CHAPTER 4 — VICTORIA’S SON
Victoria stared at her son’s face on the phone.
“Grant.”
He smiled without warmth.
“Hello, Mother.”
“Let the girl go.”
“Bring me the bracelet.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Then find Lauren. She does.”
Emily looked toward the security monitors.
Lauren had regained consciousness and was being treated upstairs. She had claimed not to remember who attacked her.
Now Emily understood why.
Lauren had been performing.
Grant continued.
“You have twenty-five minutes. No police.”
Ruiz leaned closer to Owen’s phone, staying out of camera range.
Grant’s eyes shifted.
“And don’t let that detective get clever. I have cameras in the guesthouse.”
The call ended.
Victoria gripped the edge of the desk.
“My son would never hurt an innocent woman.”
Emily looked at her.
“Your son framed me, kidnapped Sophie, and attacked his own wife.”
Victoria’s face hardened.
“You don’t know that he attacked Lauren.”
“No. Lauren probably hit herself.”
Marcus nodded.
“She always did enjoy a performance.”
Ruiz gave instructions to his partner, then turned to Emily.
“Where’s the old guesthouse?”
“At the far edge of the property, beyond the canyon road.”
Victoria frowned.
“It burned down.”
Emily shook her head.
“The main structure did. The underground wine cellar survived.”
“How do you know?”
“I found old estate blueprints last year.”
Ruiz looked at her.
“Can you get us inside without using the main entrance?”
“There’s a drainage tunnel from the abandoned pool.”
Victoria grabbed Emily’s arm.
“You are not going.”
Emily looked down at Victoria’s hand.
“You don’t get to protect me now.”
They went upstairs to confront Lauren.
She sat on the edge of a bed with an ice pack pressed against her temple.
When she saw them, she began to cry.
“Grant has lost his mind.”
Emily closed the door.
“Where’s the bracelet?”
“I don’t know.”
Emily stepped closer.
“The velvet fiber under your ring says otherwise.”
Lauren looked at her hand.
Too late.
Ruiz noticed.
Victoria’s voice became dangerous.
“Give me my mother’s bracelet.”
Lauren lowered the ice pack.
“You always loved that dead woman more than your living family.”
“Give it to me.”
Lauren laughed.
“You think Grant became this way by accident? You ignored him his whole life. You spent more time mourning Anna Carter than raising your own son.”
Emily’s anger flashed.
“Don’t use my mother to excuse what you did.”
Lauren stood.
“You have no idea who your mother was.”
“I know she died protecting evidence your family wanted buried.”
Lauren’s smile faded.
“She didn’t die protecting evidence.”
Victoria went still.
“What are you talking about?”
“She died protecting Emily.”
Emily felt the room tilt.
Lauren walked to the dresser and removed a long silver hairpin. She pushed it into a hidden lock beneath the drawer.
A compartment opened.
Inside lay the diamond bracelet.
Victoria took a step forward.
Lauren grabbed it first.
“The bracelet opens with blood,” she said.
Ruiz frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“The clasp contains a biometric needle. Richard designed it so only a Hayes family member could access the microfilm compartment.”
Grant needed Victoria.
Not just the bracelet.
Lauren held it tightly.
“We were supposed to destroy the microfilm tonight. Emily’s arrest was meant to distract everyone.”
“Then why kidnap Sophie?” Emily asked.
Lauren’s eyes filled with real fear.
“Because Grant discovered something on the film that I didn’t know.”
“What?”
“He called me from the guesthouse. He sounded terrified.”
Victoria stepped closer.
“What did he find?”
Lauren looked at Emily.
“Richard Hayes wasn’t the name at the top of the ledger.”
“Whose name was?”
Lauren swallowed.
“Anna Carter’s.”
Emily’s blood turned cold.
Then a gunshot exploded outside the bedroom.
Ruiz pushed everyone to the floor.
May you like
A second bullet shattered the window.
And through the broken glass, a red laser dot moved across Emily’s chest.
