Chapter 13 - The Woman Behind NorthlakeMargaret Hale Finally Came for Me
We ran.
My father knew the woods.
He led us to a second vehicle hidden behind an abandoned barn.
We drove until dawn.
Then Rachel received an encrypted message.
A photo.
Vanessa tied to a chair.
My blood turned to ice.
Underneath it:
COME ALONE.
Margaret.
I wanted to go.
My father stopped me.
“No.”
“She has Vanessa.”
“She expects you to react.”
“What choice do I have?”
He looked at me.
“The choice your mother would have made.”
“What would she do?”
“She would make Margaret underestimate her.”
So we created a lie.
Rachel leaked a false location.
A hotel.
I would supposedly surrender the trust.
Margaret took the bait.
She arrived with three men.
We had federal agents watching.
The arrest should have been easy.
It wasn't.
Margaret had already compromised the team.
One agent turned on another.
Gunfire erupted.
Margaret escaped.
Vanessa was rescued.
And in the chaos, Daniel appeared.
He wasn't armed.
He walked toward me.
I stared at him.
“You came.”
“I had to.”
“Why?”
“To stop her.”
He looked exhausted.
For the first time in five years, my husband looked like the man I'd originally married.
Not the polished businessman.
Not the liar.
Just Daniel.
Broken.
“Claire,” he said, “I'm sorry.”
I said nothing.
“I didn't know how deep it went.”
“You knew enough.”
“Yes.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
“And you left me at an airport during a blizzard.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I thought it was the only way.”
“To save yourself.”
“To save you.”
I laughed.
“You don't get to rewrite that night.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
Then he handed me a flash drive.
“What is this?”
“Everything.”
“Why?”
“Because I'm done.”
He stepped backward.
“My mother has been using Northlake to control people for twenty-five years.”
“What about the $8 million?”
“You can have it.”
“It was already mine.”
“I know.”
He looked at me.
“But you were the only person who ever deserved it.”
Before I could reply, a gunshot cracked through the air.
Daniel fell.
I screamed.
The bullet had struck his shoulder.
Margaret stood across the road.
She lowered the gun.
“Still protecting her?”
Daniel looked up.
“Always.”
Margaret laughed.
“You really are your father's son.”
Then she aimed at me.
My father pushed me down.
Another shot.
Then another.
Agents opened fire.
Margaret disappeared behind the trees.
Daniel was bleeding.
He grabbed my hand.
“Don't let her get the ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“The real one.”
I stared.
“The red ledger?”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“The one your mother made.”
“What is it?”
“Names.”
“How many?”
His eyes closed.
“All of them.”
He was taken to the hospital.
The flash drive contained account numbers, recordings, payments, and names.
Enough to destroy Northlake.
But not enough to destroy Margaret.
Because one file was encrypted.
The title:
MOTHER.
Rachel looked at me.
“We need to open it.”
I nodded.
We spent six hours breaking through layers of encryption.
At the center was a video.
My mother.
Alive.
Sitting in a room.
Speaking directly to the camera.
She looked older than the photographs.
But it was unmistakably her.
“Claire,” she said.
I stopped breathing.
“If you're watching this, then Daniel failed.”
I looked at Rachel.
The video continued.
“He was never supposed to marry you.”
May you like
My heart stopped.
“He was supposed to kill you.”
