Chapter 8 - RUTH’S SECRET
Mara confronted Ruth in the laundry room.
“You bought burner phones with Victor.”
Ruth went still.
“Who told you?”
“Nobody had to.”
Mara showed the screenshot.
Ruth closed her eyes.
Damon entered behind Mara.
His face looked almost broken.
“Why?”
Ruth sat down.
“I was trying to protect the boys.”
Damon laughed once.
It had no humor.
“With Victor?”
“No.”
Ruth explained.
Years earlier, Elise had asked her to gather evidence against Victor.
Ruth helped secretly.
After Elise died, Ruth continued.
The burner phones allowed her to communicate with a federal investigator without using Damon’s network.
Mara frowned.
“Then why was one in the garden?”
“I don’t know.”
Damon did not believe her.
Ruth reached into her pocket.
She pulled out a key.
“Because somebody else found my hiding place.”
She led them to a hidden cabinet behind the laundry shelves.
Inside were five empty phone boxes.
One phone remained.
Someone had stolen the others.
Ruth looked at Damon.
“Victor has someone else in this house.”
Suddenly, the lights went out.
Mara heard glass break.
Then Lily screamed from upstairs.
Mara ran.
The emergency lights flickered red.
“Lily!”
She reached the upstairs hall.
The boys’ bedroom door was open.
Empty.
A window at the far end swung in the rain.
Damon arrived behind her.
“Where are they?”
Mara saw muddy footprints.
Small ones.
And adult ones.
They led toward the servants’ staircase.
She followed.
Down.
Through the kitchen.
Out to the rear courtyard.
A black SUV waited near the tree line.
Someone shoved Micah inside.
“STOP!”
Mara ran.
The SUV accelerated.
Damon’s guards opened the gate to pursue.
Mara saw Lily in the back window.
She was pounding on the glass.
“Mommy!”
May you like
Mara screamed her name.
Then the SUV disappeared into the storm.
