Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN IN THE BLACK CAR
My mother survived surgery.
The bullet had passed through her shoulder without striking any major artery, but the doctors kept her under observation. She slept beneath soft hospital lights while police guarded the corridor.
I remained outside her room with Tristan.
Neither of us had slept.
The photograph lay between us.
“The red ribbon,” I said. “It was on my bicycle.”
“Do you remember where the bicycle is?”
“My mother kept it in storage.”
“Where?”
“Our old house.”
“You still own it?”
“No. We sold the house after my father died.”
“To whom?”
“I don’t know.”
Tristan stood.
“Then we find out.”
Detective Ortiz arrived with a file.
“Victor Rusk is refusing to talk,” she said. “But we found his financial records. He has been receiving payments from an offshore account connected to Cain Global.”
“Vivian?” Tristan asked.
“Likely.”
“Arrest her.”
“We need evidence.”
“You have a shooter, a kidnapping, and an attempted murder.”
“We have Victor. We don’t have Vivian directly connected.”
Tristan’s eyes hardened.
“She ran the operation.”
“Prove it.”
Detective Ortiz turned to me.
“Miss Hart, you said you remember Vivian at the scene of your father’s death?”
“I’m not sure. It’s a memory from when I was eleven.”
“Tell me.”
I closed my eyes.
The old workshop came back in fragments.
Rain on the roof.
My father kneeling beside my bicycle.
His hands trembling as he tied the red ribbon around the seat.
“Keep this safe, Em,” he had said.
“Why?”
“Because someday you’ll need to remember.”
Then a black car had stopped near the gate.
Vivian Rusk had stepped out.
She was younger, but unmistakable.
She had argued with my father.
I couldn’t hear the words.
A second man stood beside her.
He wore a dark coat and a silver serpent ring.
Victor.
My father had pushed me behind the workshop wall.
I remembered him saying, “Don’t move.”
Then the explosion.
The memory ended there.
Detective Ortiz wrote everything down.
Tristan’s face had gone pale.
“Vivian was present,” I said.
“We still need proof,” Detective Ortiz replied.
A nurse entered the corridor.
“Miss Hart, your mother is awake.”
I rushed inside.
My mother looked exhausted but alert.
Tristan remained outside.
I sat beside her bed.
“Mom, I remembered Vivian.”
My mother closed her eyes.
“I was afraid you would.”
“What happened the day Dad died?”
She took a slow breath.
“Your father discovered that Alexander Cain had been secretly financing a private intelligence company. The company spied on competitors, judges, politicians, and journalists.”
“Why would Alexander do that?”
“He believed he was protecting Cain Global. Vivian and Victor were the ones running it.”
“Then why did Dad think Alexander betrayed him?”
“Because Alexander agreed to silence him.”
I felt sick.
“Did Alexander order Dad’s death?”
“No. He wanted Daniel to leave the country. He gave Vivian your father’s location because he thought she would scare him into disappearing.”
“But she killed him.”
My mother began crying.
“Your father hid the ledger before the explosion. He told me that if he died, I was to protect you and never reveal where it was.”
“Where is it?”
She looked at me.
“You already know.”
“The red ribbon.”
My mother nodded.
“Your father placed a memory card inside the bicycle seat. He said you would remember when the time was right.”
“Where is the bicycle now?”
“We sold it to a charity auction after we moved. A woman from Cain Global bought it.”
“Who?”
My mother whispered.
“Vivian Rusk.”
The hospital room seemed to shrink around me.
Tristan entered.
“What happened?”
I looked at him.
“Vivian has the bicycle.”
Detective Ortiz immediately made a call.
Twenty minutes later, she returned.
“The bicycle was moved from Vivian’s private storage facility three days ago.”
“To where?”
“Cain Global’s old archive building.”
Tristan went still.
“The archive building was closed five years ago.”
“Apparently someone has been using it,” Detective Ortiz said.
A phone rang outside.
One of Tristan’s guards answered, then hurried into the room.
“Mr. Cain, Vivian is on the line.”
Tristan took the phone.
“Where are you?”
Her voice came through the speaker.
“Somewhere your cameras can’t reach.”
“Give me the bicycle.”
“You’re still protecting her?” Vivian asked.
Tristan looked at me.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because she is the daughter of a traitor.”
I stepped closer.
“Did you kill my father?”
Vivian laughed softly.
“Your father killed himself the moment he chose Daniel Cain’s trust over his own survival.”
“You were there.”
“I was there when he refused to cooperate.”
“You murdered him.”
“I finished what Alexander started.”
Tristan’s hand tightened around the phone.
“Where is the ledger?”
“You’ll never find it.”
“We already know it’s in the archive.”
A pause.
Then Vivian spoke.
“No. The bicycle is in the archive. The ledger is somewhere else.”
“What do you want?” Tristan asked.
“Your resignation. Cain Global transferred to my control. And Emma Hart delivered to me.”
“You’ll get neither.”
“Then your mother dies next.”
The call ended.
My mother’s monitor began to beep faster.
A nurse rushed in.
I turned to Tristan.
“She’ll keep coming after us.”
“Yes.”
“Then we stop running.”
He studied me.
“What are you suggesting?”
“Let her think she has what she wants.”
Detective Ortiz understood first.
“A trap.”
I nodded.
“Announce that Tristan is stepping down. Tell the media the acquisition is canceled. Make Vivian believe the company is collapsing.”
Tristan stared at me.
“And you?”
“I’ll call her.”
“You’ll be the bait.”
“She already thinks I’m weak.”
His eyes darkened.
“You’re not going anywhere near her.”
“Then find another plan.”
“There isn’t one.”
“Exactly.”
For a long moment, neither of us spoke.
Then Tristan reached for my hand.
His fingers closed around mine.
“I won’t let anything happen to you.”
I looked into his eyes.
May you like
“That’s not a promise you can make.”
“It is the only promise I intend to keep.”
