Chapter 9 - THE FALLThe first belt snapped, and Maren’s body lurched sideways into empty air.
Her hand shot out, catching the edge of the dumbwaiter platform.
Pain tore through her shoulder.
Below, Nora shouted, “Maren!”
Above, Vivian screamed again, a sound so full of terror it broke through everything else.
The man in black reached for the second belt.
Maren kicked uselessly on instinct.
Her legs did not answer.
But her hands did.
She grabbed the loose metal hook at her side and swung it into the man’s face with every ounce of strength she had.
He cursed and recoiled.
The knife clattered down the shaft.
Nora jumped back as it struck the floor below.
Gabriel appeared above the attacker like judgment.
He slammed the man’s head into the wood frame once.
The man dropped.
Gabriel reached into the shaft. “Hold on!”
Maren almost laughed.
As if she had any other plan.
The second belt creaked.
Her fingers slipped.
Then Vivian was there too, both hands reaching down beside Gabriel’s.
“Maren, look at me.”
Maren looked up.
For fifteen years, her mother had existed only in memory. Now Vivian’s face hovered above her, terrified and real.
“I’ve got you,” Vivian said.
“You better,” Maren gasped.
Together, Gabriel and Vivian hauled her upward enough for Elias to secure another strap around the platform. Nora and two guards worked from below. Slowly, shaking violently, the dumbwaiter descended the last few feet.
When Maren reached the bottom, Nora pulled her out and held her so tightly that Maren could barely breathe.
“I’m fine,” Maren rasped.
Nora released her. “You are absolutely not fine.”
“Later.”
They moved through the service corridor toward the back exit. Rain slashed through the open door. Two SUVs waited with engines running.
Vivian came down the stairs seconds later, hair loose, white coat smeared with dust.
She reached Maren and touched her face.
“You’re bleeding.”
“So are you.”
Vivian looked at her own arm as if surprised to see blood there.
Gabriel shouted, “Move!”
They ran.
The first SUV’s rear window exploded.
Maren ducked as glass sprayed over the ramp.
Gabriel lifted her from the chair and carried her bodily into the second vehicle. Under normal circumstances, she would have threatened him for that.
Tonight, she held onto the evidence laptop and said nothing.
Vivian climbed in after her.
Nora slammed the door.
The SUV tore away from the lake house as gunfire faded behind them.
Maren looked through the rear window.
The house was not burning.
Not yet.
Some irrational part of her thanked God.
Another part wondered if ghosts could die twice.
Inside the vehicle, Gabriel spoke into his comms.
“Package secured. Two wounded. One hostile detained. Route C.”
Vivian pressed gauze to Maren’s shoulder.
“Do you still have the drive?”
Maren lifted her hand.
The black drive was clenched in her fist so tightly the edges had cut her palm.
Vivian exhaled.
Nora looked back from the front seat. “Elias?”
The other SUV’s headlights appeared behind them.
Gabriel listened to his earpiece.
“He’s alive. Hurt, but alive.”
Maren leaned her head back.
“Alistair moved fast.”
Vivian’s voice was grim. “He always does.”
“Then we move faster.”
Nora looked at her. “To the memorial wall?”
Maren nodded.
Vivian shook her head. “No. Headquarters is locked down. Police will be slow. Federal warrants take time. Alistair wants us rushing.”
“He wants us scared.”
“He wants both.”
Maren looked out at the wet road. “Reed knows where the third evidence cache is.”
Vivian’s expression darkened.
“Yes.”
“Then Alistair does too.”
No one answered.
Because that was the truth.
By the time they reached the city, the attack at the lake house had already been spun online.
BREAKING: GUNFIRE REPORTED AT WHITAKER FAMILY PROPERTY AMID ESCALATING INHERITANCE DISPUTE
The phrase inheritance dispute made Maren laugh so sharply everyone looked at her.
Inheritance dispute.
A murder attempt was a domestic incident.
Corporate theft was leadership instability.
Gunmen attacking her childhood home was an inheritance dispute.
America loved soft words for rich violence.
