Chapter 8
By sunrise, the Carter house was surrounded.
Not visibly.
Margaret would expect that.
Agents hid in neighboring properties.
Unmarked cars sat several streets away.
A drone watched the roof from high above.
I was back in an ambulance with Dr. Reynolds threatening everyone in sight because neither Ethan nor I belonged outside a hospital.
Sophie sat opposite me.
Her hands shook.
“You don’t have to do this.”
She looked at me.
“Yes, I do.”
“She asked for you because she wants leverage.”
“She knows where my mother’s child went.”
“We don’t know that.”
“She knows everything.”
I couldn’t argue.
Ethan sat beside the ambulance door.
He hadn’t spoken for almost twenty minutes.
Finally he said, “Daniel won’t hurt anyone.”
Richard, sitting across from him, looked tired.
“You don’t know your brother as well as you think.”
“He’s reckless. He’s spoiled. He isn’t a murderer.”
“Margaret has been preparing him for this.”
“For what?”
“To hate Emily.”
I looked at Richard.
“Why me specifically?”
“Because you changed Ethan.”
Ethan frowned.
“Dad.”
“You did.”
Richard looked at me.
“Before Emily, you obeyed your mother.”
“I was twenty-five.”
“And afraid of losing her approval.”
Ethan looked away.
Richard continued.
“Margaret could tolerate another woman in your life as long as that woman remained beneath her.”
I remembered my wedding.
Margaret choosing flowers without asking me.
Changing the seating chart.
Replacing my cake.
Telling my bridesmaids what color lipstick they could wear.
I thought she was controlling.
I hadn’t understood the scale of it.
“But I pushed back.”
Richard nodded.
“And Ethan started pushing back too.”
Ethan whispered, “She blamed you.”
“Yes.”
The ambulance radio crackled.
Harris’s voice.
“Movement inside the house.”
Everyone became alert.
“How many?” Richard asked.
“Two visible.”
“Margaret and Daniel?”
“Unknown.”
I looked through the small rear window.
Our house stood at the end of the street.
The same white house Ethan and I bought four years earlier.
My roses climbed the porch.
A blue ceramic pot I painted sat beside the front door.
Everything looked normal.
That made it worse.
My phone rang.
Margaret.
I answered.
“Hello?”
“Good morning, Emily.”
Her voice was calm.
Almost cheerful.
I wanted to reach through the phone.
“Where is Daniel?”
“Inside.”
“Is he safe?”
She laughed.
“You care about him now?”
“I always cared about him.”
“No. You tolerated him.”
“Where is Sophie?”
I looked at her.
“Safe.”
“Bring her.”
“Why?”
“Because she deserves answers.”
“From you?”
“From her mother.”
Sophie grabbed my arm.
I froze.
“What did you say?”
Margaret laughed softly.
“You heard me.”
Sophie took the phone.
“My mother is alive?”
“Sophie.”
Margaret said her name almost tenderly.
“You sound just like Caroline.”
Sophie began trembling.
“Where is she?”
“Come inside.”
“Tell me where she is!”
“You’ll see.”
The call ended.
Sophie looked at Harris through the open ambulance door.
“I’m going in.”
“No.”
“My mother might be alive.”
“She may also be lying.”
“I don’t care.”
“I do.”
Harris leaned closer.
“We enter on our terms.”
A tactical officer approached.
“Detective, we have heat signatures.”
“How many?”
“Possibly four people on the first floor. One upstairs.”
Richard frowned.
“Five?”
“Maybe.”
“Margaret. Daniel. Caroline?”
Sophie’s breath shook.
“Who else?”
Harris looked at me.
“We’ll find out.”
Then the front door of the house opened.
Daniel stepped onto the porch.
Alone.
He held no visible weapon.
His voice came through my phone as Margaret called again.
“Send Emily.”
Harris shook his head.
“No.”
I answered.
“You send Daniel halfway.”
Margaret laughed.
“This isn’t a negotiation.”
“It is if you want the trust signed.”
“You still believe those papers matter?”
My stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“You’ll understand soon.”
Daniel walked down the front path.
Halfway.
He stopped.
I looked at Harris.
“Let me talk to him.”
“From here.”
“He won’t open up if he sees police.”
“Too bad.”
“Daniel might be a victim too.”
