Chapter 9
Time stopped.
Marcus’s gun was still pointed at the first man.
Jake’s gun was pressed hard into Megan’s skin.
She was whimpering.
Trying not to move.
“Jake,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “Put the gun down. The police are already on their way. You can’t get out of this.”
He laughed.
That same cold, ugly laugh.
“Please. My father called the chief of police five minutes ago. They’re going to take their sweet time getting here. Enough time for me to get what I came for.”
He jerked Megan’s head back.
“The files, Megan. Where are they?”
“I don’t have them,” she gasped. “I sent them to my lawyer.”
“Liar. You’ve never had a lawyer in your life. You couldn’t afford one. Give. Me. The. Files.”
He pressed the gun harder.
A trickle of blood ran down her neck from where the metal had broken skin.
“Okay! Okay! They’re in the bedroom. In the vent. Above the dresser.”
“Good boy,” Jake said to no one in particular. “You two—go get it.”
Two more men pushed past him into the kitchen.
They stepped over their unconscious friends and disappeared down the hall.
Jake kept his gun on Megan.
His eyes never left us.
“You know,” he said conversationally. “I almost admire you, Ethan. Most men would’ve driven on by. Minded their own business. But no—you had to be a hero. You had to ruin everything. Three years of planning. Three years of careful, patient work. All gone because of a dog and a guy with a savior complex.”
“Your plan was to hurt a little girl,” I said. “Forgive me if I don’t shed any tears for you.”
“Lily was never going to get hurt. Not permanently. I just needed her scared enough to go along with whatever I said. Kids are resilient. She would’ve gotten over it. Eventually.”
He smiled.
“The dog, though? That was personal. That mutt cost me a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in poker debts last year. Chewed through my passport the night I was supposed to leave for a ‘business trip’ in the Caribbean. I’ve been waiting a long time to run him over.”
Sarah stood up from behind the couch.
Megan’s son was clinging to her leg.
“You are the most evil man I have ever met,” she said. Her voice was ice. “And when this is over? I am going to make sure you spend the rest of your life in a cell so small you can’t even stretch out your arms. And every single day, I’m going to send you a photo of Lily. Happy. Safe. Far away from you. So you can see exactly what you lost.”
Jake’s face darkened.
The charm was completely gone now.
This was the man Lily knew.
The monster behind the mask.
“You think you’ve won?” he spat. “Even if I go down? I’ve got enough dirt on half the politicians in this state to take them with me. My father will make sure Lily never sees a dime of that trust fund. He’ll tie it up in court for twenty years. You’ll be old and gray before you see a penny. And Ethan? Your reputation is already destroyed. No one will ever hire you again. You’ll spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder. Wondering if the next person who recognizes you from the news is going to take a shot.”
He leaned forward.
“I might lose today. But I win in the end. I always do.”
The two men came back from the bedroom.
One was carrying a thick stack of papers.
The files.
“Got it,” he said.
Jake nodded.
“Good. Now—”
He never finished the sentence.
From the living room window behind him, we heard the distinctive thump-thump-thump of a helicopter.
Bright light flooded the room.
“POLICE! DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE! EVERYONE DOWN ON THE GROUND! NOW!”
Jake’s face went from rage to confusion to pure terror in the space of a heartbeat.
The front door exploded inward.
The bookshelf Marcus had pushed in front of it was no match for a battering ram.
Armed officers in tactical gear poured into the apartment.
Jake’s gun was ripped from his hand.
He was face-down on the carpet before he could blink.
The two men with him followed.
Marcus lowered his weapon slowly.
“Took you long enough,” he said to Detective Voss as she stepped through the door.
She smiled.
“Had to wait for the Feds. Your little recording was enough to get the DOJ involved. They’ve been investigating Jake’s father for corruption for two years. This was the break they needed.”
She walked over to where Jake was being cuffed.
Leaned down.
“Jake Carter, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, witness tampering, bribery of a public official, and about forty other federal charges. Your father’s been taken into custody too. The whole organization is coming down. And this time? No amount of money is getting you out.”
Jake looked up at me from the floor.
There was no hatred left in his eyes.
No rage.
Just empty, defeated nothing.
I walked over to Sarah.
She was holding Megan’s son tight.
The little boy had buried his face in her shoulder.
“Is it over?” she whispered.
“For Jake? Yeah. It’s over.”
Megan was sitting on the floor, being tended to by paramedics.
The cut on her neck was superficial.
But she was in shock.
Detective Voss came over.
“Sarah—we found the files. All of them. Megan’s copies are going to be enough to put Jake away for a very long time. And with the DOJ involved? His father’s empire is finished. You and Lily are safe. Truly safe this time.”
Sarah let out a breath she seemed to have been holding for three years.
She slid down the wall to the floor.
And cried.
Not sad tears.
Relief.
Pure, unadulterated relief.
I sat beside her.
She leaned her head on my shoulder.
“Thank you,” she said. “For everything.”
Marcus tossed me a beer from Megan’s fridge.
“To the good guys,” he said.
We clinked bottles.
Outside, the helicopter was still circling.
Red and blue lights flashed through the windows.
Jake was led out in cuffs.
He didn’t look back.
He didn’t look at anything.
May you like
The monster was gone.
And for the first time in a long time, the future looked bright.
