Chapter 7
The safe house wasn’t safe.
That changed everything.
Only a small number of people knew where we were.
Detective Bennett.
Several officers.
A supervisor.
The transport team.
Someone inside the investigation had leaked our location.
Or someone had tracked us.
Either possibility terrified me.
We were moved again before midnight.
This time nobody told me where until we arrived.
Ethan slept through most of it.
My mother held him in the back seat.
I watched every car behind us.
At the new location, Bennett sat across from me.
“There may be a compromised device, compromised vehicle, or human leak. We are treating every possibility seriously.”
“Then how can you guarantee this place is safe?”
“I can’t guarantee anything.”
I appreciated that answer more than false comfort.
“What about Mark?”
“He’s being moved to a different facility.”
“I want to talk to him.”
Bennett raised an eyebrow.
“Earlier you said no.”
“He knew the house was compromised.”
“He may have guessed.”
“He used our private code.”
“Yes.”
“So either someone told him where we were, or he knows how they’re tracking us.”
Bennett nodded.
“That’s why we’re interviewing him.”
“I want to hear it.”
“No.”
“He asked for me.”
“You are not an investigator.”
“I’m the reason he might talk.”
She studied me.
“You’re also a victim.”
“I’m Daniel’s sister.”
“That doesn’t make you safer.”
“No. But it means I’m done being protected by ignorance.”
She leaned back.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Finally she said, “I’ll see what can be arranged.”
The next morning, I saw Mark through thick glass.
His face was swollen.
One eye was purple.
His lip was split.
For one terrible second, I remembered the man I loved.
Then I remembered Ethan’s hands.
The sympathy died.
Mark picked up the phone.
I did too.
“Where’s Ethan?”
“Safe.”
“With your mother?”
“I’m not telling you anything.”
He nodded slowly.
“Good.”
That surprised me.
“You knew about the listening device.”
“I knew Victor would find you.”
“So it is Victor.”
Mark looked at the camera in the corner.
“I need protection.”
I laughed.
“You’re worried about yourself?”
“I’m trying to stay alive long enough to help you.”
“You had months to help me.”
“I know.”
“You let Rachel hit Ethan.”
His face changed.
“I never told her to hurt him like that.”
“Like what? How much pain was acceptable?”
He looked down.
“I thought the videos were staged.”
“Ethan’s pain wasn’t staged.”
“I know.”
“Did you watch?”
Silence.
“Did you watch her hit our son?”
His eyes filled.
“Yes.”
I nearly dropped the phone.
I wanted to reach through the glass.
“You watched.”
“I stopped the worst sessions.”
“The worst?”
“Sarah—”
“How many were there?”
“I don’t know.”
“You knew enough to call him bad.”
“She needed phrases that sounded natural for the footage.”
I stared at him.
Every word was worse.
“Why Ethan?”
Mark shut his eyes.
“Victor said families paid more when the material looked real.”
I felt sick.
“Our son.”
“I never wanted him involved.”
“But you allowed it.”
“I owed Victor.”
“What?”
He looked toward the camera again.
“I started BrightSteps with borrowed money. The company was failing. Victor invested.”
“That doesn’t explain this.”
“He didn’t invest. Not really. He bought me.”
“How?”
“The remote-access technology wasn’t my idea. It was his.”
“So you knew.”
“At first I thought he wanted consumer data.”
“You’re lying.”
“I swear.”
“Your promises mean nothing.”
He swallowed.
“When I found out recordings were being sold, I tried to walk away.”
“Then why didn’t you call police?”
“Because I had already committed crimes.”
“What crimes?”
“Unauthorized access. Fraud. Tax violations. Data theft.”
“Daniel found the money.”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill him?”
Mark’s face crumpled.
“No.”
“Did you help kill him?”
“No.”
“Did you know he was going to die?”
A long pause.
Too long.
“Mark.”
“I knew Victor was angry.”
“That isn’t my question.”
He whispered, “I knew someone was following Daniel.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“And you said nothing?”
“I warned Daniel.”
“He still died.”
“I know.”
“Who killed him?”
Mark breathed through his nose.
“A man named Owen Price.”
The name meant nothing to me.
“Who is he?”
“Victor’s security director.”
“Did you see him kill Daniel?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Owen came to my house afterward.”
My stomach dropped.
“When?”
“The night Daniel died.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me Daniel wouldn’t be a problem anymore.”
I stared at him.
“And you still went to Daniel’s funeral.”
Mark began crying.
I felt nothing.
“You held my mother.”
“I was terrified.”
“You slept beside me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“No. You were protecting yourself.”
He didn’t deny it.
“Why did Rachel have Daniel’s video?”
“She found the card.”
“Where?”
“In my office.”
“Why didn’t you destroy it?”
“I thought I had.”
“Ethan took it.”
“Yes.”
I leaned closer to the glass.
“How did you know our safe house was bugged?”
Mark looked around again.
Then whispered, “Because that’s what Victor does.”
“That isn’t enough.”
“He uses smoke detectors.”
My skin crawled.
“How would you know?”
“He bugged my office the same way.”
“And you kept working for him?”
“I couldn’t leave.”
“There’s always a way to leave.”
“Not when he has everything.”
“What is everything?”
Mark looked at me.
“Videos.”
“What videos?”
“Of people.”
“Blackmail?”
He nodded.
“Judges. Police officers. Politicians. Business owners.”
I froze.
“That’s why someone inside the investigation may be helping him.”
“Yes.”
The room suddenly felt smaller.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Give me names.”
“I only knew code names.”
“Then give them.”
He hesitated.
“Mark.”
“One was Lantern.”
“Who is Lantern?”
“I never knew.”
“Another?”
“North.”
“Another?”
He looked sick.
“Mother.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“That was the code name.”
My heart began pounding.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Mark swallowed.
“Because Daniel believed Mother was someone close to you.”
I stopped breathing.
“My mother?”
“No. I don’t think so.”
“Then who?”
“He never figured it out.”
I stood.
Mark grabbed his phone tighter.
“Sarah, wait.”
I glared at him through the glass.
“There’s one more thing.”
I didn’t want to hear it.
I stayed anyway.
“Rachel wasn’t the first babysitter Victor placed in our house.”
I frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
“Before Rachel.”
“We didn’t have another babysitter.”
“Yes, we did.”
“No.”
“You never met her as a babysitter.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
Mark’s eyes stayed on mine.
“Your best friend.”
May you like
I stopped breathing.
“Emily.”
