Mom covered her mouth.
Grandma knew Daniel too.
The front door opened.
Men shouted.
“Hands!”
“Turn around!”
Grandma snapped, “Don’t touch me!”
I heard something fall.
Then silence.
Mom opened the bedroom door.
Torres stopped her.
“Not yet.”
“That’s my mother.”
“Exactly.”
Mom glared at her.
Torres didn’t move.
A minute later Daniel called.
“Clear.”
We walked out.
Grandma Linda sat in a chair.
Two agents stood behind her.
She looked exactly the same as the last time I had seen her.
Soft gray hair.
Blue sweater.
Small gold cross around her neck.
She looked like somebody who baked pies.
Not somebody who could find a federal safe apartment.
Then she saw my cheek.
Her expression cracked.
“Oh, Emily.”
I stepped backward.
Grandma’s eyes filled with tears.
“What did he do to you?”
Mom stood between us.
“How did you find us?”
Grandma looked at her.
“Sarah.”
“How?”
“I can explain.”
“Then start.”
Grandma glanced at Daniel.
“Not in front of him.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“You tracked a protected witness to a secure apartment. You’re speaking in front of me.”
“I didn’t track her.”
“Then how did you get here?”
Grandma hesitated.
Mom’s voice became quiet.
“Mom.”
Grandma looked down.
“Diane told me.”
My stomach dropped.
Mom closed her eyes.
Daniel stepped closer.
“How are you communicating with Diane Hale?”
Grandma didn’t answer.
He leaned forward.
“Linda.”
“She contacted me years ago.”
Mom opened her eyes.
“What?”
Grandma began crying.
“She said she wanted to know Emily.”
“You gave her information?”
“No!”
“Then how did Ryan find me?”
“I never knew Ryan was involved.”
Mom stared at her.
Grandma reached out.
“Sarah, I swear.”
Mom stepped back.
“You knew Diane Hale.”
“Only later.”
“Later than what?”
Grandma’s face crumpled.
“After you married Ethan.”
Mom laughed.
It was a horrible sound.
“His name is Ryan.”
“I know that now.”
“No.”
Mom pointed at her.
“You knew before I did.”
Grandma said nothing.
Mom’s voice rose.
“You knew before I did!”
“Yes!”
The word exploded through the room.
I jumped.
Grandma covered her face.
“Yes.”
Mom looked like she had been hit.
I wanted to hold her.
But I couldn’t move.
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
Mom stared.
“You knew for seven years?”
“I was scared.”
“Of what?”
“Of losing you.”
“You already lost me!”
Grandma began sobbing.
Daniel stayed silent.
Mom paced once across the room.
Then turned.
“How did you meet Diane?”
Grandma wiped her face.
“At church.”
Mom looked confused.
“What?”
“She found me. I didn’t find her.”
“When?”
“Nine years ago.”
Two years after Mom married Dad.
Grandma continued.
“She introduced herself as another grandmother who had lost contact with her family.”
Daniel asked, “And you believed that?”
“For months.”
Grandma’s voice shook.
“She knew things about Sarah. About witness protection. About Vincent. I thought maybe she was connected to the government.”
Daniel’s expression said exactly what he thought of that.
Grandma looked at Mom.
“Then she showed me a photograph.”
“Of what?”
“Your wedding.”
Mom froze.
Grandma whispered, “She pointed at Ethan and told me his real name.”
Mom sat down.
I had never seen her look so empty.
“What did you do?”
“I confronted her.”
“And?”
“She said Ryan loved you.”
Mom’s mouth opened in disbelief.
“She said he wanted out of his father’s world.”
Daniel cut in.
“And you accepted that?”
“No.”
Grandma looked ashamed.
“Not at first.”
Mom stared.
“What did she offer you?”
Grandma stopped crying.
That was the moment I knew.
Mom knew too.
Her voice became almost a whisper.
“What did she offer you?”
Grandma looked at the floor.
“Money.”
Mom stepped backward.
“How much?”
“Sarah—”
“How much?”
“Two hundred thousand dollars.”
The room went silent.
I didn’t understand how much money that really was.
I understood Mom’s face.
Grandma stood.
“I didn’t take it then.”
“Then?”
Grandma closed her eyes.
“I took fifty.”
Mom turned away.
“Fifty thousand?”
“I was losing the house.”
“So you sold us.”
“No!”
Grandma rushed forward.
Daniel blocked her.
“I never gave Diane your address.”
“You gave her something.”
“Pictures.”
Mom turned.
“What pictures?”
“Emily.”
I felt everyone look at me.
Grandma’s voice cracked.
“You sent me school photographs.”
Mom’s hand flew to her mouth.
“I gave Diane one.”
I remembered school picture day.
Blue background.
Purple shirt.
My name printed on the back.
Mom whispered, “The school name.”
Grandma nodded.
“It was printed on the envelope.”
Daniel cursed.
Mom stared at Grandma.
“That’s how they found us.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You had been warned.”
