Chapter 11 - SELENE'S DEAL
I shoved her hand away.
“What are you talking about?”
Selene looked over the container.
Gunfire cracked again.
“He has a second team.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to trust you?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She grabbed my coat.
“But you should trust that I don't want to die.”
That, at least, sounded believable.
Agents pushed toward the roof.
Voss had disappeared into the warehouse.
Julian was handcuffed behind a tactical vehicle, screaming about attorneys.
I looked back at Selene.
“You watched him beat me.”
Her face went still.
“Yes.”
“You counted.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Her jaw tightened.
“Because I needed him to believe I was still with him.”
I nearly laughed.
“That's your defense?”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“There is no defense.”
That answer surprised me.
Selene reached into her boot and pulled out a small phone.
“Voss gave me this.”
“Why?”
“To coordinate escape routes.”
She opened a message thread.
A photograph appeared.
My father leaving my childhood home.
Timestamp: three minutes ago.
Under it:
MARLOWE MOVING. TEAM B READY.
My stomach dropped.
I grabbed my own phone.
No signal.
“Jammer,” Selene said.
I ran toward Agent Shaw.
“Your comms working?”
“Intermittently.”
I showed her the phone.
She read it.
“Get Marlowe security on satellite backup.”
An agent ran.
Shaw looked at Selene.
“You're coming with me.”
Selene nodded.
Then she looked at me.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“Julian didn't order the attack on your father.”
“I know.”
“He didn't order the attack on you either.”
I stared.
“The bullet at the house?”
“Voss did.”
“Why?”
“He wanted you frightened enough to trade the drive.”
“And the beating?”
Selene hesitated.
I stepped closer.
“What?”
“That was Julian.”
My hands curled into fists.
“He wanted you gone.”
“Why?”
“Because he found your mother's name in the Horizon records.”
The world seemed to tilt.
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
The same time Julian had changed.
The coldness.
The secret meetings.
The strange questions about my family.
Selene's sudden presence in our home.
“He knew who I was?”
“Not at first.”
“But later?”
“Yes.”
I thought about Julian calling my father a retired accountant.
His laughter when I called him.
“Then why did he act surprised tonight?”
“He knew your mother was connected to Marlowe Capital.”
Selene swallowed.
“He didn't know Victor Marlowe was your father.”
That made sense.
Margaret had kept her maiden name professionally.
So had I.
Selene continued.
“Julian believed you had access to the Horizon archive.”
“So he married me for it?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“He married you before he knew.”
Something about her voice changed.
“He really did love you once.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Don't.”
“I'm not trying to make you feel better.”
“Then why say it?”
“Because that's what makes him worse.”
She looked toward Julian.
“He chose all of this after he loved you.”
Before I could answer, an agent shouted.
“Vehicle inbound!”
A black SUV smashed through the barricade.
Agents raised their weapons.
The rear door flew open.
My father stumbled out.
Blood covered his shirt.
And in his hand was a phone.
He looked at me.
“Elena.”
His voice shook.
May you like
“They took Daniel.”
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