Chapter 3 - The Road Out

Mara ran through the cemetery in cheap work shoes, pregnant, with a supposedly dead man pulling her through the rain.

"Who is that?" she shouted.

"Nolan's security chief."

"Why is your brother's security chief chasing us?"

"Because if he sees me alive, Nolan knows I came back."

A second car door slammed behind them.

"Ethan!" the man called. "Don't make this worse."

"That sounds friendly," Mara panted.

"It isn't."

They cut between two rows of headstones toward a maintenance road. Ethan's old pickup waited behind a line of cedar trees.

Mara jerked her hand free. "I am not getting into a truck with you until you tell me what is happening."

"Mara--"

"You lied about your name. Your wife--"

"Bianca is not my wife."

"Your brother's wife attacked me with my own pregnancy test, says you're a thief, and apparently thought you were dead. I deserve one sentence that makes sense."

Ethan looked toward the cemetery. Footsteps splashed closer.

"Nolan framed me, and I have proof. Bianca helped him. If they get that proof before I can turn it over, I'm finished."

"What proof?"

"A ledger."

"Where?"

His eyes held hers.

"Inside Greystone."

Mara stared at him. "The mansion?"

"You still work there?"

"For the moment."

"Then you can get inside without setting off every alarm."

Mara stared at him. "So this is why you're here? You followed me because you need a maid with keys?"

Pain crossed his face. "No. I came because I remembered what you told me about your mother. I thought you might be here today."

Before Mara could answer, a branch snapped nearby.

Ethan opened the passenger door. "Please."

Mara got in.

They tore onto the maintenance road just as the gray-suited man reached the trees.

Bianca stood behind him, holding a phone to her ear.

Ten minutes later, Mara's own phone buzzed.

BIANCA HARROW.

She answered on speaker.

Bianca did not say hello.

"Mara, listen carefully. If you stay with Ethan, you will lose your job, your home, and every dollar you have."

Mara's hand tightened around the phone.

Bianca continued.

"And if that baby is really his, you are in much more danger than you understand."

Ethan glanced at Mara.

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"Ask her about the trust," Bianca said.

Then the call ended.