“He might also be armed.”
Ethan spoke.
“I’ll go.”
Margaret’s voice came through the phone.
“No.”
We all froze.
She could hear us.
Harris immediately scanned the ambulance.
A listening device?
Margaret laughed.
“I said Emily.”
I looked at the dashboard.
My bag.
My coat.
Then Ethan pointed to my shoe.
A tiny black dot clung beneath the edge of the hospital sock.
An agent removed it with tweezers.
Tracker and microphone.
Victor must have planted it.
Harris crushed it.
Margaret called back immediately.
“You disappoint me.”
I stepped out of the ambulance.
Harris cursed.
“Emily.”
“I’m only going halfway.”
Body armor pressed against my surgical incision.
Every step hurt.
Daniel watched me approach.
He looked exhausted.
His hair was messy.
His eyes were bloodshot.
“Emily.”
“Daniel.”
“You’re pregnant.”
I stopped.
“Yes.”
His face twisted.
“Congratulations.”
It sounded like an insult and a prayer at the same time.
“Thank you.”
He looked toward the ambulance.
“Is Ethan there?”
“Yes.”
“Of course.”
“He loves you.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“He forgot I existed the second he married you.”
“That isn’t true.”
“He stopped defending me.”
“Maybe because you needed to stop being defended.”
His face hardened.
I regretted the bluntness.
But lies had caused enough damage.
“Daniel, Margaret lied to you.”
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t know anything about her.”
“I know she tried to kill me.”
He looked away.
“She said the brake failure wasn’t supposed to cause a crash.”
I stared at him.
“You knew?”
“I knew she wanted to scare Ethan.”
“Scare him?”
“So he would stop investigating the company.”
“And if I died?”
His eyes filled.
“I didn’t know.”
I believed him.
That scared me more.
“What did she tell you about Sophie?”
His expression changed.
“That she’s my sister.”
Sophie was right.
“Do you know where Caroline is?”
“Mom says she’s upstairs.”
My heart jumped.
“She’s alive?”
Daniel nodded.
“She’s been alive all these years.”
Behind me, Sophie cried out.
She had heard through Harris’s radio.
I moved closer.
“Have you seen her?”
Daniel hesitated.
“No.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Mom showed me pictures.”
“Recent?”
“Yes.”
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“Margaret manipulates people.”
“Not me.”
“She convinced you that I stole from you.”
“You did.”
“How?”
“Dad’s trust.”
“That trust gives the company to Ethan’s first child.”
“Exactly.”
“Which has nothing to do with me controlling anything permanently.”
He stared.
“Mom said you forced Dad to write it.”
“I didn’t know it existed until yesterday.”
His confidence flickered.
“She said you knew.”
“She also told you Caroline is your mother.”
“Yes.”
“That’s another lie.”
Daniel stepped backward.
“What?”
“Your biological mother is Margaret.”
He stared at me.
Then laughed.
“No.”
“Richard has DNA proof.”
“No.”
“You and Ethan are biological brothers through Margaret.”
“You’re lying.”
“I wish I were.”
He shook his head harder.
“No.”
“Caroline gave birth to another baby.”
“Stop.”
“Margaret switched you.”
“Shut up.”
“She raised you while Caroline’s child disappeared.”
Daniel pulled a gun.
Police rifles rose all around us.
“Daniel!”
He aimed at me.
His hand shook violently.
“Take it back.”
I didn’t move.
“Take it back!”
“Daniel, put the gun down.”
“My mother wouldn’t lie about that.”
“She has lied to you your entire life.”
Tears ran down his face.
“Emily.”
“She needs you confused.”
“Stop.”
“She needs you angry.”
“I said stop!”
“She needs you to blame me instead of looking at her.”
His gun lowered an inch.
Then Margaret’s voice screamed from the house.
“Shoot her!”
Daniel froze.
So did I.
Margaret stood in the doorway.
She held a handgun.
“Daniel!”
He turned toward her.
“Mom?”
“Shoot Emily!”
“Why?”
“Because she is destroying us!”
Daniel looked back at me.
Then at Margaret.
“Is Caroline my mother?”
Margaret’s face changed.
“Of course.”
“Emily says you are.”
Margaret stared at me with pure hatred.
“She lies.”
