Chapter 9 - The Last Phone Call
Marco opened it.
Static.
Wind.
Then Amelia’s voice.
“Marco, if you get this—”
A horn blared.
Tires screeched.
I closed my eyes.
Amelia sounded terrified.
“He found me.”
A second voice.
Male.
“Pull over!”
Then Amelia again.
“Daniel can’t know until Lily is safe.”
Another crash.
The audio ended.
My hands shook.
Marco stared at the floor.
“She called me.”
“You never got it?”
“No.”
Vanessa whispered, “Victor intercepted it.”
I turned on her.
“How do you know?”
“He kept copies.”
Rage burned through me.
“You knew my wife might have been murdered.”
“Not when I married you.”
“When?”
“Eight months ago.”
“And you stayed?”
She nodded.
I wanted to hate her completely.
Part of me already did.
But fear was written all over her face.
“How deep are you in this?”
“Too deep.”
Marco opened the MERCER folder.
Dozens of documents appeared.
Bank statements.
Hotel surveillance.
Passport scans.
Then one file labeled:
ACTIVE ASSET.
Marco clicked.
A photograph appeared.
Noah Mercer.
Older.
Bearded.
Alive.
Sophie made a sound I will never forget.
“Noah.”
Her knees buckled.
I caught her.
“He’s alive.”
She reached toward the screen.
“Where?”
Marco opened the metadata.
A Crane-owned medical facility in northern Virginia.
Photo taken three months earlier.
Sophie looked at Vanessa.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“You worked for him!”
“I didn’t know everything!”
Marco checked another document.
“Victor has used Mercer as leverage.”
“Against who?”
He scrolled.
Then stopped.
“Against Sophie.”
She stared at him.
“What?”
“There are instructions here.”
He read aloud.
“Subject S is to be shown proof of Asset M’s survival only if she refuses final transfer.”
“What final transfer?”
Marco opened another file.
A legal contract.
It involved Lily’s trust.
At age six, a guardian could petition to modify certain protective clauses if both biological parents were legally incapacitated or missing.
Lily turned six in three weeks.
Vanessa whispered, “That’s why Victor wanted me in the house.”
I looked at her.
“He wanted you to become Lily’s guardian.”
“Yes.”
“If something happened to me.”
She couldn’t answer.
Sophie covered her face.
“He was going to kill you.”
The room went silent.
Then the front window exploded.
Marco threw me down.
“GET DOWN!”
Gunfire cracked through the room.
Rachel screamed.
I crawled toward Lily.
“Daddy!”
I grabbed her and pulled her behind the stone fireplace.
Marco drew his weapon.
Police officers returned fire.
Another window shattered.
Vanessa screamed.
Sophie crawled toward us.
“Lily!”
The firing stopped.
Tires screamed outside.
Marco ran to the window.
“Black sedan.”
Police rushed out.
I held Lily so tightly she could barely move.
Then Vanessa gasped.
I looked over.
Blood spread across her sleeve.
She had been hit.
Detective Harmon pressed a towel against her arm.
Vanessa looked at me.
“He knows.”
“Knows what?”
“That you opened the drive.”
She winced.
“He’ll move Mercer.”
Sophie stared at her.
“Where?”
Vanessa struggled to breathe.
“Victor has a gala tomorrow night.”
Marco frowned.
“The Crane Foundation gala.”
Vanessa nodded.
“He’ll be there.”
Sophie stood.
“Then so will I.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
She looked at me.
“He buried me once.”
May you like
Her green eyes hardened.
“I’m done staying dead.”
