Chapter 11 - THE SENATOR
Emergency lights flashed red.
Dominic moved instantly.
He pushed Mara’s bed away from the door.
Price drew a pistol from beneath his jacket.
“You carry a gun in retirement?” Dominic asked.
Price checked the hallway.
“I met you.”
Footsteps approached.
Dominic’s hand slipped inside his coat.
Then Bianca stumbled through the doorway.
“Don’t shoot!”
Price lowered his weapon.
Bianca looked destroyed.
Her coat was gone.
Her hair hung loose.
There was dried blood near her temple.
“My father is here.”
Mara stared.
“At the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Bianca’s voice broke.
“To get that.”
She looked at Mara’s bracelet.
Dominic stepped between them.
“How does he know?”
Bianca looked at him.
“Because Harlan called him before the warehouse.”
“You said Harlan told you your father approved my mother’s murder.”
Tears filled Bianca’s eyes.
“He did.”
“And you still came here?”
“To stop him.”
Mara laughed bitterly.
“You hit me at my mother’s grave this morning.”
“I know.”
“You accused me on television.”
“I know.”
“You got me arrested.”
Bianca shook her head.
“No.”
Mara froze.
“What?”
“My father arranged the gun and the warrant. I agreed to the press conference because he told me you shot Preston.”
“You believed him?”
“I wanted to.”
That answer was ugly enough to be honest.
Bianca wiped her face.
“I hated you before I knew anything about you.”
“Why?”
“Because Preston looked ashamed every time you entered a room.”
Mara looked away.
“He wasn’t in love with me.”
“I know that now.”
Bianca gave a hollow laugh.
“He was guilty.”
She took a breath.
“I thought if I hurt you badly enough, I could make whatever scared me disappear.”
Mara touched her bruised cheek.
“You almost did.”
“I’m sorry.”
The words hung between them.
Mara did not forgive her.
Not yet.
Maybe not ever.
But she believed the apology.
Price moved toward the door.
“We need to relocate.”
Bianca stopped him.
“You won’t make it downstairs.”
“Why?”
“My father has two security officers with him and at least three men who aren’t security.”
Dominic smiled coldly.
“I have twelve men in the building.”
Bianca shook her head.
“Your men were redirected after someone called in a shooting on the west side.”
Dominic’s face went dead.
“My men don’t move without—”
His phone buzzed.
A message from Marco.
AMBUSH. TWO DOWN. WE’RE COMING BACK.
Dominic stared.
Senator Thorne had planned everything.
A voice came from the hallway.
“Bianca?”
She froze.
Her father.
“Sweetheart?”
Mara saw terror move across Bianca’s face.
Richard Thorne entered slowly.
Silver hair.
Perfect suit.
Warm smile.
The face of a man who had spent thirty years telling cameras he believed in family values.
He looked at Mara.
Then Dominic.
Then his daughter.
“My goodness,” he said softly. “What a mess.”
Price raised his weapon.
Thorne did not blink.
“You’re retired, Samuel.”
“Still know how to pull a trigger.”
Thorne smiled.
“And then what? You shoot a United States senator inside a maternity wing?”
His eyes went to Mara’s wrist.
“Eleanor always was sentimental.”
Mara’s skin crawled.
“You killed her.”
He sighed.
“Your mother was warned.”
“She trusted you.”
“She became inconvenient.”
Bianca made a sound like she had been punched.
“Dad.”
He looked at her.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that. Everything I did, I did for this family.”
“You killed a woman.”
“I protected our future.”
“You had me kidnapped!”
“I had Harlan scare you. He became overenthusiastic.”
Bianca stared at him in horror.
Thorne extended his hand toward Mara.
“Give me the card.”
“No.”
His smile vanished.
“Give me the card, and your child grows up.”
Dominic’s eyes turned lethal.
Thorne raised one finger.
“Before you make a decision, Mr. Vale, understand that three men currently have rifles pointed through the windows of this wing.”
Dominic glanced at the glass.
Thorne smiled again.
“Now.”
He held out his hand.
Mara looked at the memory card.
May you like
Then at the senator.
And she dropped it into her mouth.