Nora received the next call just before midnight.
She listened for ten seconds, then went pale.
“What?” Maren asked.
Nora looked at Vivian.
“Celeste is missing.”
Maren went still.
Detective Ortiz had moved Celeste to protective custody.
“How?”
“Safe house breach. No bodies. Two officers unconscious. Celeste gone.”
Vivian closed her eyes.
Maren did not.
She was done closing her eyes.
“Reed?” she asked.
Gabriel checked his phone. “Still missing. No official custody record after transfer.”
Nora whispered, “Alistair has both of them.”
Maren stared at the rain-streaked window.
Reed had tried to kill her.
Celeste had helped destroy her life.
She should have felt satisfaction at their fear.
Instead, she felt the trap tightening.
Not around them.
Around her.
Alistair was removing pieces from the board before she could use them.
At 1:17 a.m., Maren’s private phone rang.
Only six people had the number.
The screen showed UNKNOWN.
Everyone in the SUV froze.
Gabriel said, “Don’t answer.”
Maren answered.
For three seconds, there was only static.
Then Celeste’s voice whispered, “Maren?”
Maren’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“Celeste.”
Her sister sobbed.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. He gave me to them.”
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know. Some old hospital. It smells like bleach. Reed is here.”
Vivian leaned closer.
Maren put the phone on speaker.
Celeste’s voice shook violently.
“They want the drive. They said if you release it, they’ll make everyone think you killed me.”
Maren’s blood chilled.
Reed’s voice appeared in the background, distant but clear.
“Don’t do this, Maren.”
Maren’s face changed.
Even terrified, Reed tried to sound like the reasonable one.
“You should have stayed in jail,” she said.
A new voice entered.
Old. Calm. Refined.
Alistair Voss.
“Mrs. Whitaker,” he said. “I have heard so much about you.”
Vivian’s hand tightened into a fist.
Maren’s voice went cold.
“I wish I could say the same, but men like you are usually more impressive before they start kidnapping mistresses.”
Alistair chuckled.
“Your father had a tongue like that.”
“Good. Then you know how this ends.”
“I know exactly how this ends,” Alistair said. “You will bring me Samuel’s drive. You will also sign a public statement claiming Reed acted alone during a mental health crisis triggered by marital stress.”
Maren looked at Vivian.
Her mother’s face was stone.
“And if I don’t?”
Celeste cried out suddenly.
Maren’s stomach turned.
Alistair’s voice remained pleasant.
“Then your sister dies first. Reed dies second. And by morning, every news outlet will receive evidence suggesting you orchestrated both deaths to silence them.”
Maren closed her eyes for one heartbeat.
Then opened them.
“Where?”
Alistair gave an address.
Vivian whispered, “No.”
Maren muted the call.
Everyone began talking at once.
“It’s a trap.”
“We call federal agents.”
“We trace the phone.”
“We do not hand over evidence.”
Maren raised one hand.
Silence fell.
She unmuted the call.
“I’ll come,” she said.
Vivian stared at her.
Alistair sounded pleased.
“Alone.”
Maren looked at Gabriel.
Then at Nora.
Then at Vivian.
A slow smile touched her mouth.
“No,” she said.
There was a pause.
Alistair’s voice sharpened. “No?”
“You wanted my father’s drive,” Maren said. “That means you’re desperate. Desperate men don’t dictate terms.”
Celeste sobbed in the background.
Maren leaned closer to the phone.
“Here are mine.”
Vivian’s eyes widened.
Maren continued.
“You release Celeste to Detective Ortiz in one hour. Alive. Unharmed. Then I’ll give Reed something he should have received years ago.”
Alistair was silent.
“What is that?”
Maren looked out at the city lights.
“A chance to confess before I bury him with the rest of you.”
Then she ended the call.
The SUV filled with stunned silence.
Vivian whispered, “You just threatened Alistair Voss.”
Maren leaned back, exhausted and shaking.
“No,” she said.
May you like
Her eyes closed.
“I invited him to underestimate me twice.”
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