Chapter 6
I stared at Jessica’s photograph.
For half a second, all I could think was that she had destroyed my anniversary cake.
She had worn my mother’s necklace.
She had smiled while handing me divorce papers.
Then reality hit.
She was tied to a chair.
Terrified.
And Ryan had sent the picture.
Michael read the message over my shoulder.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“He has her.”
“No. I mean you are not going.”
Agent Mercer took the phone.
“Do not respond yet.”
“She could be hurt.”
“That is exactly why we don’t improvise.”
My hands were shaking.
“He said bring the key.”
Mercer looked toward the open safety deposit box.
“He doesn’t know we already opened it.”
Sarah understood immediately.
“That gives us an advantage.”
I looked at the recorder.
“What does he think is still inside?”
“Probably the evidence.”
Michael stepped closer.
“Or maybe something else.”
We searched the box again.
Under the black notebook was a thin sealed envelope we had missed.
Sarah opened it carefully.
Inside was a single sheet.
A list of account numbers.
And beside one account was a handwritten note.
Zurich.
Ryan’s Switzerland ticket.
Mercer exhaled.
“That’s what he wants.”
“What is it?”
“Possibly an offshore account connected to the missing funds.”
Michael pointed at the page.
“There are passwords.”
Sarah studied it.
“Partial ones.”
My mother had found more than forged loan documents.
She had found Ryan’s escape route fifteen years earlier.
“What do we do?” I asked.
Mercer handed my phone back.
“Reply that you have the key.”
I typed.
I HAVE IT.
Ryan answered almost immediately.
GOOD.
NO POLICE.
I WANT TO SEE JESSICA.
A video call request appeared.
Mercer nodded.
“Answer.”
I did.
Ryan’s face filled the screen.
He was inside a dim building.
He looked exhausted.
His hair was messy.
His tie was gone.
“Emily.”
“Show me Jessica.”
He smiled.
“You always were impatient.”
“Show me.”
He turned the phone.
Jessica sat against a concrete wall.
Her hands were tied in front now.
Tape still covered her mouth.
She was crying.
Ryan pointed the camera back at himself.
“She made a mistake.”
“What did she do?”
“She stole something.”
“What?”
“Company files.”
Jessica made a desperate sound behind him.
Ryan ignored her.
“You think she was innocent in all this?”
“I don’t care.”
“That’s funny.”
“What do you want?”
“The key.”
“You said that.”
“And anything inside the box.”
My stomach tightened.
He knew.
“How do you know we opened it?”
His smile widened.
“I didn’t.”
Damn.
Mercer closed his eyes briefly.
Ryan laughed.
“Thank you, sweetheart.”
I wanted to throw the phone.
Instead I said, “If I give it to you, Jessica walks away.”
“Yes.”
“I want your mother too.”
His expression changed.
“What?”
“Where’s Diane?”
“Not your concern.”
“She was there when my mother died.”
Ryan froze.
For the first time, genuine fear entered his eyes.
I continued.
“We heard the recording.”
Silence.
Behind him, Jessica stopped moving.
Ryan’s face changed completely.
Not panic.
Something colder.
Acceptance.
“So Helen kept it.”
“My mother kept everything.”
He looked away.
Then back at me.
“You think you know what happened?”
“I heard enough.”
“No.”
“You chased her.”
“She ran.”
“Because she was afraid of you.”
“She was trying to destroy our marriage!”
“You were committing fraud.”
“I was saving the company!”
“With stolen money?”
“It wasn’t stolen.”
“You forged my signature.”
“You were my wife.”
“That didn’t give you ownership of me.”
His jaw tightened.
“You never understood business.”
“Maybe. But I understand a confession.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You’re recording this.”
Mercer silently nodded at me.
I said, “Should I be?”
Ryan laughed.
“There she is. Grandma’s little billionaire.”
My blood turned cold.
He knew about the trust.
“How long have you known?”
“Since before I proposed.”
Michael muttered something furious beside me.
Ryan heard.
“Is your brother there?”
I stayed silent.
He smiled.
“Michael always did have terrible timing.”
“You married me for money.”
“At first?”
The words hit harder than I expected.
“At first?”
He leaned against the wall.
“I did love you, Emily.”
“No.”
“You want me to say it was all fake because that makes this easier.”
“Nothing about this is easy.”
“I loved you.”
“You isolated me from my family.”
“Because your family hated me.”
“They saw you.”
His face tightened.
“You think your mother was some saint?”
“Don’t.”
“She offered me money to leave you.”
I froze.
Ryan smiled.
“She never told you that, did she?”
I looked at Ruth.
Her face changed.
“Grandma?”
Ruth looked down.
Ryan saw the reaction.
“Oh, this is beautiful.”
“Tell me the truth,” I said.
Ruth whispered, “Helen did offer him money.”
My chest tightened.
“When?”
“Before your wedding.”
Ryan laughed.
“Two hundred thousand dollars.”
“Why?”
“Because she thought he was after your trust,” Ruth answered.
Ryan continued.
“And I refused.”
I looked at the screen.
“Why?”
“Because by then I loved you.”
For one dangerous second, the old part of me wanted to believe him.
Then I remembered my mother screaming on the recording.
“You loved me enough to chase my mother down a staircase?”
His smile disappeared.
“I never touched her.”
“You left her there.”
“I panicked.”
“You lied for fifteen years.”
“Yes.”
The word landed heavily.
Ryan continued.
“I panicked because I knew what it looked like.”
“What it looked like?”
