Chapter 13 - THE SHOT
The bullet missed Mara.
It hit Lucas.
He dropped instantly.
Damon tackled Bryce.
The gun slid across the concrete.
Mara kicked it away.
Police arrived seconds later.
Bryce was arrested.
Lucas survived surgery.
The notebook survived too.
So did the flash drive.
Together, they gave federal investigators enough evidence to arrest Victor Shaw.
Victor disappeared before the warrant could be served.
For three days, Crossmoor stayed locked down.
Mara’s custody hearing was forty-eight hours away.
Her lawyer warned her.
“Even with Bryce arrested, the judge may question Crossmoor.”
Mara stared at the boys sleeping in the den with Lily.
“Then I’ll move out.”
Damon heard her.
Later, he found Mara packing.
“You’re leaving.”
“For Lily.”
“I can arrange an apartment.”
“I don’t want your money.”
“I didn’t say money.”
“You were going to.”
Damon leaned against the door.
“What do you want?”
Mara stopped folding.
“A normal life.”
He looked around the mansion.
“That rules me out.”
She laughed despite herself.
Then grew serious.
“I can’t lose her.”
“You won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No.”
Damon stepped closer.
“But I know what I can testify to.”
“Which is?”
“That you walked into a house everyone else ran from.”
“That you protected my sons.”
“That you saved them.”
“That you gave them something I couldn’t.”
Mara looked at him.
“What?”
“A mother who stays.”
The words landed between them.
Neither moved.
Then Micah appeared in the doorway.
“Dad.”
Damon looked over.
Micah’s face was pale.
“There’s someone outside.”
The security camera showed one man standing beyond the garden wall.
May you like
Victor Shaw.
And he was holding Ruth at gunpoint.
