Chapter 12 - The Man Emilio Trusted
Emilio turned.
Marcus stood behind him.
For one second, nobody moved.
Then Marcus slowly removed his weapon and placed it on the floor.
Pike drew his own.
"Hands where I can see them."
Marcus raised both hands.
Emilio stared at him.
"You?"
"No."
"Preston just named you."
"He's lying."
"Why?"
"To get out alive."
Preston shouted from the floor, "He paid Rowan!"
Marcus stepped toward him.
Pike leveled the weapon.
"Don't."
Marcus stopped.
Emilio felt sick.
Marcus had carried Ava out of the ocean when she was four.
He had slept outside Lucia's hospital room after childbirth.
He had stood beside Emilio at her funeral.
"Tell me the truth," Emilio said.
Marcus looked at him.
"I paid Rowan."
Mara whispered, "Oh my God."
Emilio's chest tightened.
"Why?"
"To get information."
"You paid the man who killed my wife."
"I didn't know he killed her."
"When?"
"After the crash."
"Why?"
"Because Lucia hired me two months before she died."
Emilio stared.
"To do what?"
"Watch Calvin."
Marcus lowered his hands slightly.
"She didn't trust company security. She asked me to work for you after she died."
"What?"
"She knew she was in danger. She wanted somebody near Ava who Calvin hadn't recruited."
Emilio looked at Pike.
"Can any of that be verified?"
Marcus nodded toward his phone.
"Encrypted archive. Lucia's messages. Payment records. All of it."
Pike took the phone.
Preston laughed bitterly.
"He's still lying."
Marcus looked at him. "About what?"
"Rowan told me you gave him the code to Lucia's garage."
Marcus went still.
Emilio saw it.
"You did."
Marcus closed his eyes.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because Lucia asked me to."
Nothing made sense anymore.
"She wanted Rowan inside?"
"She wanted to catch him planting a tracker."
"What happened?"
"Rowan came early."
Marcus's voice cracked for the first time.
"Lucia changed the plan. She left before I could stop her."
"You let her drive?"
"I didn't know they had touched the brake system."
Emilio wanted to hit him.
He wanted to believe him.
He wanted Lucia alive.
None of those things were possible.
Pike opened Marcus's encrypted archive.
Hundreds of files appeared.
Then one video.
Dated the night Lucia died.
Marcus whispered, "I never watched that."
"Why not?"
"Lucia scheduled it to release if she didn't check in. It went into a vault I couldn't open."
Mara clicked the file.
Lucia appeared on screen in her car.
She looked terrified.
"If I don't make it home," she said, "Marcus is not the traitor."
Marcus shut his eyes.
Lucia continued.
"The person behind Calvin is someone Emilio will defend until it kills him."
Then she held up a photograph.
It showed Rafael Vega.
Emilio's father.
May you like
Standing beside Calvin.
And signing the original trust amendment.
