Chapter 5 - The Rabbit
I had bought that stuffed rabbit at a thrift store.
Or so I thought.
Three weeks earlier, it had appeared in a box of donated baby clothes Mrs. Perez left outside my apartment.
I assumed it came from her church.
It hadn’t.
Tommy removed the transmitter.
“Active.”
“Can you trace it?”
“Maybe.”
Reed looked at Elena.
“Who planted it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I knew Daniel was alive. That doesn’t mean I know everyone hunting him.”
Reed moved closer.
Elena didn’t flinch.
“You forged my brother’s death.”
“Yes.”
“You let me bury a stranger.”
“Yes.”
“You watched my mother collapse at his funeral.”
Elena’s face cracked.
“That was the price Daniel demanded.”
“Why?”
“Because if you knew he was alive, you would have looked for him.”
“I did look.”
“Exactly.”
Reed turned away.
For the first time, I saw the personal cost beneath the mafia reputation.
Daniel had not merely disappeared.
He had made his brother grieve him.
Then Elena said:
“He was trying to protect you too.”
Reed laughed without humor.
“Everyone keeps protecting me by lying.”
I understood that sentence.
Tommy traced the rabbit signal.
Receiver location:
Inside Callaway’s.
Not outside.
Somebody in the restaurant had been listening.
Reed ordered every employee held until cleared.
Then the lights went out.
Complete darkness.
Ava screamed.
I dropped behind the desk instinctively, wrapping my body around hers.
Reed’s voice cut through the room.
“Mara, stay down.”
A crash outside.
Running.
Then emergency lights flickered red.
Tommy opened the office door.
A guard lay unconscious in the hallway.
Non-graphic.
Alive.
The back staircase door stood open.
Someone had entered Reed’s private level.
Elena whispered:
“They’re looking for the archive.”
“What archive?”
She pointed toward the wall.
Reed removed a painting.
Nothing.
Then Elena pressed a carved section of wood beneath the bookshelf.
Click.
A narrow compartment opened.
Reed stared at her.
“How do you know that exists?”
“Daniel showed me.”
Inside were old ledgers.
Photographs.
A flash drive.
And one sealed envelope.
REED.
His brother’s handwriting.
Reed opened it.
If you’re reading this, either I failed or Mara found you.
I stopped breathing.
My name.
Written years ago?
Reed checked the date.
Eleven months earlier.
The exact week I started working at Callaway’s.
Daniel had known.
He had arranged my job.
My anger became something colder.
He hadn’t disappeared completely.
He had watched.
From somewhere.
While I struggled.
While I counted formula scoops.
While I walked through snow because I couldn’t afford rides.
Reed continued reading.
Mara cannot know until I know who betrayed us.
Ava changes everything.
Reed looked at me.
“He knew about her.”
My eyes burned.
“Of course he did.”
Then footsteps sounded outside.
A man appeared in the doorway.
Dark coat.
Snow melting from his shoulders.
Same face from my photograph.
Same eyes Ava had inherited.
Evan Mercer.
Daniel Callaway.
Alive.
He looked at me.
Then at Ava.
His entire expression broke.
“Mara.”
I slapped him.
Hard.
The sound cracked through the office.
He accepted it.
Then I slapped him again.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about Ava.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me struggle.”
His eyes lowered.
“Yes.”
I raised my hand again.
Reed caught my wrist gently.
“Not because he doesn’t deserve it.”
His eyes shifted toward Daniel.
“But because somebody followed him here.”
Daniel turned.
May you like
A red laser dot appeared on his chest.
Reed tackled him sideways as the office window shattered.
