Chapter 13 - THE WOMAN EVERYONE FORGOT
Victor survived the studio shooting.
The attacker escaped.
Security footage showed a woman.
Late fifties.
Dark coat.
Gray hair.
Martin saw the image and nearly dropped his phone.
“No.”
Lucy stared.
“You know her?”
Martin whispered,
“Aunt Margaret.”
Scarlett looked confused.
“Grandpa’s sister?”
Martin nodded.
Margaret Hale had disappeared from family life decades earlier.
Everyone believed she lived quietly in Oregon.
Federal agents discovered she had never lived there.
She had been managing Charles’s hidden finances.
Victor was not Charles’s only lieutenant.
Margaret controlled the money.
And unlike Victor, she had never appeared publicly.
A message arrived at Lucy’s apartment.
One photograph.
Maya asleep inside Lucy’s bedroom.
Taken through the window.
Beneath it:
STOP REBUILDING THE COMPANY.
Lucy felt sick.
Margaret wasn’t trying to protect Charles.
She was protecting the fortune.
Federal investigators found hidden trusts worth nearly three billion dollars.
If Hale Meridian’s original ownership agreement became legally recognized, those trusts could be seized.
Margaret had everything to lose.
Martin moved Lucy and Scarlett into a secure residence.
Neither woman enjoyed it.
Scarlett threw a pillow onto the couch.
“I hate safe houses.”
Lucy stared at the tiny kitchen.
“You’ve been here six minutes.”
“There’s no espresso machine.”
Lucy laughed.
Scarlett glared.
Then laughed too.
Later that night, Lucy found Scarlett sitting alone.
“What?”
Scarlett looked at her.
“I keep hearing the slap.”
Lucy touched her cheek.
Scarlett’s eyes filled.
“I’m serious.”
“I know.”
“I was horrible.”
“Yes.”
“I thought being powerful meant making everyone else feel smaller.”
Lucy sat down.
“Who taught you that?”
Scarlett smiled bitterly.
“Everybody.”
“Your dad?”
“No.”
She paused.
“Mostly Grandpa.”
Lucy nodded.
“Then don’t become him.”
Scarlett looked at her.
“Are you ever going to forgive me?”
Lucy thought about it.
“Maybe.”
Scarlett smiled.
“Great.”
“Don’t ruin it.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Lucy frowned.
Security had been posted outside.
Then the lights went out.
Scarlett stood.
“That doesn’t feel good.”
A window shattered.
Lucy grabbed Scarlett.
They ran toward the bedroom.
Someone entered.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Controlled.
Margaret Hale appeared in the doorway holding a pistol.
“Hello, girls.”
Scarlett stared.
“Aunt Margaret?”
Margaret smiled.
“You’ve grown.”
Lucy stepped in front of Scarlett.
“What do you want?”
“You.”
“Why?”
“Because Rebecca was supposed to die without an heir.”
Lucy’s stomach turned.
Margaret continued.
“You complicated everything.”
Scarlett said,
“Federal agents know about you.”
“They know a name.”
“They know your accounts.”
Margaret smiled.
“Accounts can disappear.”
Lucy looked toward the alarm button.
Margaret noticed.
“Don’t.”
Lucy froze.
Margaret’s face hardened.
“Rebecca should have accepted Victor’s money.”
Lucy whispered,
“You knew my mother?”
“I knew her better than Martin did.”
“Did you order her death?”
Margaret smiled.
“Charles ordered it.”
Lucy studied her.
“But you chose Melissa.”
Margaret’s smile faded.
Lucy understood.
“You arranged everything.”
Margaret raised the weapon.
“Smart girl.”
Scarlett moved suddenly.
Margaret fired.
The bullet struck the wall.
Lucy tackled Scarlett behind the couch.
Security rushed through the hall.
Margaret ran toward the balcony.
Lucy chased her.
Scarlett shouted,
“Lucy!”
Margaret climbed over the railing onto the neighboring fire escape.
Lucy grabbed her coat.
Margaret swung the pistol.
Lucy ducked.
Scarlett slammed a chair into Margaret’s legs.
Margaret dropped the gun.
She grabbed Scarlett’s wrist.
All three women struggled near the balcony edge.
Margaret slipped.
She dangled over twenty floors of open air.
Lucy grabbed her arm.
Margaret stared up.
“Pull me up!”
Scarlett stood beside Lucy.
“This woman tried to kill us.”
Lucy strained.
“I know.”
“Let her go.”
Lucy looked at Scarlett.
Scarlett’s eyes widened.
Lucy said,
“No.”
Together they pulled Margaret onto the balcony.
Security arrested her.
Margaret laughed breathlessly.
“You think saving me makes you different?”
Lucy answered,
“Yes.”
Margaret’s smile vanished.
Then she leaned closer.
“You should have let me fall.”
Lucy frowned.
“Why?”
Margaret whispered,
“Because when Martin learns what Rebecca did to his mother…”
Lucy froze.
“What?”
May you like
Margaret smiled.
“…he’ll wish your mother had never existed.”
