Chapter 13 - The Choice at the Staircase
Adrian looked terrible. His burgundy shirt was stained with mud, and one cuff hung loose. Without the marble foyer and the expensive watch, he seemed smaller. That didn't make him less dangerous.
"Put it down," Ruth told him.
"You don't understand," he replied. "Shaw will burn us all."
"Us?" I asked. "You kidnapped a child. There is no us."
He looked at me like I'd broken a promise. "I gave you everything."
"You made me afraid to speak in my own house."
He flinched, not from guilt but because my voice carried further than he'd expected.
Ruth held her position at the bottom of the stairs, phone already connected to the police outside. Dad reached for me, and I stepped away from him too. I needed room to decide what to do.
"Adrian," I said, "the drive is evidence. If you destroy it, Shaw walks away and you take the blame for everything."
His eyes flicked to the object in his hand. His grip loosened for a second.
"She said your father approved all of it," he whispered. "The patient lists. The payments. The false reports. I was supposed to make sure you married me so Daniel wouldn't change his mind."
There it was. The marriage I'd tried to save had been a job from the beginning.
"Did you ever love me?" I asked before I could stop myself.
He opened his mouth. Closed it. And that was an answer.
Sirens sounded beyond the cottage. Adrian looked out a window and panicked. He swung the poker at the railing, shattering a spindle, then bolted toward a back door upstairs.
Ruth shouted for the officers to cover the rear. Dad caught the falling rail before it struck me. I stood frozen with Mom's envelope in my hand.
May you like
Then a gunshot cracked outside. A moment later someone on Ruth's radio said, "Officer down. Suspect not contained."
THE DOORS SHE OPENED •
