Chapter 17 - The Cost of Surviving
Nico survived surgery.
Barely.
By midnight he was under police guard at Northwestern Memorial, facing a list of charges that would take months to untangle.
Sophie was with her mother.
Elena was safe.
Vale was dead.
And Julian Croft was sitting in a federal interview room with a lawyer who kept telling him to stop volunteering information.
"Mr. Croft," Agent Lena Brooks said, "you understand these files implicate companies you controlled?"
"Yes."
"Your counsel recommends you decline to answer."
"My counsel recommends many things."
The lawyer rubbed his forehead.
Brooks looked at Julian. "Are you prepared to cooperate?"
"Fully."
"That may expose you to criminal liability."
"I understand."
"Why now?"
Julian thought of Rafael's voice on the cassette.
He thought of Maya's father walking out of his office twelve years earlier.
"Because late is not the same as never."
Across town, Maya sat beside her mother's hospital bed.
Elena looked exhausted but alive.
"You love him," Elena said.
Maya nearly dropped her coffee. "Can we not do this after a kidnapping?"
"Kidnapping gave me perspective."
"Mom."
"You do."
Maya stared at the lid of her coffee cup.
"He helped destroy Dad."
"Yes."
"He lied to me."
"Yes."
"He is dangerous."
"Very."
Maya frowned. "You're terrible at this conversation."
Elena smiled faintly. "Loving someone is not the same as excusing them. Your father loved people who disappointed him. He also made them answer for what they did."
"Julian may go to prison."
"Then he goes."
Maya looked at her mother.
"You don't hate him?"
"I hated his father. I hated the system they built. Julian was part of it. That matters. But I watched him choose not to let Vale fall when killing him would have been easy. People reveal themselves when cruelty is convenient."
Maya's throat tightened.
Her phone buzzed.
Derek.
She answered.
"What's wrong?"
"Julian's out for now. Cooperation agreement pending. But we found one more thing in the files."
"What?"
"Your debt."
Maya closed her eyes. "I don't care anymore."
"You might. Black Harbor didn't buy it from Lakefront."
"What do you mean?"
"The original loan was fraudulent. Your signature is real, but the amount isn't."
Maya stood.
"I borrowed thirty-two thousand."
"The hospital received eleven."
"Where did the rest go?"
Derek was silent.
"Derek?"
"Into a Croft company account."
Maya felt sick.
"Julian's?"
"No."
"Whose?"
May you like
Derek answered quietly.
"Nico's."
