Chapter 7 - Amanda was missing.By noon, Derek had stopped answering calls.
By one, Captain Ross had arrived at the house.
By two, Nathan's surveillance team found Derek's abandoned car near a warehouse.
Amanda's phone was inside.
Broken.
A single message had been written across the screen.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT HER ALONE.
Nathan looked at me.
“This isn't Derek.”
“No.”
“Then who?”
I already knew.
Gideon.
He was eliminating loose ends.
Derek had become one.
We followed the warehouse coordinates.
Inside, we found Amanda tied to a chair.
Alive.
Barely.
When she saw me, her eyes widened.
She began crying.
“Evelyn?”
I stood in front of her.
She stared at me as if I were a ghost.
“I watched you die.”
I leaned closer.
“No.”
I whispered.
“You watched me survive.”
Amanda began shaking.
“I didn't want this.”
“That's a lie.”
“I swear.”
“You pushed me.”
She looked toward the floor.
“Derek pushed you.”
“And you told him to do it.”
She said nothing.
I pulled a chair closer.
“Tell me everything.”
Amanda remained silent.
So I placed a small recorder on the table.
Then pressed play.
Her own voice came through the speaker.
“She’s barely awake.”
“Do it now.”
Amanda looked at me.
“You recorded us?”
“Yes.”
She began crying.
Then she told me everything.
The money.
The forged medical reports.
The manipulated medications.
The lawyer.
The fake death certificate.
And Gideon.
He had approached them six months earlier.
He promised Derek access to the hidden assets.
In return, Derek had to help remove me.
But Amanda had another secret.
She had never trusted Gideon.
She believed he intended to kill Derek after the money was transferred.
“Then why help him?”
“Because Derek promised me half.”
I nodded.
At least greed was honest when fear removed the costume.
“Where is Derek?”
“I don't know.”
She hesitated.
“Actually…”
Her eyes shifted.
“What?”
“The pool.”
I froze.
“Old swimming club?”
She nodded.
“He said he was going there tonight.”
Lucinda had been right.
Derek was going to the pool.
Nathan immediately called his team.
But I stopped him.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“I need to go first.”
“You're not going anywhere alone.”
“I won't be alone.”
Nathan sighed.
I knew he understood.
He had begun to trust me.
That mattered.
At midnight, we returned to the old club.
The building was silent.
Too silent.
The empty pool waited beneath us.
Derek stood at the bottom.
He was holding a crowbar.
He looked exhausted.
When he saw me, he dropped it.
“Mom.”
I walked toward him.
“You wanted me here.”
He looked at me.
“I thought you were dead.”
“You should have checked.”
He closed his eyes.
“I couldn't.”
“You pushed me.”
Tears appeared.
“I know.”
“You watched me disappear.”
“I know.”
“You heard Amanda say I was drowned.”
His voice broke.
“Yes.”
I stepped closer.
“Why?”
He looked at me.
And for the first time since the lake, I saw my little boy again.
Not the man who had pushed me.
The boy.
But the boy was gone.
“My father wasn't my father.”
“I know.”
His eyes widened.
“You know?”
“I know everything.”
Derek looked toward the pool.
Then whispered:
“Not everything.”
“What don't I know?”
He looked behind me.
Toward the entrance.
His face went white.
“Gideon is here.”
The lights went out.
Gunfire exploded through the building.
Nathan shoved me behind the wall.
Derek ducked.
Someone screamed.
Then a voice echoed through the darkness.
“Evelyn.”
Gideon.
Calm.
Almost amused.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
I shouted back.
“No.”
Silence.
Then:
“You have something that belongs to your husband.”
A pause.
“And I'm going to take it.”
The pool floor cracked.
Derek looked down.
A hidden mechanism had opened.
A steel door appeared beneath the concrete.
He stared.
“So that's what he wanted.”
Nathan looked at me.
I reached for the key.
But before I could insert it, Derek grabbed my wrist.
“Mom.”
I looked at him.
He whispered:
“The key isn't for the door.”
May you like
He pointed toward the wall.
“It's for the person behind it.”
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