Chapter 7
I opened the bathroom door.
Claire grabbed my arm.
“Are you insane?”
“Stay with Maisie.”
Vanessa stood in the hallway.
Her hair was tangled.
Blood ran from a cut near her temple.
She looked nothing like the polished woman who had worn a fake pregnancy belly at our engagement party.
I hated her.
I also believed she was terrified.
“Where’s Bell?” I whispered.
“Downstairs. Hurt.”
My stomach tightened.
“Alive?”
“I think so.”
“Thomas?”
“Kitchen.”
“Armed?”
“Yes.”
“Meredith?”
Vanessa looked away.
“With him.”
Of course.
I stepped closer.
“Why did you come here?”
“I told you.”
“No. The truth.”
Her eyes met mine.
“I thought I could bargain.”
“With what?”
“The rabbit.”
“We don’t have the drive.”
“I know that now.”
“You knew before you came.”
“No.”
I studied her.
“You thought you could give him Maisie’s rabbit and walk away.”
“Yes.”
“You still came to a house where my daughter was hiding.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I didn’t know she’d be here.”
“You knew it was a safe house.”
“I knew you were here. I thought Maisie might have been moved separately.”
“You’re lying.”
She whispered, “Probably.”
At least that sounded like the Vanessa I knew.
Thomas called from downstairs.
“Victoria!”
Her face hardened.
“I hate that name.”
“You knew exactly who you were when you entered my life.”
She flinched.
“Yes.”
“Did you help kill Emily?”
“No.”
“Did you know Thomas did?”
“Not until tonight.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
Another answer I couldn’t argue with.
She looked toward the stairs.
“But you should believe I want him dead.”
I stared at her.
“That doesn’t make you safe.”
“No.”
“What does he want?”
“Records your father hid.”
“They aren’t on the USB?”
“Not all of them.”
“Where are they?”
Vanessa smiled bitterly.
“That’s the problem. Nobody knows.”
Thomas shouted again.
“I can hear you whispering!”
Vanessa stiffened.
“Send Ethan down.”
I looked at her.
“He thinks you’re with him.”
“He always thinks everyone belongs to him.”
“Did he make you target me?”
Her eyes changed.
“He found me when I was seventeen.”
“After your mother died?”
She nodded.
“He told me your father destroyed our family.”
“And you believed him.”
“I had nothing else.”
“So you waited years and seduced your half-brother?”
Her face twisted.
“I didn’t know that part at first.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“My mother told me your father ruined her. Thomas told me the same. But he never told me Daniel Harris was my biological father.”
“Then when did you find out?”
“After I met you.”
“How long after?”
“Four months.”
My stomach turned.
“And you stayed.”
“I was already in too deep.”
“That’s your excuse?”
“No.”
She looked at the floor.
“There is no excuse.”
For the first time, I saw shame that didn’t look rehearsed.
It didn’t erase anything.
“Why fake the baby?”
“To trap you into marriage before you discovered who I was.”
“And the money?”
“I wanted it.”
“At least you can admit that.”
“I wanted your father’s money because I believed it belonged to my mother.”
“Enough to destroy Maisie?”
Her face went pale.
“I never planned to hurt her.”
“You locked her in a closet.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
“You threatened to erase her mother.”
“I know.”
“You created fake mental-health records.”
“I know.”
I stepped closer.
“You don’t get redemption because there’s a worse monster downstairs.”
She nodded.
“I know.”
Thomas fired another shot.
Wood splintered somewhere below us.
“Victoria!”
Vanessa whispered, “He’s losing patience.”
I looked toward the stairwell.
“What can we do?”
“There’s a panic button in the basement.”
“Bell already called police.”
“He disabled the signal jammer only after he got inside. Backup might be coming, but we don’t know.”
“You know this house?”
“I found the address through Adrian.”
That bothered me.
Adrian had supposedly been cooperating.
“How did Adrian know?”
Vanessa said nothing.
“Vanessa.”
“He gave Thomas the address.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“He’s been playing both sides.”
Of course he had.
“Why?”
“Because Thomas has something on him.”
“What?”
Before she answered, Thomas called again.
“Ethan, I’m giving you thirty seconds.”
Then Meredith screamed.
“Dad, stop!”
A crash.
Thomas yelled at her.
I looked at Vanessa.
“What is happening?”
“She’s afraid of him too.”
“She tried to kidnap my daughter.”
“Meredith has been afraid of Thomas her whole life.”
“So?”
“So fear makes cowards.”
Vanessa looked directly at me.
“You should know.”
That hit where she intended.
I had ignored Maisie because accepting what she said would have forced me to question the life I wanted.
I hated Vanessa for saying it.
I hated that she wasn’t entirely wrong.
“Twenty seconds!” Thomas shouted.
I turned to Claire.
“Lock the bathroom.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“You’re not going down there alone.”
“I’m not.”
Vanessa laughed softly.
Claire glared at her.
“That wasn’t funny.”
“No,” Vanessa said. “It really wasn’t.”
I handed Claire my phone.
