Chapter 7 - ELEANOR'S LAST OFFERTwo officers blocked the corridor.
Eleanor stood thirty feet away.
Perfectly dressed.
Pearls around her neck.
Hair immaculate.
She looked exactly as she had at the wedding.
As if she hadn't spent the last twenty-four hours being hunted by federal investigators.
As if she hadn't locked her pregnant daughter-in-law in a bathroom.
She looked at me through the glass.
“Why did you come here?”
“I came to make you an offer.”
Diana stepped forward.
“You're under investigation.”
Eleanor smiled.
“I know.”
“You shouldn't be here.”
“And yet here I am.”
Her eyes moved past me toward the NICU.
“Where is the baby?”
My stomach tightened.
Diana noticed.
“No.”
Eleanor's smile disappeared.
“I'm not here to hurt the child.”
“Then leave.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because Julian made a mistake.”
I froze.
“What mistake?”
She looked directly at me.
“He trusted the wrong person.”
“Who?”
Eleanor's expression changed.
“Your father.”
My heart stopped.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
I shook my head.
“My father has nothing to do with this.”
“That is what you believe.”
“Stop lying.”
She laughed softly.
“You still don't know.”
Diana moved closer.
“Tell us everything.”
Eleanor glanced at the officers.
“Not here.”
“Then start talking.”
“I will. But I want immunity.”
Diana stared at her.
“You don't get immunity.”
“Then I say nothing.”
Eleanor turned.
Two officers grabbed her.
She smiled.
“Before you arrest me, Audrey should know one thing.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“Julian did not choose you because he loved you.”
The corridor went silent.
“He chose you because of your father.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Eleanor's eyes hardened.
“Ask him why your marriage happened so quickly.”
I remembered.
We had met at a charity dinner.
Three months later, Julian proposed.
Everyone had called it romantic.
I had called it fate.
Now it felt like a trap.
Eleanor was escorted away.
I turned to Diana.
“Find my father.”
“He's already being contacted.”
“Where is he?”
“At home.”
“I want him here.”
Before Diana could respond, her phone rang.
She answered.
Then went completely still.
“What?”
A pause.
“Are you sure?”
She looked at me.
“Your father is missing.”
I felt the world tilt.
“What do you mean missing?”
“He left his house twelve hours ago.”
“Where?”
“We don't know.”
I stumbled toward the chair.
My father had never disappeared.
Never.
Diana crouched beside me.
“Audrey, there is something else.”
“What?”
“We found his vehicle.”
“Where?”
“Sterling Ridge.”
My blood ran cold.
The same estate.
The same place where my labor began.
The same place where the raids had uncovered everything.
Except apparently not everything.
Diana's phone rang again.
She answered.
Then she whispered:
“We found a second room.”
“What room?”
“Under the estate.”
My eyes widened.
“Basement?”
“No.”
“Then where?”
“Under the vineyard.”
A pause.
“There are computer servers.”
“Whose?”
“We don't know.”
“And?”
“Someone is still inside.”
The lights in the hospital flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then every screen on the floor went black.
Diana reached for her weapon.
A message appeared on the nurses' station monitor.
White letters on black.
AUDREY, YOUR FATHER IS WAITING.
May you like
Then another line appeared.
COME ALONE.