“I didn’t think—”
“No, you didn’t.”
Mom pointed toward the door.
“You wanted your house.”
Grandma cried harder.
“I wanted my daughter back.”
“You sold your granddaughter’s safety for fifty thousand dollars.”
“I thought Ryan loved you!”
Mom’s voice cracked.
“He tried to drown me tonight.”
Grandma went still.
“He hit Emily.”
Grandma looked at my cheek.
“He has been hurting me for years.”
Grandma whispered, “No.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You never asked.”
That sentence destroyed something.
Grandma sank back into the chair.
Daniel took the silver key from his pocket.
“Did Diane ever mention a bank deposit box?”
Grandma looked at it.
Her face changed.
Daniel noticed.
“So you recognize it.”
“No.”
“Linda.”
She swallowed.
“I saw Ryan with one like that.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Mom stepped forward.
“You saw Ryan yesterday?”
Grandma said nothing.
Mom shouted.
“You saw him yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“At a hotel.”
Daniel immediately called another agent.
“Get the hotel.”
Grandma looked frightened.
“I didn’t know he was hurting them.”
Daniel snapped, “Name.”
“The Brenton.”
“Room?”
“Eight twelve.”
Daniel repeated it into the phone.
Then turned back.
“What happened at the hotel?”
Grandma looked at me.
Daniel noticed.
“Emily, go with Torres.”
“No.”
Mom said, “Emily.”
“You promised no more secrets.”
Mom flinched.
I folded my arms.
“I’m staying.”
Daniel sighed.
Grandma spoke.
“Diane was there.”
Mom closed her eyes.
“Of course.”
“And Ryan.”
“What did they want?”
Grandma hesitated.
“They asked whether Sarah had contacted federal authorities recently.”
Mom looked at Daniel.
That was what Dad had screamed in the kitchen.
You should’ve kept your mouth shut.
Grandma continued.
“I said I didn’t know.”
“Did you tell them about the emergency phone?”
“No.”
“Did you tell them anything else?”
Grandma’s hands twisted together.
“I told them Sarah had called me last week.”
Mom stared.
I remembered that night.
Mom had locked herself in the laundry room.
Dad listened outside the door.
“What did Mom say?”
Grandma looked at her daughter.
“She said she was leaving Ethan.”
Mom closed her eyes.
“She said she had discovered who he was.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“So Ryan knew Sarah knew.”
Grandma nodded.
“That’s why he attacked her tonight.”
Mom whispered the words.
“He wasn’t angry.”
She looked at me.
“He was trying to stop me from leaving.”
Daniel’s phone rang.
He answered.
“Cole.”
We watched his face.
“Copy.”
He ended the call.
“The hotel room is empty.”
Mom looked disappointed but not surprised.
Daniel continued.
“They found burned papers in the bathtub.”
Grandma covered her mouth.
“And a case containing cash.”
“How much?” Mom asked.
“Almost three hundred thousand.”
Grandma whispered, “I never saw that.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I believe you.”
She looked relieved.
“For now.”
The relief disappeared.
An agent entered carrying a laptop.
“Sir.”
Daniel opened it.
A paused security video filled the screen.
Hotel hallway.
Yesterday’s date.
Ryan stepped out of room 812.
Diane followed.
Then Grandma Linda.
Daniel fast-forwarded.
A fourth person emerged.
Officer Ellison.
Then a fifth.
Mom leaned toward the screen.
Her face changed.
“Stop.”
Daniel froze the image.
A man in a dark suit stood outside the hotel room.
Maybe sixty.
Silver hair.
A scar beside his mouth.
Mom began shaking.
“No.”
Daniel stared.
“That’s impossible.”
I looked between them.
“Who is that?”
Nobody answered.
“Mom?”
She backed away from the laptop.
“I watched him get sentenced.”
Daniel picked up his phone.
“Confirm Vincent Hale’s custody status immediately.”
My heart pounded.
I looked at the screen again.
The man had the same eyes as Dad.
Mom whispered his name.
“Vincent.”
Daniel’s agent answered through the phone.
Daniel listened.
His face went completely still.
Then he lowered the phone.
Mom asked, “What?”
Daniel stared at the security image.
“Vincent Hale was transferred from federal prison six months ago for cancer treatment.”
“So?”
“He never arrived.”
Mom stopped breathing.
Daniel continued.
“The transfer record was falsified.”
Grandma Linda crossed herself.
I looked at the man on the screen.
The grandfather I had never met.
The criminal whose son had married my mother under a fake name.
The man Mom’s testimony had sent to prison.
He was supposed to be locked away.
He wasn’t.
Daniel looked at us.
“Ryan isn’t running from us.”
Mom whispered, “Then what is he doing?”
Daniel enlarged the image.
Vincent Hale stood beside his son.
Beside Diane.
Beside the corrupt officer.
A whole family staring toward the camera.
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“He’s gathering his family.”
May you like
Then he looked at Mom.
“And they’re coming for yours.”
