Chapter 8 - THE WAREHOUSE
The address led to an abandoned records warehouse on the industrial edge of the city.
Mercer brought a tactical team.
Maya was ordered to stay in the car.
She lasted ninety seconds.
Then she got out.
“Maya!”
Mercer caught up.
“You have a serious problem with instructions.”
“Eleanor threatened my brother and tried to poison Charles. I’m not crying if she gets arrested.”
“That isn’t why you’re here.”
“No.”
“You want the truth about your mother.”
“Yes.”
Mercer studied her.
“Stay behind me.”
Inside, the warehouse smelled like dust and rain.
Rows of steel shelves vanished into darkness.
The tactical team spread out.
“Police!”
No answer.
They found Eleanor upstairs.
Still tied to the chair.
Alive.
Mercer cut the tape from her mouth.
She immediately shouted, “He’s here!”
“Adrian?”
“Yes!”
“Where?”
“I don’t know!”
Maya stood several feet away.
Eleanor saw her.
“You.”
Maya’s anger flared.
“You put my name in your purse.”
“I had to.”
“You threatened Luis.”
“I had to!”
“You tried to murder your husband.”
Eleanor’s face twisted.
“You think Charles is innocent?”
“No.”
“Then stop looking at me like I’m the monster.”
Maya stepped closer.
“You poured poison into his wine.”
“I was terrified.”
“That isn’t an excuse.”
“You don’t know Adrian.”
“Apparently nobody does.”
Eleanor lowered her voice.
“He came to me eight months ago.”
“And you teamed up with him.”
“At first.”
“Why?”
“Because Charles destroyed both our lives.”
Maya laughed bitterly.
“You were married to a billionaire for twenty-two years.”
“You think money means safety?”
Eleanor leaned forward against the ropes.
“You think Charles married me because he loved me? I knew where the bodies were buried.”
Mercer froze.
“Figuratively?”
Eleanor looked at him.
“No.”
Silence.
Before Mercer could ask more, lights snapped off across the warehouse.
Darkness swallowed them.
A shot rang out.
Someone screamed.
“DOWN!”
Maya dropped behind a crate.
Emergency lights flickered red.
Mercer fired toward movement.
“Police! Drop the weapon!”
Footsteps ran above them.
Maya saw a shadow disappear through a doorway.
She followed.
“Maya, no!”
She sprinted up the stairs.
At the roof access, a man stood waiting.
Adrian.
Older than his photographs.
Calm.
Almost gentle.
“You look like Elena,” he said.
Maya stopped.
“You knew my mother?”
“Yes.”
“You stole from her.”
His face tightened.
“That’s what Charles told you?”
“The records prove it.”
“No.”
He reached into his coat.
Maya tensed.
He pulled out a small flash drive.
“These prove something else.”
“Put it down.”
“Your mother didn’t take Charles’s money.”
“Then where did it go?”
Adrian smiled sadly.
“She gave it to me.”
Maya stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because she was helping me escape my father.”
Behind them, the roof door burst open.
Mercer aimed his gun.
“Hands up!”
Adrian stepped backward toward the ledge.
“Ask your mother why.”
Maya shouted, “My mother is dead!”
Adrian’s expression changed.
“No, Maya.”
The whole world seemed to stop.
May you like
“Your mother is alive.”
Then he jumped.
