Chapter 9
The Cumberland Grand was supposed to be empty.
It wasn’t.
Police surrounded the building without lights or sirens.
Holloway wanted me outside.
I refused.
He argued.
I refused again.
Finally, he said, “You stay behind the tactical team.”
“Fine.”
“Do not break position.”
“Fine.”
“You say fine like you’re lying.”
“I learned from my husband.”
We entered through the service entrance.
The lobby smelled like construction dust.
Plastic sheets covered furniture.
Most lights were off.
Room 814 was on the eighth floor.
The elevators had been disabled.
We took the stairs.
Every step felt too slow.
Seven floors.
Then eight.
My chest burned.
Not from climbing.
From fear.
At the end of the hallway, Room 814 waited.
The door was closed.
Holloway’s team positioned itself.
Then my phone rang.
Ryan.
Everyone froze.
Holloway motioned for me to answer.
“Where are you?” Ryan asked.
“Nearby.”
“I said come alone.”
“You kidnapped our daughter.”
“I protected her.”
“From me?”
“From what’s coming.”
My skin crawled.
“What’s coming?”
“You think arresting me solves this?”
“Where is Sophie?”
“Room 814.”
“I want to hear her.”
Silence.
Then Sophie’s voice.
“Mommy?”
I closed my eyes.
“I’m here, baby.”
“I’m scared.”
“I know.”
“Lauren has a gun.”
Every officer around me tensed.
Ryan cursed.
The phone moved.
“Enough.”
I whispered, “Ryan, don’t let them hurt her.”
“They won’t.”
“You said Daniel was dangerous.”
“He is.”
“What about Mercer?”
Ryan laughed bitterly.
“You still think Mercer is in charge?”
“Who is?”
Silence.
Then Ryan said, “Ask Thomas.”
The line died.
I looked at Holloway.
“Thomas is in Louisville.”
“That plane landed twenty minutes ago.”
“Did he get off?”
“Authorities are checking.”
A sound came from inside Room 814.
Something fell.
Then Sophie screamed.
I moved.
Holloway grabbed me.
“No.”
“That’s my child.”
The tactical officer signaled.
The door exploded inward.
Police entered.
Shouts.
“Police!”
“Drop the weapon!”
I heard another scream.
Then a gunshot.
I stopped breathing.
Holloway held me behind the wall.
More shouting.
“Clear!”
“Suspect down!”
“Sophie!”
I broke free.
Room 814 was chaos.
Lauren lay near the window.
Blood covered her shoulder.
A handgun was several feet away.
Mercer was on his knees with his hands behind his head.
An officer cuffed him.
And Sophie—
Sophie was under a table.
Alive.
I dropped to the floor.
“Baby.”
She crawled out.
I pulled her against me.
She screamed and cried and held me so tightly I could barely breathe.
I didn’t care.
“You came.”
“Always.”
“I knew you would.”
“I will always come.”
Over her shoulder, I looked at Mercer.
He stared back at me.
No smile now.
Just hatred.
“Where’s Ryan?” I asked.
No one answered.
He wasn’t there.
Lauren moaned.
A medic treated her wound.
She had been shot by police when she raised the gun.
Sophie whispered, “Mommy.”
“Yes?”
“Daddy was here.”
My eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“Before you came.”
“Where did he go?”
“He left with the other man.”
“What other man?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
I looked at Mercer.
“Thomas?”
He looked away.
I stood, keeping one arm around Sophie.
“Was Thomas here?”
Mercer said nothing.
Holloway stepped closer.
“You’re facing serious charges.”
Mercer laughed once.
“You think that matters?”
“What matters to you?”
Mercer looked at me.
“The money.”
Of course.
“Thirty-eight million?”
He smiled.
“You think that’s all?”
My stomach tightened.
“What else?”
Mercer said nothing.
Holloway ordered him removed.
As officers lifted him, Mercer looked at Sophie.
Then at me.
“Ask your mother what your father found under Riverpoint.”
My skin prickled.
“What?”
He smiled.
“That’s why he died.”
Then police took him away.
Riverpoint.
I knew the name.
Carter Development owned a commercial property called Riverpoint Center.
I had seen it in the documents Dana found.
But why would it matter?
Lauren was conscious enough to speak.
I walked toward her.
Holloway tried to stop me.
“I need answers.”
“Emily—”
“She kidnapped my daughter.”
Lauren laughed weakly.
“You hit harder than the cop.”
I looked at the wound in her shoulder.
“Why did you slap Sophie?”
Her expression changed.
For the first time, I saw something resembling regret.
“I lost control.”
“She’s seven.”
“I know.”
“Did you know Ryan planned to drug her?”
“No.”
“Did you know he drugged me?”
“Yes.”
Sophie was taken toward the hall by a female officer.
I waited until she was gone.
“Did you know they might kill me?”
Lauren closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
My hands curled into fists.
“Why?”
“Because Daniel said it was the only way.”
“Only way to do what?”
“Finish what our father started.”
I leaned closer.
“What did your father start with mine?”
Lauren looked toward Holloway.
Then back at me.
“Riverpoint.”
“What is it?”
“A piece of land.”
“I know that.”
“No.”
She gave a weak smile.
“You don’t.”
“What’s under it?”
Her expression hardened.
“Proof.”
“Of what?”
Before she answered, alarms sounded.
Fire alarm.
Loud.
Sudden.
Holloway looked toward the hallway.
