Chapter 6 - The ChoiceEverything inside me froze.
Patricia held the gun steadily.
Ryan stared at me.
“Emily,” he said quietly. “Do not give her anything.”
Patricia smiled.
“You really are going to make this difficult.”
I looked at Daniel.
He shook his head.
No.
Not yet.
I understood.
I needed time.
I reached slowly into my pocket and pulled out the key.
Patricia’s eyes lit up.
“Good.”
Ryan shouted.
“No!”
I dropped the key.
It landed on the concrete.
Patricia nodded toward one of her men.
He bent down.
Picked it up.
She laughed.
“You always were too easy to control, Ryan.”
Ryan’s face hardened.
“You lied to me.”
Patricia’s expression changed.
“You should be grateful.”
“For what?”
“For giving you Emily.”
The words hit me harder than the gun.
Ryan looked at me.
I watched something inside him break.
“What did you do?”
Patricia ignored him.
She turned toward me.
“Your father created the trust to protect you from us.”
“Then why are you after it?”
“Because he made one mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“He trusted your mother.”
I looked toward Daniel.
He said nothing.
Patricia continued.
“Your father’s real assets were never in the trust.”
My eyes narrowed.
“Then what is?”
“Ownership rights.”
She smiled.
“The trust gives you control of something much larger.”
“What?”
She leaned close.
“The Hawthorne-Carter holding company.”
I had never heard the name.
She saw my confusion.
“Your father owned thirty percent.”
“Thirty percent of what?”
Patricia whispered:
“Everything.”
My heart raced.
She gestured toward Ryan.
“Your husband was supposed to secure your signature.”
I looked at him.
“Did you know?”
He shook his head.
“At first, no.”
“Then when?”
“Yesterday.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
His eyes filled with tears.
“Because I was trying to find a way to protect you.”
Patricia laughed.
“Protect her?”
Ryan glared at her.
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
“You told me marrying Emily was a condition of my inheritance.”
“It was.”
“You said the only way I could keep our company was by making sure she signed after the trust activated.”
“Yes.”
He looked at me.
“I thought she was talking about a normal family trust.”
Patricia smiled.
“You were never meant to know the whole plan.”
I stared at Ryan.
Everything suddenly made sense.
His panic.
His silence.
His warning.
His strange behavior.
He had known something was wrong.
But he had still married me without telling me.
And that hurt almost as much as Patricia’s betrayal.
“You should have told me.”
He lowered his head.
“I know.”
A gunshot exploded.
The warehouse ceiling shook.
Everyone screamed.
Daniel knocked Patricia’s arm aside.
The bullet struck the wall.
Men scattered.
Ryan tackled one of the guards.
I ran.
I didn’t know where.
I only knew I had to survive.
Then I saw the red door.
I reached it.
Someone grabbed me from behind.
I screamed.
A cloth covered my mouth.
The world spun.
The last thing I heard was Patricia shouting:
May you like
“Take her to the house.”
And then everything went black.