“Your mother ran backward. She missed the step.”
“And Diane?”
“She wanted to call 911.”
“But you stopped her.”
“I called later.”
“After creating an alibi.”
His eyes became hard.
“I was twenty-nine years old. Everything I had built was about to disappear.”
“My mother did disappear.”
Silence.
Then Jessica started struggling violently.
Ryan turned.
“Stop.”
She screamed through the tape.
He walked toward her.
“Ryan.”
He ignored me.
He pulled the tape from Jessica’s mouth.
She gasped.
Then shouted directly toward the phone.
“He was going to leave without me!”
Ryan slapped her.
My body stiffened.
“Don’t touch her!”
Jessica cried, “He has another passport! He was taking the money and leaving everybody!”
Ryan grabbed her hair.
“Shut your mouth.”
She screamed.
Mercer was already signaling agents around the room.
Jessica yelled again.
“Diane isn’t with him!”
Ryan froze.
“What?”
“Your mother ran from you too!”
He struck her again.
The video shook.
Then went black.
The call ended.
I stared at the screen.
“Find her.”
Mercer was already moving.
“We’re tracing the connection.”
His team rushed from the room.
Michael grabbed his jacket.
“I’m coming.”
Mercer looked back.
“No.”
“That’s my sister’s husband.”
“And this is an active hostage situation.”
Michael stepped toward him.
“Then act.”
Mercer’s eyes hardened.
“We are.”
My phone buzzed again.
A location pin.
Ryan.
Then a message.
ONE HOUR.
COME OR SHE DIES.
Mercer looked at it.
“Warehouse district.”
Sarah frowned.
“Too obvious.”
“Probably.”
I looked at Mercer.
“You’re going to let him think I’m coming.”
“Yes.”
“I am coming.”
“No.”
“He’ll know if I’m not there.”
“We’ll use an undercover agent.”
“He’s been married to me for fifteen years. He knows how I walk.”
Mercer shook his head.
“Absolutely not.”
I stepped closer.
“My mother spent her last hours trying to protect me from him.”
“Which is exactly why she would not want you walking into a hostage situation.”
That stopped me.
Michael touched my shoulder.
“He’s right.”
I hated that he was right.
Mercer’s phone rang.
He answered.
“Go.”
He listened.
“Confirmed?”
Another pause.
“We’re moving.”
He hung up.
“We have a probable location.”
“Where?”
“An abandoned storage facility near the river.”
My stomach tightened.
“Is Jessica there?”
“Thermal imaging shows two people inside.”
“Ryan and Jessica.”
“Probably.”
“What about Diane?”
“No sign.”
Then another agent rushed into the room.
“Sir.”
Mercer turned.
“We found Mrs. Cole’s mother.”
“Where?”
“Airport parking garage.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
I exhaled.
The agent continued.
“She approached airport security on her own.”
Mercer frowned.
“Why?”
“She says she wants immunity.”
I stared.
Diane wanted immunity.
From her own son.
Twenty minutes later, we were driven to a federal field office.
Diane sat in an interview room.
When I entered behind the glass observation wall, she looked fifteen years older than she had at the party.
No champagne.
No diamonds.
No cruel smile.
Just fear.
Agent Mercer sat across from her.
Her attorney was beside her.
Diane spoke first.
“My son is dangerous.”
I almost laughed at the hypocrisy.
Mercer said, “Yesterday you were defending him.”
“I didn’t know he would do this.”
“You knew he committed fraud.”
Her lawyer touched her arm.
She ignored him.
“I knew some things.”
“You were inside Helen Bennett’s house the night she died.”
Diane began crying.
“I didn’t kill her.”
“Who did?”
“No one.”
Mercer leaned forward.
“She fell?”
“Yes.”
“While Ryan chased her.”
Diane covered her face.
“I told him to stop.”
“You helped him lie.”
“I was protecting my son.”
“For fifteen years?”
Her shoulders shook.
“He said if the truth came out, Emily would leave him.”
I whispered behind the glass, “He was right.”
Diane continued.
“There’s something you don’t know.”
Mercer waited.
Diane looked toward the observation window.
She couldn’t see me.
But somehow it felt like she knew I was there.
“Ryan didn’t take Jessica because she stole company files.”
“Why did he take her?”
“Because she has the original ledger.”
Mercer sat straighter.
“What ledger?”
“The one showing every payment.”
“To whom?”
Diane swallowed.
“Judges. Inspectors. Bank officers. City officials.”
The room went silent.
This was bigger than fraud.
Much bigger.
Mercer asked, “Where did Jessica get it?”
“She took it from Ryan’s office safe.”
“When?”
“Last night.”
“Why?”
“She realized he planned to abandon her.”
Diane laughed bitterly.
“My son always thinks he’s the smartest person in the room.”
I knew that better than anyone.
Mercer said, “Where is the ledger?”
“I don’t know.”
“Does Ryan?”
“No.”
“Then why hold Jessica?”
“To make her tell him.”
My phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A text.
Not from Ryan.
Three words.
I HID IT.
Then another.
THIS IS JESSICA.
A photograph appeared.
Not of the warehouse.
Of my house.
Specifically, my bedroom.
And beneath the photograph:
BEHIND YOUR WEDDING PHOTO FRAME.
I stared.
The same frame where I had found my mother’s note.
Then Jessica sent one final message.
RYAN ISN’T AT THE WAREHOUSE.
May you like
HE MADE ME RECORD THE VIDEO THERE.
HE’S COMING TO YOUR HOUSE.
