Chapter 10 - Room 214 was empty.The motel looked abandoned.I knocked.
Nothing.
I opened the door.
Jessica was inside.
Hands tied.
Mouth taped.
Alive.
I rushed toward her and untied her.
She collapsed against me.
“Where's Emma?”
“I don't know.”
“You do.”
Jessica started crying.
“They took her because of me.”
“What did you do?”
“I tried to tell you.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
She pulled a flash drive from her pocket.
“I kept this.”
“What is it?”
“Your grandfather's last recording.”
I stared.
“Why didn't you give it to me?”
“Because Dad threatened my children.”
I went still.
“What?”
“He said if I talked, he'd destroy us.”
Jessica held my arm.
“I hated you.”
I didn't move.
“I hated that Grandpa chose you.”
I looked at her.
“Chose me?”
“You were the heir.”
She wiped her tears.
“Dad told me you didn't deserve it.”
“What else did he tell you?”
“That you were reckless.”
She laughed bitterly.
“He made me believe everything he did was for me.”
I looked at the flash drive.
“What's on it?”
“Proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“The accident.”
My heart stopped.
She handed it over.
I played the recording.
Static.
Then Grandpa's voice.
“The person responsible is not my son.”
I froze.
What?
“The order came from inside the family.”
Jessica looked at me.
The recording continued.
“I discovered the payment.”
A pause.
“The person who made it was…”
The audio cut out.
I stared at the screen.
Jessica whispered:
“The rest was erased.”
I looked at her.
“Who erased it?”
She shook her head.
“I don't know.”
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Do you have the recording?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“Where's my daughter?”
“You'll get her when the evidence is delivered.”
“I want to hear her.”
Silence.
Then a child's voice.
“Mom?”
I closed my eyes.
“Emma!”
“Mom, I'm okay.”
“Where are you?”
“I can't see.”
A man took the phone.
“Bring the drive to the abandoned rail station.”
I frowned.
“Which one?”
“You know.”
The line ended.
Jessica looked at me.
“That's where Grandpa died.”
My blood ran cold.
“What?”
She nodded.
“They said it was natural.”
I stared at her.
“You don't believe that?”
“No.”
We went to the station.
The place had been abandoned for years.
Broken tracks.
Rusting signs.
Empty warehouses.
I held the flash drive.
“Stay behind me.”
Jessica shook her head.
“No.”
She walked beside me.
For the first time in my life, we were on the same side.
We entered the warehouse.
A projector turned on.
A video appeared.
My father.
My mother.
Jessica.
Me.
Seventeen years old.
My accident was playing on a screen.
Someone had recorded it.
Then the footage changed.
A second camera angle.
A man beside the motorcycle.
My heart stopped.
The face was hidden.
But the jacket was familiar.
Northstar security.
Then the man turned.
Jessica screamed.
“I know him.”
I turned.
“Who?”
She looked at the screen.
Then whispered:
“Uncle Michael.”
My father's younger brother.
A man everyone believed had died overseas twelve years ago.
The video ended.
A voice came from the darkness.
“He never died.”
Lights turned on.
A dozen people surrounded us.
And in the center stood a man I had not seen since childhood.
Uncle Michael.
Alive.
Smiling.
Holding a gun.
He looked at me.
“Your grandfather was right.”
May you like
Then he smiled.
“You were always the dangerous one.”
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