“Dad has a DNA test.”
Margaret’s mouth tightened.
Daniel whispered, “Tell me.”
“Come inside.”
“Tell me!”
Margaret raised her gun.
Not at me.
At Daniel.
Everything slowed.
I saw it before he did.
“Daniel!”
Margaret fired.
Daniel fell.
I screamed.
Police opened fire toward the doorway.
Margaret disappeared inside.
I ran to Daniel.
Blood spread across his shirt near his shoulder.
He gasped.
“Mom shot me.”
“I know.”
His eyes looked like a child’s.
“She shot me.”
I pressed both hands against the wound.
“Stay awake.”
“Why?”
“Because Ethan needs you.”
“He hates me.”
“No, he doesn’t.”
Daniel coughed.
“Emily.”
“What?”
“She has someone upstairs.”
“Caroline?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who?”
“I heard crying.”
A tactical team stormed the house.
Gunshots erupted inside.
I covered Daniel’s body with mine.
Harris pulled me away.
“Medic!”
Ethan ran despite his injuries.
He dropped beside his brother.
“Daniel!”
Daniel looked at him.
“Ethan.”
“I’m here.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t.”
“I helped her.”
“Stop talking.”
“I planted the transmitter.”
Ethan went still.
“What?”
“Mom told me it would make your car stop.”
My heart froze.
Daniel cried.
“She said it would happen in the driveway.”
Ethan’s face shattered.
“You put it on my car?”
“I didn’t know she would activate it on the hill.”
“Why didn’t you tell police?”
“I was scared.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
Daniel grabbed his wrist.
“She has a folder in your office.”
“What folder?”
“Red.”
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know. She said it could destroy Dad.”
A medic rushed over.
They lifted Daniel onto a stretcher.
As they moved him away, Daniel shouted at Ethan.
“Don’t trust the woman upstairs!”
Then he disappeared into the ambulance.
Ethan and I stared at each other.
The woman upstairs.
Sophie came running toward us despite officers trying to stop her.
“Where is my mother?”
Nobody knew.
Then Harris’s radio crackled.
“Second floor secure.”
He pressed the button.
“Margaret?”
“Not located.”
“Other occupant?”
A pause.
Then the officer said, “We found a woman.”
Sophie grabbed Harris.
“Who?”
“Adult female. Approximately late fifties.”
Sophie began sobbing.
“That’s her.”
Harris held up a hand.
The officer continued.
“She says her name is Caroline Bennett.”
Sophie screamed.
She ran toward the house.
I followed as fast as I could.
Upstairs.
Hallway.
Our guest bedroom.
A woman sat on the floor beside the bed.
Gray threaded through her dark hair.
Her wrists were tied.
Her face was streaked with tears.
Sophie stopped in the doorway.
The woman looked up.
For one second, neither moved.
Then Caroline whispered:
“Sophie?”
Sophie collapsed into her mother’s arms.
Their cries filled the room.
I looked away, crying too.
Twenty-nine years.
Twenty-nine years stolen.
Then Ethan entered my office across the hall.
“Emily.”
Something in his voice made me turn.
He held a red folder.
The one Daniel mentioned.
Inside were photographs.
Bank records.
Birth certificates.
And one legal document.
Ethan stared at it.
“What is it?” I asked.
He handed it to me.
It was a marriage certificate.
Richard Carter.
Margaret Carter.
Except Margaret’s maiden name wasn’t what Ethan had always told me.
The document read:
Margaret Shaw.
Victor’s surname.
Her hidden brother.
Then I saw the date.
1988.
Two years after another marriage certificate attached beneath it.
Richard Carter.
Caroline Bennett.
Sophie stepped into the room.
Her face was wet with tears.
“What?”
Ethan looked at Caroline.
Then Richard, who had just reached the doorway.
“Dad?”
Richard’s face went white.
Caroline stood.
“You never told them?”
Richard could not speak.
Margaret’s voice suddenly came through the smart-home speakers.
“No.”
Everyone froze.
She wasn’t gone.
She was inside the house.
Her voice echoed from every room.
“He never told anyone.”
The locks clicked.
Every door in the hallway locked automatically.
Metal shutters began dropping over the windows.
May you like
Margaret laughed through the speakers.
“And now none of you are leaving.”
