Chapter 10 - THE TRADE
Police told me not to go.
Naturally.
I told them I was going anyway.
Detective Cole didn’t argue long.
Instead, she put a tracker beneath my jacket and a microphone inside my collar.
The meeting place was an abandoned horse barn twenty miles outside town.
Morgan Equine Clinic had owned the property years earlier.
That wasn’t a coincidence.
At 11:58 p.m., I pulled into the gravel lot.
No lights.
No other cars.
I carried a fake copy of the trust amendment inside an envelope.
The real one was secured with police.
I entered the barn.
“Sabrina?”
Nothing.
Then a weak voice answered.
“Rachel.”
I followed it.
Sabrina sat tied to a wooden post.
Her wrists were bound.
Her face was bruised.
I rushed toward her.
“Who did this?”
“Stop.”
“What?”
“Don’t come closer.”
I froze.
“Why?”
Her eyes shifted upward.
I looked.
A rope ran from her bindings over a beam.
Attached to the other end was a heavy steel tool chest suspended above the aisle.
A crude trap.
If I pulled the wrong rope, it could fall.
My mother had always loved control.
Even now, she had designed the room like a punishment.
“Where is she?” I whispered.
Sabrina started crying.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“All of it.”
“You can apologize later.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You need to hear me.”
I stepped closer carefully.
“She didn’t tell me she was going to hurt Grace.”
“You held her down today.”
“I know.”
“You cut her hair.”
“I know.”
“You drugged her.”
Sabrina looked away.
“I gave her Benadryl.”
“Why?”
“Mom said if Grace looked sleepy in photos, it would support the case.”
My hands clenched.
“You knew exactly what you were doing.”
“Yes.”
At least she didn’t lie.
“Why?”
“Money.”
Of course.
“What did she promise you?”
“Two million.”
“You sold my daughter for two million dollars?”
Sabrina started sobbing.
“I was drowning.”
“You had a house.”
“Mortgaged.”
“A car.”
“Repossessed.”
“You had a son.”
That silenced her.
“I know.”
“Connor was recording you.”
“I know that now.”
“He was trying to protect Grace from you.”
Sabrina closed her eyes.
“I know.”
A floorboard creaked behind me.
I turned.
My mother stepped from the darkness holding a gun.
“Enough.”
My blood froze.
Sabrina whispered.
“Mom…”
Diane pointed the gun at me.
“The envelope.”
I held it up.
“You killed Dad.”
She smiled faintly.
“Still dramatic.”
“Did you?”
“Your father was weak.”
My stomach twisted.
“That isn’t an answer.”
“He was going to destroy everything.”
“So you killed him?”
“He was going to leave me with nothing.”
Sabrina started shaking.
“Mom, stop talking.”
Diane ignored her.
“He thought he could move money away from me.”
“You mean his money?”
“Marriage means shared property.”
“So does divorce.”
Her face hardened.
“He humiliated me.”
There it was.
The same logic she used on Grace.
Disobedience deserved punishment.
“Peter helped you.”
“Peter liked money.”
“And then you killed him too?”
Her jaw tightened.
I knew.
Police were hearing every word.
I needed time.
I held up the envelope.
“You want this?”
“Yes.”
“Let Sabrina go.”
“No.”
“She’s your daughter.”
“She betrayed me.”
Sabrina let out a broken laugh.
“You were going to kill me.”
Diane looked at her.
“You should have controlled your son.”
Then I saw movement through the broken barn wall.
A shadow.
Police.
Diane saw my eyes shift.
Her face changed.
“You brought them.”
She raised the gun.
I moved before she fired.
The shot exploded through the barn.
Wood shattered beside my head.
Sabrina screamed.
I slammed into my mother.
The gun hit the floor.
She clawed my face.
I grabbed her wrist.
Another shadow rushed inside.
Martinez.
“Police!”
My mother kicked the gun toward herself.
Sabrina screamed.
“Rachel!”
May you like
Diane grabbed it.
And pointed it directly at my chest.
