Chapter 8 - The Wedding RingFive years of marriage ended with one pull of the triggerJulian stood five feet away.

No body armor.

No visible weapon.

Just my wedding ring between his fingers.

"You should give that back."

He smiled.

"Why?"

"Because it's mine."

"Nothing about you was ever really yours."

The old Julian was gone.

This one was colder.

Stripped of charm.

Stripped of pretending.

"You used me."

"Yes."

"Arthur knew."

"Yes."

"You killed him."

Julian shook his head.

"Not directly."

The sentence made my stomach turn.

"That's your defense?"

"I didn't pull the trigger."

"You ordered it."

He didn't deny it.

Clara stepped forward.

"What happened to my mother?"

Julian looked at her.

"She betrayed Rook."

"Where is she?"

"Alive."

"Where?"

"You'll see."

Clara's eyes hardened.

"You lied to me."

"I told you exactly what you needed to know."

She raised her weapon.

Julian laughed.

"You won't shoot me."

"Try me."

I touched her shoulder.

"Wait."

Julian looked at me.

"You always were the disciplined one."

"No."

I stared at him.

"I was the obedient one."

He frowned.

"There's a difference."

He stepped closer.

"I loved you once."

That almost made me lose control.

"Don't."

"I did."

"You loved what I could do."

"Maybe."

"You loved having a wife nobody could hurt."

He looked away.

Then something unexpected happened.

His hand began to shake.

Only slightly.

But I noticed.

Fear.

Julian was afraid.

Not of me.

Of someone else.

"Who's coming?"

He didn't answer.

I grabbed his collar.

"Who's coming?"

He whispered:

"The Board."

"Victor Hale?"

"No."

"Rook?"

"No."

"Then who?"

Julian looked toward the corridor.

"They're already inside."

The lights flickered.

A voice came over the facility speaker.

"Mr. Croft."

Julian froze.

The voice was female.

Calm.

Older.

"Your usefulness has expired."

The doors at both ends of the corridor opened.

Armed teams entered.

Not Keystone.

Not Rook's men.

Their uniforms bore a white symbol.

A circle surrounding a vertical line.

Julian's face became bloodless.

"Who are they?"

He looked at me.

"The people I was trying to escape."

The leader stepped forward.

A woman in her sixties.

Silver hair.

Dark suit.

No weapon visible.

She looked directly at Julian.

"You failed."

He raised his weapon.

The woman smiled.

"Don't."

Julian stopped.

She turned toward Clara.

"Elena."

Clara stared.

"It's me."

Clara started crying.

The woman continued.

"Your sister is alive."

Clara whispered:

"Where?"

"With me."

I stepped forward.

"Who are you?"

She looked at me.

"Elizabeth Croft."

My blood turned cold.

Julian's mother.

Arthur's daughter-in-law.

The woman everyone believed was dead for eight years.

Julian whispered:

"Mother."

Elizabeth looked at him without emotion.

"You disappointed your father."

"You're alive."

"Obviously."

"Why?"

"Because Arthur wasn't the only person who knew about Harborlight."

She turned toward me.

"I built it."

Silence.

Clara raised her gun.

Elizabeth didn't react.

"You."

Clara's voice shook.

"You took my family."

Elizabeth nodded.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because they knew too much."

"You killed them."

"No."

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed.

"Rook did."

Clara looked confused.

Elizabeth continued.

"I created Harborlight to protect witnesses."

I stared.

"Then it was corrupted."

"By Rook."

"Then why continue?"

"Because by the time I learned what he'd done, too many powerful people were already involved."

She looked at Julian.

"He thought he was stealing the machine."

Then at me.

"He never understood the machine was already broken."

Suddenly, the facility shook.

An explosion echoed underground.

Elizabeth looked toward the ceiling.

"Rook has arrived."

Julian laughed.

"You said he couldn't find us."

"I said he wouldn't."

Another explosion.

A guard ran into the corridor.

"Ma'am, Rook's breached the eastern wing."

Elizabeth looked at me.

"Now we have five minutes."

"Until what?"

She smiled.

"Until everyone in this building dies."

Julian stared.

"You wouldn't."

Elizabeth didn't even look at him.

"I would."

The lights turned red.

Emergency shutters slammed down.

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