“Move everyone.”
Smoke rolled from a service corridor.
Mercer.
My first thought was Mercer.
But he had already been taken downstairs.
Unless someone else was here.
Ryan.
Or Thomas.
Officers rushed Lauren out.
I grabbed Sophie.
We moved toward the stairwell.
Then the lights died.
Emergency lights flickered red.
Sophie screamed.
“I’ve got you.”
Holloway stayed beside us.
Smoke thickened.
Someone shouted from below.
“Stairwell blocked!”
We turned.
Another team moved toward the opposite stairwell.
Then I saw him.
At the far end of the hallway.
Ryan.
He stood near a construction door.
Watching us.
“Ryan!”
He ran.
I handed Sophie to Holloway.
“Emily!”
I chased him.
I knew it was reckless.
I didn’t care.
Ryan disappeared into the construction area.
I followed.
Plastic sheets slapped against my face.
Tools lay everywhere.
“Ryan!”
He emerged from behind a wall and grabbed me.
We hit the floor.
He covered my mouth.
“Stop fighting.”
I bit his hand.
He cursed.
I kicked him away.
“You kidnapped our daughter!”
“I saved her!”
“From what?”
“Thomas!”
That stopped me.
Ryan stood.
Blood ran from his hand.
“You still don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
“Thomas ordered Daniel to kill you.”
My heart pounded.
“You were part of it.”
“I wanted you committed.”
He said it as if that made him better.
“I never wanted you dead.”
“You bought life insurance.”
“Thomas made me.”
“Why?”
“Collateral.”
“For what?”
“The company.”
“You married me for the company.”
“At first.”
The words hit hard despite everything.
“At first?”
He looked away.
“I didn’t expect Sophie.”
I stared.
“I didn’t expect to love you.”
“Don’t.”
“It’s true.”
“You drugged me.”
“I needed temporary control.”
“You destroyed our finances.”
“I owed them.”
“Who?”
“Thomas.”
“Why?”
Ryan looked toward the smoke-filled hall.
“Because years before I met you, my father borrowed money from Reeves.”
“What does that have to do with my father?”
“Everything.”
He stepped closer.
“Your father discovered that the Reeves family had been using construction projects to launder money.”
Riverpoint.
I stopped breathing.
“He kept records.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“No one knows.”
“Mercer said under Riverpoint.”
Ryan’s eyes widened.
“He told you that?”
“Yes.”
“Then Thomas will go there.”
“For the records?”
“For more than records.”
“What?”
Ryan looked terrified now.
“There’s money.”
“How much?”
“Cash. Bonds. Maybe documents tied to people far more powerful than Thomas.”
“Why would my father hide them?”
“He didn’t.”
“Then who did?”
“Thomas’s father.”
My head spun.
“Your father found out. He planned to go to federal authorities.”
“So they killed him.”
Ryan didn’t answer.
I knew.
“You knew all this when you married me?”
“Not all of it.”
“But enough.”
“Yes.”
I slapped him.
Hard.
He accepted it.
Didn’t move.
“You spent eleven years lying to me.”
“I was supposed to get you to sell Riverpoint.”
“You never asked.”
“Because your mother controlled the trust until you turned thirty-five.”
“So you waited.”
“Yes.”
Rage nearly blinded me.
Then Ryan said, “Thomas got impatient.”
“Why?”
“Riverpoint is being redeveloped next month.”
Meaning excavation.
Meaning whatever was hidden underneath might be found.
Now everything had a deadline.
Not Friday because of our marriage.
Friday because of Riverpoint.
“What happens tonight?”
Ryan looked toward the window.
“They destroy it.”
“How?”
“Fire won’t be enough.”
A deep vibration moved through the floor.
Not from the hotel.
My phone rang.
Dana.
I answered.
“Emily, where are you?”
“Hotel. What’s wrong?”
“I just got an alert.”
“What alert?”
“Riverpoint Center.”
My stomach dropped.
“What happened?”
“Someone filed an emergency demolition permit yesterday.”
I looked at Ryan.
“When?”
Dana continued.
“Demolition is scheduled tonight.”
“What time?”
“Midnight.”
I checked the clock.
11:18 p.m.
Forty-two minutes.
Ryan grabbed my arm.
“If Thomas reaches Riverpoint first, he destroys everything.”
I pulled away.
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
For once, he sounded truthful.
“Then why help me?”
He looked toward the hallway where Sophie waited.
“Because she’s my daughter too.”
I stared at him.
“You lost the right to use that sentence.”
His face broke slightly.
Maybe guilt.
Maybe manipulation.
I couldn’t tell anymore.
Holloway appeared with two officers.
“Ryan Carter, hands where I can see them.”
Ryan raised his hands.
“Listen to me. Thomas is going to Riverpoint.”
Holloway cuffed him.
“We know about the demolition.”
“You don’t know what he’s using.”
“What?”
Ryan looked at me.
“Explosives.”
Holloway’s expression changed.
“How much?”
“Enough to bring down the underground structure.”
“What underground structure?”
Ryan looked toward Sophie.
Then back at us.
“A vault.”
I stared.
“My father’s?”
“No.”
“Whose?”
Ryan swallowed.
“Thomas Reeves’s father built it.”
Holloway pushed him toward the hall.
Ryan said, “If you want evidence proving who killed Emily’s father, it’s inside that vault.”
May you like
Then he added the part that changed everything.
“And Thomas has Emily’s mother.”
