Chapter 9 - THE MOTHER I BURIED
I read the sentence six times.
Rebecca Quinn is alive.
My mother.
The woman whose grave I'd visited every Mother's Day.
The woman I'd mourned for nineteen years.
Alive.
"No," I whispered.
Adrian stood beside me.
"Harper—"
"No."
My voice cracked.
"I watched them lower her coffin."
He didn't touch me.
He didn't tell me to calm down.
He simply waited.
And somehow, that made everything worse.
"Why would she leave me?"
The question escaped before I could stop it.
"Why would she let me believe she was dead?"
Adrian's expression softened.
"Maybe she didn't have a choice."
"Everyone has a choice."
He looked at the document.
"Not always."
Marco interrupted.
"Boss, we're getting movement outside."
Adrian immediately reached for his weapon.
"How many?"
"Four vehicles. No plates."
My stomach dropped.
"They found us."
Adrian grabbed the evidence.
"Harper, we need to move."
A gunshot cracked overhead.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Marco shouted into his radio.
"Contact! East side!"
Adrian pushed me behind a concrete support pillar.
"Stay down."
Another shot.
Then another.
The underground room shook.
I pressed my hands over my ears.
Adrian fired toward the stairwell.
A man screamed.
Marco appeared at the entrance.
"Boss, there's a second exit behind the cabinet!"
Adrian turned.
"Find it."
I stared at the cabinet.
Something about its construction looked familiar.
My mother had loved puzzles.
She used to hide birthday presents behind false panels.
I ran my fingers along the cabinet's side.
A small button clicked.
The rear wall opened.
A narrow tunnel stretched into darkness.
"Here!"
Adrian grabbed my hand.
We ran.
The tunnel smelled of wet earth.
Behind us, gunfire echoed.
At the far end, a steel ladder led upward.
Marco opened the hatch.
Cold rain struck my face.
We emerged near the creek.
A black SUV waited beyond the trees.
Adrian helped me inside.
"Drive!" he ordered.
The vehicle accelerated.
I looked back.
Flames were rising from the old barn.
Again.
Someone had tried to destroy my mother's secrets for the second time.
Adrian's phone rang.
Marco answered.
"Boss, we have a problem."
"What?"
"Richard Sterling has reported you to federal authorities."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"For what?"
"Kidnapping his daughter."
I stared at him.
"Victoria?"
Marco nodded.
"She's claiming you held her against her will at the estate."
Adrian laughed once.
A cold, humorless sound.
"Of course she is."
But the accusation was only the beginning.
Twenty minutes later, federal agents surrounded Blackthorne Estate.
Every entrance was blocked.
Adrian's legal businesses were being raided.
His accounts were temporarily frozen.
And someone had issued a warrant for his arrest.
I looked at him.
"What do we do?"
He stared through the rain.
"We stop running."
Then his phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
A woman spoke.
"Harper Quinn?"
My heart stopped.
"Yes?"
There was a long silence.
Then a voice I hadn't heard since childhood whispered:
"Sweetheart, it's Mom."
I couldn't breathe.
"Mom?"
"I'm sorry."
Tears spilled down my cheeks.
"Where are you?"
Her next words changed everything.
"I'm inside Sterling Tower."
A pause.
"And Harper, you must not trust Adrian Blackthorne."
I looked at the man sitting beside me.
May you like
My mother whispered:
"Because his father wasn't the only Blackthorne involved in Nightingale."
