Chapter 17 - The Trade
Emma showed the message to the lead federal agent.
"You are not going alone," he said.
"He'll kill her if he sees police."
"He may kill her anyway."
Emma hated him for being right.
Adrian grabbed her arm. "Vivian is my wife. I'll go."
"Gavin asked for me."
"Because he thinks you're easier to scare."
Emma looked at him. "He already killed my mother. He knows exactly how scared I am."
The location arrived ten minutes later.
An abandoned private airstrip outside the city.
They formed a plan.
Emma would carry a duplicate notebook prepared by agents. The real red book would stay in federal custody. A tracking device went inside the fake binding.
At 2:10 a.m., Emma walked alone across the wet runway.
A hangar door stood open.
Inside, Gavin waited beside a black sedan.
Vivian sat in a chair, wrists tied, hospital gown under a borrowed coat.
Her injured arm was bandaged.
"Book," Gavin said.
Emma held it up.
"Let her go first."
Gavin smiled. "You sound like Nora."
Emma's vision narrowed.
"Did she beg?"
Vivian whispered, "Emma, don't."
But Emma needed the answer.
Gavin's smile faded.
"No. That's what made it worse. She kept looking at me like I still had a choice."
"You did."
"Thomas owned me."
"No. You rented yourself to him."
Gavin's face tightened.
Good.
Angry people made mistakes.
Emma tossed the fake red book halfway between them.
Gavin stepped toward it.
Vivian suddenly kicked the chair backward into his legs.
Gavin stumbled.
Emma ran for Vivian.
A gun appeared in Gavin's hand.
He fired.
The bullet struck the sedan window.
Federal agents stormed the hangar.
Gavin grabbed Emma around the throat and pressed the gun under her jaw.
"Back off!"
Everyone froze.
Emma could feel his hand shaking.
"You know what your mother said before she died?" Gavin whispered.
Emma forced herself to breathe.
"What?"
"She said you would finish it."
Then Vivian moved behind him.
She slammed a metal IV pole into his wrist.
The gun dropped.
Agents rushed forward.
Gavin hit the concrete hard.
Emma fell to her knees.
For the first time, the man who killed her mother was in handcuffs.
Then Gavin began laughing.
"You think Bell was the top?" he said.
Emma stared at him.
Gavin smiled through blood on his lip.
May you like
"Ask Adrian who really owns Harrington Private Trust."
When the cuffs clicked around Gavin's wrists, Emma expected relief. What she felt instead was exhaustion. Justice, she realized, did not bring people back. It only stopped the lie from owning what was left.
