Chapter 13 - Six HoursDarkness swallowed the house.
Ellie stirred in my arms.
“Mommy?”
“I’m here.”
Dad reached for a flashlight.
Ben checked the windows.
“Someone cut the power.”
A car engine started outside.
Dad whispered:
“Back room.”
We moved silently.
Then the front door exploded inward.
We ran.
Footsteps thundered behind us.
Ellie began crying.
I held her tighter.
Ben shoved open a hidden door behind a bookshelf.
A narrow passage appeared.
I stared at him.
“How long has that been there?”
“Long enough.”
We crawled through.
Behind us, men shouted.
The passage led to an underground garage.
A car waited.
Keys inside.
Dad looked at Ben.
“You've been preparing for this.”
Ben nodded.
“I had to.”
We drove.
Nobody spoke.
Finally, Dad asked:
“Where did you get the car?”
“From Linda.”
I stared.
“Your mother?”
“She knew this was coming.”
“How?”
Ben looked down.
“She wasn't working against us.”
“What?”
“She was pretending.”
I couldn't process it.
“Linda knew Victor?”
“Yes.”
“She knew about the coffee?”
Ben swallowed.
“She was ordered to stage an incident.”
I turned toward him.
“She was ordered?”
“She was supposed to spill the coffee near Ellie.”
“Near her?”
“Yes.”
“But she threw it at her.”
His face twisted.
“I think she panicked.”
Or wanted to.
I didn't know what to believe anymore.
Ben continued.
“Victor told Linda to create a scene. He wanted the family story established before the investigation.”
“And she chose to hurt Ellie.”
Ben's silence answered.
We reached an abandoned warehouse.
Inside, Linda was waiting.
She looked terrible.
Her eyes were swollen.
She stared at me.
“I never wanted to hurt her.”
I said nothing.
“You won't forgive me.”
“No.”
She nodded.
“I know.”
Then she handed me a key.
“This opens the final account.”
I looked at it.
“What final account?”
“The one your mother created.”
Dad stepped forward.
“Where?”
Linda whispered:
“Under the courthouse.”
I stared.
“The courthouse.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor doesn't know about it.”
She looked at Ben.
“He knows.”
Then she looked at me.
“He knows everything.”
Before I could ask what she meant, a bullet shattered the warehouse window.
Everyone dropped.
Linda screamed.
Another bullet hit the wall.
Dad pulled us behind a concrete barrier.
Then Victor's voice came over a loudspeaker.
“Bring me my property.”
I stared at him through the broken window.
“Your property?”
Victor laughed.
“Your family signed everything away years ago.”
I felt cold.
Dad looked at me.
“Don't believe him.”
Victor shouted again.
“You have one hour.”
Then silence.
Linda whispered:
“He knows about the account.”
I looked at the key.
“And he knows where we're going.”
She nodded.
“So we stop going where he expects.”
Dad smiled grimly.
“What do you suggest?”
I looked at the underground map.
Then at the old courthouse.
And finally at my mother’s letter.
There was a line I'd missed.
If Victor ever finds the account, make him believe he found it.
I understood.
May you like
My mother hadn't left us a hiding place.
She had left us a trap.
