Chapter 9
The motel stood near an empty highway outside the city.
Police surrounded it before dawn.
Detective Torres wanted to enter immediately.
I stopped her.
“If Margaret sees officers, she’ll destroy the recorder.”
“She may already have destroyed it.”
“She hasn’t. It’s the only protection she has from Robert.”
I carried the adoption folder to Room 17.
A hidden microphone was secured beneath my jacket.
Ethan waited in an unmarked car.
The door opened before I knocked.
Margaret pulled me inside.
Vanessa stood beside the window.
Grace sat on the bed, one wrist tied to the headboard.
Her cheek was red where Margaret had hit her.
“Give me the file,” Vanessa said.
“Release Grace.”
“Show it to me first.”
I opened the folder and held up the original birth certificate.
Vanessa stared at her name beside the words Birth Mother.
Her face crumpled.
“Grace,” she whispered, “I never abandoned you.”
Grace’s eyes filled with tears.
“You kidnapped me.”
“I needed you to hear the truth.”
“You could have called.”
“Your mother kept me away.”
“My mother protected me.”
Margaret snatched the folder from my hands.
“Enough.”
She searched the pages.
“Where are the bank codes?”
“There aren’t any.”
Margaret slapped the folder against the wall.
“Evelyn hid Robert’s money with the adoption records.”
“No,” I said. “She used the money to protect children Robert threatened.”
Margaret stared at me.
“That money belongs to my family.”
“It was stolen from mine.”
Vanessa untied Grace.
Margaret stepped between them.
“You’re choosing this stranger over me?”
“She’s my daughter.”
“I’m your mother.”
“You helped Father take her from me.”
Margaret’s expression turned cruel.
“You were nineteen and useless. That baby would have destroyed your future.”
Vanessa slapped her.
The sound cracked through the room.
Margaret lunged at Vanessa.
Grace screamed.
I grabbed Margaret’s arm, but she struck me with the recorder.
The device fell onto the carpet.
Its battery compartment opened.
There was no memory card inside.
“You lied,” I said.
Margaret smiled.
“The recording was never here.”
“Where is it?”
“Somewhere Robert will never find it.”
Vanessa pinned her mother against the wall.
“You told me you had it.”
“I needed your help escaping.”
Grace moved toward the door.
Margaret pulled a small pistol from her waistband.
Everyone froze.
“You’re all coming with me,” she said.
Vanessa stepped in front of Grace.
“Put it down.”
“Move.”
“No.”
Margaret’s hand shook.
“I sacrificed everything for you and Derek.”
“You sacrificed us for Robert.”
Police sirens suddenly sounded outside.
Margaret grabbed me and pressed the gun against my neck.
The door burst open.
Torres entered with her weapon raised.
“Drop it!”
Margaret dragged me toward the bathroom window.
“I’ll shoot her!”
Vanessa moved closer.
“Mom, look at me.”
“Stay back.”
“You don’t want Claire. You want a way out.”
Margaret’s eyes darted toward her.
Vanessa continued.
“Take me instead.”
Grace whispered, “No.”
That moment of distraction was enough.
I drove my elbow into Margaret’s ribs.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Torres rushed forward.
Vanessa pulled Grace to the floor.
Two officers restrained Margaret.
As they handcuffed her, she began laughing.
“You still lose,” she told me. “Without that memory card, Robert will walk.”
Grace stood slowly.
“No, he won’t.”
She reached inside her coat and removed a tiny plastic case.
Vanessa stared at her.
Grace held up the recorder’s missing memory card.
“I took it while you were arguing at the lake house.”
Margaret’s laughter stopped.
Grace handed the card to Detective Torres.
“I heard the recording,” she said. “Margaret admits she drugged Evelyn. Robert admits ordering it.”
Torres sealed it inside an evidence bag.
Margaret looked at Vanessa.
“You let her betray us.”
Vanessa took Grace’s hand.
“No, Mother.”
May you like
Her voice was steady.
“She ended what you started.”
