Chapter 5 - HER MOTHER WAS GONE
Willa was downstairs before Crowley finished speaking.
She grabbed her phone and called Ruth’s facility.
A woman answered.
“Lakeview Memory Care.”
“This is Willa Hayes. I need to speak to someone about my mother.”
“Ruth Hayes?”
“Yes.”
A pause.
“Ms. Hayes, your mother was transferred this morning.”
Willa’s knees weakened.
“Transferred where?”
“I thought you authorized it.”
“I did not.”
“The paperwork came from your husband’s family office.”
“Where is she?”
“I’m sorry. The destination is listed as private.”
Willa hung up.
Her hands shook violently.
Crowley stood behind her.
“Sterling wants the envelope.”
“He can go to hell.”
“He will hurt Ruth.”
Willa turned.
“If he already moved her, I have nothing left to bargain with.”
“You have Everett.”
Willa looked upstairs.
Crowley’s voice dropped.
“Wake him.”
Willa returned to the bedroom.
Everett lay motionless.
She sat beside him.
“Sterling took my mother.”
His finger moved rapidly.
“I know.”
Another movement.
“I’m not leaving you.”
Everett’s hand shifted.
Willa understood.
“You think I should go find her?”
One twitch.
“No.”
Everett tried again.
“Wil…”
His voice was barely air.
“Willa.”
She froze.
He had said her name.
Everett’s eyelids trembled.
Then opened.
Only a fraction.
Dark eyes looked through a narrow slit.
Willa stopped breathing.
“Everett?”
His eyes closed again.
But now she knew.
He was coming back.
Over the next thirty-six hours, she carefully reduced his sedation.
Everett began forming words.
“Phone.”
“Mine?”
“No. Mine.”
“Where?”
“Safe.”
“Which safe?”
“Garage.”
Willa waited until midnight.
Crowley gave her access.
Behind a panel in Everett’s private garage, she found a waterproof case.
Inside was an old phone.
No service.
But dozens of encrypted recordings.
Willa played the newest.
Everett’s voice filled the garage.
“If you’re hearing this, something happened to me.”
Willa gripped the phone.
“I’ve been investigating internal theft for six months. Sterling is moving money through fake companies. Whitfield may be helping him. I don’t know why.”
Another recording.
“I’ve been dizzy after family dinners. Blood work showed sedatives.”
Another.
“Brake inspection on the Bentley came back clean Monday. If I crash, don’t accept mechanical failure.”
Willa closed her eyes.
The accident had been staged.
Then the garage lights came on.
Sterling stood at the entrance.
Two men were behind him.
He looked at the phone in Willa’s hand.
His pleasant smile disappeared.
“You really are a curious little waitress.”
Willa backed toward the workbench.
“Where is my mother?”
“Safe.”
“Bring her back.”
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
Sterling sighed.
“I gave you a warm house, a legal name, and money for your mother.”
“You bought me.”
“Yes.”
His face hardened.
“And now I’m returning you.”
One of the men stepped toward Willa.
Then the mansion alarm exploded through the garage.
Sterling spun.
“What the hell?”
A voice came over the house intercom.
Weak.
Raspy.
But unmistakably male.
“Take… your hands… off my wife.”
Everyone froze.
Sterling went white.
Because upstairs—
May you like
Everett Kane was awake.
Cliffhanger: The king Sterling had spent eight months trying to bury had finally opened his eyes—and his first command was to protect Willa.
