Chapter 6 - The EscapeChaos exploded through the house.

Dad fired toward the broken window.

Security rushed through the corridor.

Ryan pulled me behind a concrete pillar.

"Let go of me."

"Not until we're safe."

"You expect me to trust you?"

"No."

He looked at me.

"I expect you to trust your instincts."

Another gunshot.

The glass doors shattered.

Dad shouted my name.

"Emma!"

Ryan looked toward him.

"Your father can't protect you from this."

"He can protect me from you."

Ryan almost smiled.

"Then ask him why he never searched for your mother."

I froze.

Ryan grabbed my wrist.

"Come."

"I’m not going anywhere with you."

He pulled a photograph from his pocket.

My mother.

Older.

Standing outside a hospital.

On the back:

PRIVATE CLINIC, ZURICH.

My heart jumped.

"Where is this?"

"Switzerland."

"She's there?"

"She was."

"Then where is she now?"

Ryan hesitated.

"Close."

The word made my blood run cold.

Before I could ask more, someone fired from the hallway.

Ryan pushed me down.

The bullet hit the wall.

He pulled me through a service door.

We ran.

Behind us, I heard Dad shouting.

"Ryan!"

The service corridor led into the underground garage.

A black SUV waited.

Ryan opened the passenger door.

I refused.

Then I saw Dad at the end of the corridor.

Three armed men were closing in behind him.

I ran into the SUV.

Ryan drove.

The garage gate exploded upward.

We sped into the night.

I looked back.

Dad disappeared behind the smoke.

I reached for my phone.

No signal.

Ryan drove without speaking.

"Where are we going?"

"A place no one knows exists."

"Why should I believe you?"

"You shouldn't."

He glanced at me.

"But you need to know what happened to your mother."

I looked down at my stomach.

The baby kicked.

Ryan noticed.

His expression softened briefly.

"Does he move often?"

"It's a girl."

He looked surprised.

"I didn't know."

"Why would you?"

He smiled faintly.

"Because I spent three years pretending I didn't care about anything."

Silence filled the car.

Then he spoke.

"Your mother discovered that someone inside Carter Global was using the company to move illegal money through overseas infrastructure projects."

"Who?"

"Your father's chief financial officer."

I frowned.

"But Dad trusts him."

"He trusted him."

Ryan handed me a folder.

Inside was evidence.

Bank statements.

Emails.

Photographs.

At least fifteen executives were involved.

I looked at one name.

My hands went cold.

"That's impossible."

"What?"

"Daniel Brooks."

Ryan stared at me.

"You know him?"

"He was the man Claire said died three years ago."

Ryan nodded.

"He didn't die."

I stared at him.

"Then who died?"

Ryan didn't answer.

He drove toward the mountains.

"What happened that night?"

His hands tightened around the steering wheel.

"Daniel discovered something."

"What?"

"He discovered that your mother had been helping him."

"Helping him with what?"

Ryan finally looked at me.

"Finding the person who ordered her fake death."

My pulse raced.

"My mother faked her death?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because she knew someone would kill her."

"Who?"

Ryan's jaw tightened.

"We're almost there."

The SUV entered a tunnel.

At the end was an underground facility.

A steel door opened.

Ryan drove inside.

The door closed behind us.

Then a voice echoed through the speakers.

"Welcome home, Emma."

I froze.

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I knew that voice.

It was my mother.