Chapter 18 - What Evelyn Did

Celeste took them into the hangar office while June kept the children behind a locked fire truck. Lucian remained at Celeste's side, a pistol pressed hard between his shoulder blades.

“What truth?” Mara demanded.

Celeste laid a folder on the desk. Inside were handwritten notes, financial records, and a signed statement from Evelyn.

“Your mother helped run Nightjar for six months,” Celeste said. “She managed the accounts. She knew what the numbers meant.”

Mara felt sick. “You're lying.”

“Read it.”

Evelyn's statement described noticing irregular payments, then realizing children were being transferred. She confessed she'd kept working long enough to copy evidence and find Mara. She wrote, I WAS AFRAID THEY WOULD KILL THE CHILDREN IF I LEFT TOO SOON.

Mara's eyes burned. The page didn't say her mother was innocent. It said she had been frightened, had made compromises, and had finally acted.

“She should have told me,” Mara whispered.

“She tried,” June said from the doorway.

Celeste spun. June stood behind two federal agents in plain jackets. One aimed a weapon. The other held a recording device.

“Celeste Voss,” he said, “put the gun down.”

Celeste laughed. “This is private property.”

“Federal warrants don't care.”

Adrian saw Celeste's finger tighten on the trigger. He moved. The shot struck a light fixture. Glass rained. Lucian twisted free and slammed her wrist against the desk. The pistol fell. The agents rushed in.

It was over in seconds, unless you counted the decades that had led there.

Celeste fought the handcuffs. “You're destroying your own family!” she shouted.

Adrian looked at her. “You did that before we were old enough to know what family meant.”

Mara picked up Evelyn's statement. On the last page, there was a sentence Celeste hadn't mentioned: THE ORIGINAL RECORD IS UNDER THE HOUSE WHERE IT ALL BEGAN.

“Blackthorn Hall,” Mara said.

June nodded. “The real ledger isn't on the drive.”

A federal agent checked his phone. “We need that ledger. Celeste's attorney already claims the records were fabricated.”

Outside, through the hangar windows, flames suddenly rose over the distant hills.

May you like

My Mother Grabbed My Wife by the Hair Over Cold Soup—But What My Father...

My mother grabbed my wife by the hair over a bowl of cold soup. And the most shameful part? For one terrible second, I almost defe...

My Parents Kicked My 6-Year-Old Daughter and Me Out on Christmas—Then I...

My mother kicked my six-year-old daughter out of Christmas dinner, never realizing I was the only reason she still had a house to...

The Bride Threw His 80-Year-Old Mother’s Jacket on the Floor at Their We...

She threw his 80-year-old mother’s jacket on the floor… and smiled like she had just won.In front of two hundred wedding guests, t...

Blackthorn Hall was burning.

THE LAST DANCE AT BLACKTHORN HALL •