Chapter 13 - The Man Who Was Dead
Samuel Cross came down the stairs holding a shotgun pointed at the floor.
He looked tired, not theatrical. Gray stubble. Reading glasses hanging from his shirt collar. One knee stiff when he walked.
Mara had expected a monster.
She hated that he looked ordinary.
“Put the gun down,” Claire said.
Samuel looked at her tire iron.
“You first.”
Claire had brought it again.
Of course she had.
Mara stepped between them. “Where’s Daniel?”
Samuel’s mouth tightened. “Not here.”
“Where is he?”
“Running from Evelyn.”
Mara laughed. “He tried to kill me with Evelyn.”
“I know.”
That stopped her.
Samuel set the shotgun against the wall.
He claimed the balcony murder had been Evelyn’s plan. Daniel agreed because Evelyn convinced him June’s birth would trigger an audit and expose years of money Daniel had stolen from the company.
“Daniel stole?” Mara asked.
“Millions.”
Mara felt strangely unsurprised.
Samuel had helped hide the theft.
“Why?”
“He’s my son.”
“That’s your excuse?”
“No.” Samuel looked at her. “It’s my reason. There’s a difference.”
Mara thought of her mother taking Charles’s hush money.
Ugly reasons did not become clean because they were family.
Samuel said he had returned to stop Evelyn from killing Mara.
“You did a terrible job.” Claire said.
Samuel nodded. “Yes.”
No defense.
He had warned Daniel to abandon the plan. Daniel promised he would.
Then he cut the curtain anyway.
“What do you want from me?” Mara asked.
Samuel pushed one of the passports toward her.
“Leave the country with your baby.”
“No.”
“If June stays, Evelyn will keep coming.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand Evelyn.”
“I understand her foot on Teresa’s ankle.”
Samuel looked away.
Mara saw it.
“You were there.”
He said nothing.
“You were at the house.”
His eyes closed briefly.
He had been in the detached garage, waiting for Daniel after their secret meeting. He heard Mara scream. He did not come out.
“Why?” Mara asked.
Samuel’s voice cracked. “I froze.”
“No. You stayed hidden.”
“Yes.”
There it was again. A choice.
Not fear polished into innocence.
Samuel had chosen himself.
A car door slammed outside.
Claire looked through the curtain.
“Police?”
Samuel went pale.
“No.”
He grabbed the shotgun.
The front door exploded inward.
Daniel stepped through with blood on his shirt and a pistol in his hand.
May you like
“Dad,” he said, breathing hard. “You gave me the wrong address.”
