Chapter 3 - The Men Outside

Thomas switched off the lamp.

“Stay behind me.”

“Thomas, who are they?”

“I don't know.”

Two men crossed the front lawn.

Neither hurried.

That frightened Thomas more than if they had been running.

People who moved that calmly usually believed nobody could stop them.

Thomas grabbed the black box and shoved it under his coat.

“Back door.”

Madeleine stared at him.

“This is my house.”

“Then stay alive long enough to keep it.”

The doorbell rang.

Once.

Thomas guided his mother toward the kitchen.

The bell rang again.

Then Gabriel Renaud's voice came through the front door.

“Madeleine?”

Thomas stopped.

His mother looked relieved.

“It's Gabriel.”

Thomas tightened his grip on her arm.

“Dad's letter said not to contact him.”

“We didn't.”

“Exactly.”

The bell rang a third time.

“Madeleine? Thomas? I saw Thomas's car.”

Thomas looked toward the windows.

“How would he know I was here?”

Madeleine whispered, “Maybe he drove past.”

“At exactly the moment this thing turns on?”

The doorknob moved.

Gabriel called again.

“Everything all right?”

Thomas pulled Madeleine deeper into the kitchen.

His phone buzzed.

Gabriel calling.

Thomas rejected it.

Immediately, a text appeared.

OPEN THE DOOR.

Not a question.

Not Are you okay?

Open the door.

Thomas stared at it.

Another message arrived.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU FOUND.

His stomach dropped.

Madeleine read it over his shoulder.

“Oh God.”

Thomas typed nothing.

A loud crack came from the front of the house.

Someone had kicked the door.

Madeleine gasped.

“Move.”

They ran through the pantry toward the garage.

Another crack.

Wood splintered.

Thomas hit the garage button.

The door began crawling upward.

Too slow.

He opened the driver's side door of Madeleine's sedan.

“Get in.”

“What about your car?”

“They've seen it.”

Madeleine climbed into the passenger seat.

The garage door was three feet from the floor.

Thomas ducked behind the wheel.

Footsteps entered the house.

A man's voice shouted.

“Thomas!”

Gabriel.

Thomas started the engine.

The garage door reached five feet.

He hit reverse.

The sedan shot backward while the door was still rising.

Metal scraped the roof.

Madeleine screamed.

Thomas spun into the street.

A man emerged from the side yard.

Thomas slammed the accelerator.

The black SUV pulled away from the curb.

Following.

“Who are these people?” Madeleine asked.

Thomas checked the mirror.

“You spent twelve years asking fewer questions than that.”

“This isn't the time.”

“No. It should've been the time twelve years ago.”

Madeleine looked away.

The SUV closed the gap.

Thomas turned hard onto a side street.

“What is Union Station locker 314?” Madeleine asked.

“I intend to find out.”

“Should we call the police?”

Thomas remembered Pierre's warning.

Do not call anyone connected to Delacourt Holdings.

He pulled out his phone.

“I know one detective who has never worked for us.”

“Who?”

“Sarah Cole.”

Thomas called.

No answer.

The SUV hit their rear bumper.

Madeleine cried out.

Thomas fought the wheel.

The car fishtailed, then straightened.

His phone rang.

Unknown number.

Thomas answered through the speakers.

“Hello?”

For two seconds, there was only static.

Then a woman's voice.

Weak.

Breathless.

Older than he remembered.

But he knew it instantly.

“Thomas?”

His hands locked around the steering wheel.

The world seemed to disappear.

“Émilie?”

Madeleine turned toward him.

The voice continued.

“If you found the red unit, don't go home.”

Thomas glanced at the SUV behind him.

“A little late.”

“Listen to me. Pierre is dead, which means there's no one left between Gabriel and what he wants.”

Thomas felt ice in his veins.

“Where are you?”

“I can't tell you.”

“Are you alive?”

A strange question.

But after twelve years, it was the only one he could manage.

Émilie's breath caught.

“Yes.”

Thomas's throat tightened.

“Why did you leave?”

“Thomas, there isn't time.”

“You disappeared!”

“I know.”

“You were pregnant.”

Silence.

Thomas's voice cracked.

“I found the photograph.”

Another long silence.

Then Émilie whispered, “You weren't supposed to find that yet.”

Thomas almost missed the turn.

“My child?”

Émilie didn't answer.

“Émilie!”

The line filled with a sudden noise.

A door slammed somewhere near her.

She whispered urgently.

“Get to locker 314 before Gabriel does.”

“Tell me about the baby.”

Her breathing became faster.

“Thomas…”

“Was the baby mine?”

She finally answered.

May you like

MY HUSBAND SAID NO ONE WOULD BELIEVE ME—THEN A DETECTIVE'S VOICE CAME FR...

My husband punched the wall beside my head and grabbed my bruised chin. “No one will believe you over me,” he whispered. For five...

“A Corrupt Sheriff Ruined My 17-Year-Old Son’s Future—He Never Knew His...

A corrupt Sheriff shot my 17-year-old son, permanently destroying both his kneecaps. "Shouldn't have looked at me wrong, boy," the...

“BEG LOUDER, SWEETHEART. YOUR DADDY WON'T BELIEVE YOU UNLESS YOU CRY.”

“BEG LOUDER, SWEETHEART. YOUR DADDY WON'T BELIEVE YOU UNLESS YOU CRY.”My six-year-old daughter was chained to a metal pool railing...

“Yes.”

Then the call cut off.