Chapter 10 - SHE CONFESSED WHILE THE RECORDER WAS RUNNING
Thomas was waiting inside the marina warehouse.
Mom sat in her wheelchair.
Hands tied.
Alive.
I nearly broke the plan when I saw her.
Her eyes found mine.
She shook her head slightly.
Don't.
Even kidnapped, Mom was still mothering me.
Thomas held a handgun.
“Drive.”
I lifted the bag.
“Mom first.”
“No.”
Lauren stepped forward.
“Thomas.”
He smiled.
“My favorite bride.”
Lauren flinched.
Good.
“Let Rose go.”
Thomas laughed.
“You think you negotiate now?”
Lauren looked at me.
Then him.
“We did everything.”
My pulse jumped.
Not scripted.
Thomas frowned.
“What?”
“We did everything you asked.”
Thomas’s face tightened.
Lauren continued.
“I found the trust.”
“Lauren.”
“I got Andrew away from her.”
“Stop talking.”
“I pushed the chair.”
Silence.
Thomas looked at her.
I realized what she was doing.
Confessing.
On the wire.
“I pushed her because you said if she died, Andrew would inherit enough for us to pay everyone.”
Thomas’s face changed.
“That isn't what I said.”
“Yes, it is.”
“You panicked.”
“You picked the dock.”
He raised the gun slightly.
“I told you to scare her.”
Lauren laughed bitterly.
“You told Colin there were no cameras.”
Thomas stopped.
Got him.
Then Mom spoke.
“He also cut the brake.”
Thomas turned.
My mother smiled.
“You always were sloppy when someone challenged your intelligence.”
Even tied to a wheelchair, Rose Keller could insult her brother professionally.
Thomas stepped toward her.
I moved.
Gun pointed at me.
“Stay.”
I froze.
Then Mom said:
“You want the drive because Dad recorded you.”
Thomas went still.
What?
None of us knew.
Mom continued.
“I remembered.”
Thomas’s face drained.
“There’s audio.”
My father had apparently recorded a conversation with Thomas years earlier.
That was the unique file.
The second drive.
Thomas’s entire defense would collapse.
“You're lying.”
Mom smiled.
“Then why are you sweating?”
Checkmate.
Thomas’s attention shifted for one second.
Lauren moved.
She knocked his gun arm sideways.
Shot fired.
Agents stormed.
Thomas grabbed Lauren.
I reached Mom.
Cut ties.
Pulled wheelchair back.
Gunfire did not continue.
Sloan’s team overwhelmed Thomas.
He went down screaming.
Lauren sat against the wall, bleeding from her arm.
Not life-threatening.
Mom stared at her.
Lauren stared back.
“I’m sorry.”
Mom said nothing.
Then:
“You should be.”
No forgiveness.
No dramatic embrace.
Appropriate.
Thomas was arrested.
Mom safe.
Drive recovered.
Lauren’s confession recorded.
The nightmare finally had edges.
That night, Mom asked me:
“Do you still love her?”
I considered.
“No.”
“You answered quickly.”
“I loved who I thought she was.”
Mom nodded.
“That person existed partly.”
Maybe.
That was almost harder.
Villains are easier if everything was fake.
Lauren probably had loved me.
Just not enough to resist greed, fear and resentment.
May you like
People can love you and still destroy you.
That lesson stayed.
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