CHAPTER 8 — THE ROAD WHERE ANNA DIED
The road twisted above the canyon like a black ribbon.
Emily drove faster than Ruiz wanted.
Victoria sat beside her, gripping the dashboard.
“You should let the police lead.”
“Grant is watching police channels.”
“You don’t know that.”
“He knew Ruiz was in the mansion. He knew we went to the hospital. He has people everywhere.”
Ruiz followed in an unmarked car with Lauren handcuffed in the back seat.
Lauren had finally agreed to help.
Not because she felt guilty.
Because she believed Grant planned to kill her too.
The location was a turnout beside the same mountain road where Anna Carter’s car had gone through the guardrail twenty years earlier.
A temporary work light illuminated the cliff.
Sophie sat tied to a chair near the edge.
Grant stood beside her with a gun.
Owen started forward.
“My daughter.”
Ruiz pulled him back.
Grant raised the weapon.
“Bring me the bracelet.”
Emily stepped out of the car.
“You framed me to bring everyone here.”
“I framed you because Mother would protect you.”
Victoria looked at him.
“I failed her.”
Grant laughed.
“You always chose Anna’s ghost over me.”
“You destroyed a hospital.”
“A hospital built on bad concrete because your board wanted it finished before election season.”
“You signed the inspection waiver.”
“Yes. Then I tried to destroy the records before anyone discovered it.”
Emily held up the bracelet.
“Let Sophie go.”
“Bring it closer.”
Emily walked toward him.
Victoria whispered, “Don’t.”
Grant smiled at Emily.
“You look like Anna.”
“You don’t remember her.”
“I remember her pointing a gun at my father.”
Victoria froze.
“What?”
“I was hiding in the guesthouse during the fire. Anna started it.”
Emily stopped.
“You’re lying.”
“She poured gasoline over the files. My father tried to stop her. She shot him in the shoulder and left him to burn.”
Victoria looked at Emily.
“Anna told me Richard started the fire.”
Grant shrugged.
“Heroes edit their own stories.”
Emily’s hand tightened around the bracelet.
“Then why did Richard kill her?”
“He didn’t.”
A voice came from the darkness.
“Grant did.”
Marcus stepped into the light.
His clothes were torn, and blood covered one side of his face.
Emily stared.
“You survived.”
“Barely.”
Grant pointed the gun at him.
“You should have stayed buried.”
Marcus looked at Emily.
“Grant was eleven years old when Anna died.”
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
“He hid in the back of her car. Richard told him Anna was destroying their family. Grant grabbed the wheel while she was driving.”
Grant’s face twisted.
“She was taking everything from us.”
“You were a child,” Victoria whispered.
“I protected my father.”
“You caused her car to go over the cliff.”
Grant’s eyes filled with rage.
“She survived the crash.”
Emily stopped breathing.
Marcus continued.
“She climbed out. Grant called Richard. Richard arrived before I did.”
Emily looked at Victoria.
“And then?”
Marcus’s voice broke.
“Richard pushed Anna over the edge.”
Grant fired.
The bullet struck Marcus in the chest.
Emily screamed.
Ruiz and the officers moved in.
Grant grabbed Sophie and pressed the gun against her head.
“One more step and she dies!”
Sophie was shaking so hard the chair rattled.
Emily looked at the bracelet, then at the cliff.
“You want the evidence?”
She raised her hand.
Grant’s eyes followed it.
Emily threw the bracelet over the guardrail.
Grant shoved Sophie aside and lunged after it.
His foot slipped on loose gravel.
He caught the edge with one hand.
Victoria rushed forward.
“Grant!”
She grabbed his wrist.
For one suspended moment, mother and son stared at each other.
Grant looked up at her.
“Pull me up.”
Victoria tried.
The gravel beneath her knees gave way.
Emily seized Victoria’s waist.
Ruiz grabbed Emily.
A human chain formed along the cliff.
Then Grant looked down.
The bracelet had not fallen.
It hung from a tree branch ten feet below.
May you like
He smiled.
And released Victoria’s hand.
