Chapter 13 - Three Floors Apart
The vault had one public elevator and one emergency stairwell.
Richard had entered through the main lobby.
Charles believed he was alone.
I did not.
Richard had not gone anywhere alone since I disappeared.
"How did he know?"
I whispered.
Evelyn looked at the open safe-deposit box.
"The account may have generated an access alert."
Charles shook his head.
"Not automatically."
"Then someone at the bank told him."
"Possibly."
I put my father's letters inside my jacket.
Evelyn took the flash drive and affidavit.
Charles closed the box.
"There is a freight elevator through the records corridor."
"Does it reach the garage?"
Nora asked through my earpiece.
"Yes."
Charles answered.
"But it requires a staff key."
"Use it."
We moved into the corridor.
My ankle had improved enough that I could walk quickly, but not quietly.
Every step reminded me that I was seven months pregnant and escaping from the man who had tried to throw me into the Pacific.
The freight elevator was forty feet away when the public elevator chimed behind us.
Charles's face changed.
"He should not have access down here."
The doors opened.
Richard stepped out.
For one second, neither of us moved.
He looked thinner than he had three days earlier.
His hair was uncombed.
The grief costume was gone.
Then he saw me.
Everything in his face disappeared.
Not surprise.
Not joy.
Not relief.
Nothing.
It was the same emptiness I saw before he pushed me.
His gaze dropped to my stomach.
The baby moved beneath my coat.
Richard inhaled.
"Natalie."
My name sounded almost like pain.
I stepped backward.
Evelyn moved between us.
"Do not come closer."
Richard ignored her.
He looked only at me.
"You are alive."
"Disappointed?"
His mouth opened.
No answer came.
Then footsteps sounded behind him.
Grant Morrow appeared from the elevator.
Nora swore in my earpiece.
Richard lifted one hand.
"Grant, stop."
Grant stopped.
That surprised me.
Richard took one step forward.
"Natalie, listen to me."
I laughed once.
"You pushed me out of a helicopter."
"I know."
The simplicity of the answer hit harder than a denial.
"You know?"
"I know what I did."
Evelyn reached inside her bag for the panic transmitter linked to Nora's team.
Richard noticed.
"I am not here to hurt her."
"You already failed at that sentence once."
Evelyn said.
Richard's jaw tightened.
"Victor knows she survived."
The corridor went still.
"Since when?"
I asked.
"Since Black Harbor."
"You sent the photograph?"
"No."
"Then who did?"
"Lauren."
My anger sharpened.
"She followed us?"
"She followed Evelyn."
Richard looked at the pocket where I had hidden my father's letter.
"You opened the box."
"That is why you came."
"Yes."
"For the evidence?"
"For the Monterey file."
Evelyn and I exchanged a glance.
"It is not here."
Richard's face changed.
For the first time I saw genuine fear.
"Then Thomas hid it somewhere else."
"What happened in Monterey?"
He looked at Grant.
"Leave."
Grant did not move.
"Richard."
"I said leave."
Grant glanced toward me, then stepped back into the elevator.
The doors closed.
Richard lowered his voice.
"Eight years ago, Victor arranged a deal in Monterey."
"What kind of deal?"
"A founder named Samuel Pike had developed encryption software Victor wanted."
"Samuel refused to sell."
"So Victor created pressure."
"What does that mean?"
Richard looked away.
"We manufactured a regulatory complaint."
"We froze his financing."
"We turned two investors against him."
"And when that did not work, Victor ordered someone to frighten him."
My skin went cold.
"Someone?"
"Me."
Richard finally looked at me.
"I was supposed to break into his office and destroy the prototype."
"Did you?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
Richard swallowed.
"Samuel came back early."
The corridor felt suddenly colder.
"And?"
"There was a fight."
"He fell down a stairwell."
"Did he die?"
Richard closed his eyes for one second.
"Yes."
I stared at the man I married.
Eight years earlier, before my father.
Before me.
Richard had been part of a scheme that ended with a man's death.
"You killed him."
"I did not go there to kill him."
"But he died because you went there."
"Yes."
"And Victor covered it up."
"Yes."
Now I understood my father's letter.
Victor found Richard ambitious, indebted, and angry.
Then made himself necessary.
Once Richard had a death attached to him, leaving became almost impossible.
But my father had been right about the part that mattered.
Fear did not make Richard innocent.
Richard stepped closer.
"Victor has the original police file."
"That is why I could never testify against him without destroying myself."
"So you married me instead."
His face tightened.
"That was not the original plan."
"Do not insult me with that."
"It is true."
"You wrote a succession report about me before we met."
"Victor ordered it."
"You attended the meeting the day my father died."
Richard's silence answered me.
"Were you on the boat?"
He looked at the floor.
"Richard."
"Yes."
The word almost stopped my heart.
"Tell me what happened."
"Not here."
"Tell me now."
"Victor is looking for you."
"So am I."
"Natalie."
"Tell me what happened to my father."
Richard stepped toward me again.
Evelyn blocked him.
"Stay where you are."
He raised both hands.
"Thomas met Victor offshore."
"I brought the Helix ledger."
"Thomas offered me protection if I testified."
"Victor offered me something else."
"What?"
"Silence about Monterey."
I already knew which choice he made.
Still, hearing it mattered.
"You chose Victor."
Richard's voice dropped.
"Yes."
"Then what happened?"
"They argued."
"Thomas said he was going to the FBI."
"Victor grabbed him."
"Your father fought back."
Richard's breathing changed.
"I could have stopped it."
"Stopped what?"
He looked at me.
"Victor hit him with a winch handle."
My knees almost gave way.
Evelyn caught my arm.
"Was my father alive afterward?"
"Yes."
"Then why did he end up in the ocean?"
Richard's eyes filled for the first time.
"Because Victor ordered me to help put him overboard."
I could not breathe.
"Did you?"
Richard said nothing.
That was enough.
I stepped toward him before Evelyn could stop me and slapped him across the face.
The sound echoed through the corridor.
Richard did not move.
"You stood beside me at his funeral."
My voice shook.
"You held me while I cried."
"I know."
"You married me knowing you helped throw my injured father into the Pacific."
"I know."
"Then you tried to do the same thing to me."
Richard closed his eyes.
"Yes."
For one second I wanted him to look away forever.
Then Evelyn's phone vibrated.
She checked the screen.
Her face changed.
"We need to move."
"What?"
"Nora spotted Lauren outside."
Richard turned toward the elevator.
"How many people?"
Evelyn looked at him.
"Why do you care?"
"Because Lauren does not work for me."
"She sleeps in my house with you."
I said.
Richard's expression barely moved.
"Lauren works for Victor."
A sharp metallic sound came from the stairwell door.
Then another.
Someone was trying to override the lock.
Richard grabbed my arm.
I ripped it away.
"Do not touch me."
"Natalie, if Victor sent Lauren here, he does not care whether I leave alive either."
The lock clicked.
The stairwell door began to open.
Richard looked at the freight elevator.
"You can hate me after we get out."
"I already do."
"Good."
He hit the staff key Charles had left in the panel.
The freight doors opened.
May you like
"Then stay alive long enough to prove it."
