Chapter 9 - Rebecca’s Bargain
I didn't bring Leo.
I brought a recorder, police, and enough surveillance to cover every road around the abandoned school.
Rebecca expected criminal Thomas Moretti.
She got an uncle who wanted his family alive more than he wanted revenge.
I entered alone.
Technically.
Ramirez's people surrounded the property.
Ethan sat beneath a hanging light.
Alive.
Bruised.
Exhausted.
When he saw me, something passed between us that twenty years of brotherhood didn't need words for.
Rebecca stood beside him.
Black dress.
Perfect hair.
As though she hadn't starved two children in a basement.
“Where's Leo?”
“Safe.”
Her smile vanished.
“You were instructed—”
“You don't instruct me.”
Ethan almost smiled.
Rebecca recovered.
“Ava inherits more than Leo.”
“I know.”
That surprised her.
Good.
“Then you understand.”
“No. I understand you locked children downstairs.”
Her face changed.
“For protection.”
I stared at her.
She actually believed part of that.
Interesting.
“From whom?”
“The Trustee.”
Now Rebecca claimed she had been protecting Leo and Maya.
The basement, she said, originally contained a hidden safe room Ethan built after threats against the family.
She later used it to confine them.
That part wasn't protection.
She admitted it.
“I needed control.”
Finally, truth.
“Why injure Leo?”
“I didn't.”
I stepped toward her.
“Careful.”
“I never broke his leg.”
Ethan looked up.
“She didn't.”
I turned.
“What?”
Ethan had seen Leo's injury weeks earlier.
Rebecca claimed Leo fell.
Ethan suspected otherwise.
Before he could investigate, he collapsed.
“Who was with Leo?”
Rebecca answered.
“My mother.”
I hadn't heard about Rebecca's mother in years.
Marianne Vale.
Elegant.
Wealthy.
Supposedly living in Europe.
Rebecca's expression changed.
Fear.
Real fear.
“The Trustee is my mother.”
There it was.
Marianne had spent decades working as a private wealth adviser to powerful Texas families.
She understood trusts.
Inheritance.
Custody.
Vulnerabilities.
Rebecca hadn't invented the system.
She had inherited it.
“Where is Ava?”
Rebecca looked toward a locked door.
I opened it.
Empty.
Window open.
Ava was gone.
Then Ethan whispered:
“Thomas.”
“What?”
“Rebecca didn't bring Ava here.”
I turned.
Security footage had shown Ava entering the SUV.
Rebecca nodded.
“My mother took her during the transfer.”
Then Rebecca pulled out her phone.
A live location beacon.
“She told me to bring Ethan here and wait.”
“You were bait.”
“Yes.”
“For me?”
Rebecca looked at Ethan.
“No.”
“For Leo.”
A sound came from outside.
Ramirez's voice exploded through my concealed earpiece.
“Thomas, hospital security alert.”
My blood froze.
“Someone is trying to remove Leo and Maya.”
Then my phone rang.
Hospital.
I answered.
Maya was screaming.
A woman's voice spoke calmly behind her.
“Mr. Moretti?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Marianne Vale.”
May you like
Pause.
“And I believe you have something that belongs to me.”