“If service comes back, call Bell’s department.”
“What are you doing?”
“Buying time.”
I went downstairs with Vanessa.
Each step felt unreal.
At the bottom, I saw Bell.
He was behind an overturned table.
Blood soaked the sleeve of his shirt.
His eyes met mine.
He was conscious.
He subtly shook his head.
Don’t come closer.
Thomas stood near the kitchen island.
Gun in hand.
He was older than I remembered.
Seventy, maybe.
Perfect white hair.
Expensive suit.
Still carried himself like the man who shook my hand at my father’s funeral and told me to “be strong for your mother.”
Meredith stood beside him.
Crying.
Adrian stood near the back door.
My anger surged.
“You.”
Adrian looked ashamed.
“I’m sorry.”
“You gave him the address.”
Thomas smiled.
“Family reunions can be so complicated.”
I stared at him.
“You killed Emily.”
His smile barely moved.
“Emily killed herself by becoming curious.”
Vanessa whispered, “You told me it was an accident.”
“Victoria, you believe whatever makes your conscience comfortable.”
Her hands curled into fists.
“You told me Ethan’s father killed my mother.”
Thomas looked amused.
“Your mother made mistakes.”
“You killed her too?”
Adrian’s head snapped up.
“What?”
Thomas sighed.
“Rebecca was unstable.”
Adrian moved toward him.
Thomas pointed the gun at his chest.
“Careful.”
Adrian froze.
“What did you do to her?”
“Nothing she didn’t invite.”
Vanessa started crying.
Not the fake tears I knew.
These were ugly.
Shaking.
Childlike.
Thomas looked disgusted.
“Stop that.”
She stared at him.
“You raised me on a lie.”
“I gave you purpose.”
“You turned me against my own brother.”
My stomach turned at the word.
Thomas shrugged.
“And he was useful.”
I stepped forward.
“Why my family?”
“Your father was weak.”
“Because he tried to expose you?”
“Because he grew a conscience after enjoying the benefits.”
“What benefits?”
“Money.”
Bell shifted slightly behind the table.
Thomas noticed.
He fired.
The bullet hit the floor beside Bell.
Maisie screamed upstairs.
Thomas looked toward the ceiling.
“There she is.”
I stepped directly into his line of sight.
“You leave her out of this.”
“That depends on you.”
“I don’t have the drive.”
“I know police have the drive.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because the drive contains a map.”
I stared.
“To what?”
Thomas smiled.
“Your father’s insurance policy.”
“I don’t understand.”
“A ledger. Original documents. Names. Transactions. Enough to bury people who are still very powerful.”
“And you think I know where it is?”
“No.”
He looked toward the ceiling.
“I think Emily told Maisie.”
I almost laughed.
“She was one when Emily died.”
“Children remember strange things.”
He had no idea.
He was guessing.
But then I remembered something.
A phrase Emily used to tell Maisie every night.
A silly bedtime game.
Where does the moon sleep?
Maisie would point.
Home.
Where does Bunny sleep?
Home.
Where does Daddy sleep?
Home.
Always find home.
The words engraved on Emily’s bracelet.
ALWAYS FIND HOME.
My heartbeat changed.
Thomas saw my face.
His smile widened.
“You know.”
I forced myself not to react.
“Know what?”
“You know where it is.”
“No.”
He walked closer.
“The bracelet helped, didn’t it?”
Vanessa looked at me.
I understood something at the same moment she did.
Thomas hadn’t come for the rabbit.
He came because he thought the bracelet was a key.
A clue.
Always find home.
Home.
But which home?
The house where Emily and I lived?
My childhood home?
My father’s?
Thomas raised the gun.
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
He pointed upstairs.
“Then perhaps your daughter can help us remember.”
I stepped toward him.
He cocked the gun.
Bell shouted.
“Thomas!”
Thomas turned.
That was the opening.
Vanessa moved first.
She slammed into his arm.
The gun fired.
Meredith screamed.
Adrian grabbed Thomas.
I rushed forward.
Bell kicked the weapon away.
For five wild seconds, everyone fought.
Thomas struck Adrian.
Vanessa clawed at his wrist.
I grabbed the gun from the floor.
Then everything stopped.
I was pointing it at Thomas.
He stared at me.
“So much like your father.”
“Get on the floor.”
He smiled.
“You won’t shoot me.”
“Try me.”
Police sirens screamed outside.
Thomas’s smile disappeared.
Bell reached for his weapon.
“Ethan. Put it down.”
Thomas looked toward the windows.
Trapped.
Then he laughed again.
“You still don’t understand.”
“What?”
“The ledger isn’t just about money.”
I kept the gun steady.
“What is it about?”
“Your father documented everything.”
“Everything what?”
Thomas looked directly at my mother, who had appeared halfway down the stairs.
Her face went white.
Thomas smiled.
“Ask Evelyn.”
I turned slightly.
“Mom?”
Thomas whispered, “Ask her who really killed your father.”
My mother began to cry.
May you like
And before anyone could say another word, she whispered:
“I did.”
