Chapter 9 - THE PRICE OF A LIFE
Rachel wanted to trade Nicholas.
For exactly seven seconds.
Then she hated herself for considering it.
Nicholas did not.
“You should do it.”
She stared at him.
“What?”
“Trade me.”
“No.”
“He wants me. Your mother survives.”
“You actually believe him?”
“No.”
“Then stop talking like dying is a strategy.”
Nicholas almost smiled.
Almost.
Daniel traced the call to an abandoned municipal records facility near the river.
Too obvious.
Rachel noticed it immediately.
“He wants us looking there.”
Daniel nodded.
“So where is Diane?”
Rachel replayed Vincent’s words.
This time, you lose both parents.
He wanted Rachel emotional.
Distracted.
Thinking about death.
Her father.
Her mother.
Then she remembered the ledger.
Northstar Civic Development.
Municipal contracts.
Public buildings.
Judges.
Police.
Contractors.
“Northstar owned parking structures.”
Nicholas looked at her.
“What?”
“They used city redevelopment money to hide payments.”
She opened old records.
One property had never been sold.
A subterranean parking facility beneath a condemned courthouse.
Three blocks from the fake phone location.
Nicholas’s men surrounded it.
Rachel insisted on going inside.
“No.”
Nicholas blocked her path.
“She’s my mother.”
“And he wants you too.”
“That makes me useful.”
“You nearly froze to death yesterday.”
“And today I’m angry.”
They entered together.
Deep beneath the courthouse, they found Diane tied to a chair.
Alive.
Vincent stood behind her.
Evan stood ten feet away holding a gun badly.
Nicholas stopped.
“Let her go.”
Vincent smiled.
“Antonio used to say the same thing.”
Rachel’s eyes narrowed.
“You killed my father.”
Vincent laughed.
“No.”
The answer stunned everyone.
Rachel looked at Diane.
Her mother was crying.
Vincent continued.
“I ordered it. But I wasn’t driving the truck.”
Rachel felt the room tilt.
“What truck?”
“The police report said your father lost control in the rain. He didn’t. A truck forced him through the guardrail.”
Nicholas stepped forward.
“Who drove it?”
Vincent’s smile disappeared.
Before he could answer, Evan raised his gun.
“Enough.”
His hand shook.
“I want my money.”
Vincent looked disgusted.
“You were always temporary.”
Evan’s face twisted.
He fired.
The bullet struck Vincent in the side.
Chaos exploded.
Daniel’s team moved.
Nicholas pulled Rachel behind a concrete column.
Diane threw herself sideways.
Evan fired again.
Then ran.
Daniel chased him.
Rachel crawled toward her mother.
Vincent lay bleeding against the wall.
She grabbed his coat.
“Who drove the truck?”
He laughed weakly.
“You still don’t understand.”
“Tell me!”
Vincent looked past her.
At Diane.
Rachel followed his eyes.
Her mother went pale.
May you like
Vincent whispered the secret.
“Ask Diane why your father was running away from her that night.”
