Chapter 13 - The Paternity Lie

For one terrible second, fear made Mara believe him.

Ethan looked at her, not Keene. "Mara?"

"There has been no one else," she said.

Keene laughed. "Then maybe ask why Bianca already has a lab result."

Mara remembered the red folder.

Paternity screening preparation.

Preparation, not result.

"He's lying," she said.

"Of course I am," Keene replied. "The question is which part."

Police voices echoed in the basement.

Ethan took the gun from Mara and unloaded it. "We're done hiding."

He carried the ledger. Mara carried Richard's recorder and the boxes containing bank files. They left Keene tied with an electrical cord from an old lamp.

At the basement stairs, Bianca appeared.

Her mascara had run down her face.

"Don't go upstairs," she whispered.

Ethan stopped. "Move."

"Nolan has already told them you kidnapped Mara."

Mara stepped forward. "Then I'll tell them he lied."

Bianca looked at Mara's stomach and began crying.

"You don't understand. Nolan has the chief of police in those records. He has judges. Contractors. People who owe him."

"And you helped him," Ethan said.

"At first."

"At first?"

Bianca wiped her face. "I thought it was money. Numbers. Favors. Then your father found out. Nolan told me to put something in Richard's drink. He said it would make him sleep so we could get the files from his office."

Ethan's face changed.

"What did you give him?"

"I don't know. Nolan handed me the bottle. Richard collapsed. Nolan wouldn't let me call an ambulance for almost fifteen minutes."

Mara felt rage rise in her chest. "And you stayed with him?"

Bianca looked at her. "I was afraid."

Mara remembered the slap beside her mother's grave. "Fear doesn't excuse what you do to people," she said.

Bianca flinched.

Then she pulled a flash drive from her pocket.

"This is everything Nolan kept on Keene, the police chief, the shell companies. I copied it months ago in case I needed protection."

She held it toward Ethan.

"Take it."

Ethan didn't move.

"Why now?"

A gunshot cracked upstairs.

Someone screamed.

Bianca shoved the drive into Mara's hand.

"Because Nolan knows I'm the one who called the police."

Another gunshot.

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Bianca looked toward the stairs.

"And now he's coming for me."