Chapter 12 - THE ROAD OUTSIDE MADISON
The first SUV hit us from behind.
Ethan swore and accelerated.
I grabbed the door handle.
Brian’s vehicle moved between us and the second car.
Snow blurred the road.
Another impact.
Metal screamed.
“Get down.”
I did.
Ethan drove with terrifying control.
No panic.
No wasted movement.
Then the SUV beside us tried to force our car toward the shoulder.
Ethan turned sharply.
The other vehicle slid on ice and spun into a ditch.
Brian stayed behind it.
Our car kept moving.
For thirty seconds, I thought we were clear.
Then a black pickup appeared ahead.
Blocking the road.
Ethan stopped hard.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Jane.”
“I’m not sitting alone in a car.”
He almost argued.
Then nodded once.
We got out together.
Men stepped from the pickup.
Three.
No masks.
The one in front raised his hands.
Not armed.
Derek.
My stomach turned.
Ethan moved in front of me.
Derek laughed.
“There he is.”
“What do you want?”
“Something that belongs to me.”
“The trust?”
“Control.”
Ethan’s voice was cold.
“You don’t have it.”
“No.”
Derek looked at me.
“She does.”
I frowned.
“That isn’t what the documents say.”
“You didn’t read the final amendment.”
Of course.
There was always another document.
Derek pulled out a folder.
“My uncle Joseph amended the trust before he disappeared.”
Ethan went still.
“Joseph Vale?”
“Your father.”
Derek smiled.
“He left final voting authority to the surviving Morrow heir.”
Me.
My mother’s line.
I suddenly understood.
The trust needed Ethan and me together because I controlled final authority.
That meant Derek couldn’t simply kill me.
Not yet.
“What do you want me to sign?”
His smile widened.
“Smart girl.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“You’re not signing anything.”
Derek’s men moved.
Brian arrived behind us.
Weapons appeared.
For one terrible second, everything froze.
Then a distant siren cut through the snow.
Derek’s face changed.
He had not expected police.
Neither had I.
Ethan looked at me.
I pulled out my phone.
“I called them twenty minutes ago.”
His eyebrows rose.
“You did what?”
“I told you I was done being cargo.”
For the first time in the middle of a crisis, Ethan almost smiled.
Derek backed toward the pickup.
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing.”
He fled before police arrived.
But he left the folder.
Inside was the amendment.
He had been telling the truth.
I had final authority over the trust.
Then I found something else.
A handwritten note from Joseph Vale.
One sentence.
IF JANE AND ETHAN EVER MARRY, TELL THEM THE TRUST WAS NEVER THE POINT.
I looked at Ethan.
“What was the point?”
May you like
The next page answered us.
To destroy Victor Russo.
