Chapter 13 - The Choice Elena Made
Lucas pointed his weapon at Arthur.
Elena pointed hers at Lucas.
Nobody moved.
“What are you doing?” Lucas demanded.
“Put it down.”
“He’s going to send us to prison.”
“You kidnapped his son.”
“You helped steal eight million dollars.”
“That was money.”
Lucas laughed. “Now you have morals?”
Elena’s hand trembled.
Arthur watched her face.
There was fear there.
But also calculation.
“Elena,” he said, “Evan is somewhere near the engine compartment. If shooting starts, you could kill him.”
“Shut up,” Lucas snapped.
Arthur kept looking at Elena.
“You said you never meant Rebecca to die.”
Her jaw clenched.
“Prove it.”
Lucas turned toward her.
“That’s what this is? You think he’ll forgive you?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Elena’s eyes filled for one second.
“Because I am not doing this again.”
Lucas fired first.
The shot exploded inside the cabin.
Elena screamed and fell against the doorway.
Arthur charged.
He hit Lucas low, driving him into the wall. The gun skidded beneath the table.
Lucas punched him twice in the head.
Arthur barely felt it.
He grabbed Lucas’s wrist and slammed it against the floor until his grip loosened.
A siren wailed outside.
Then another.
“Coast Guard!” a voice shouted. “Hands where we can see them!”
Lucas tried to reach the gun.
Arthur kicked it away.
Elena was on the floor clutching her shoulder, blood spreading through her coat.
She looked at Arthur.
“I saved him.”
Arthur stared at her.
“You helped put him here.”
Her face crumpled.
That answer hurt more than the bullet.
Coast Guard officers stormed the boat.
Evan crawled out from behind the engine hatch, covered in grease.
Arthur grabbed him.
“Dad, I did the radio.”
“I heard you.”
“Was I good?”
Arthur laughed and cried at the same time.
“You were incredible.”
Back on shore, Reed arrived with detectives.
Lucas was arrested.
Elena was taken to the hospital under guard.
Reed pulled Arthur aside.
“We recovered a waterproof document case from the boat.”
“The file?”
“Looks like it.”
Inside were copies of Rebecca’s audit notes, messages with Graham Pike, and a handwritten statement Elena had never sent.
Arthur read one line and stopped.
GRAHAM SAID HE FIXED THE BRAKES. I DID NOT ASK HOW.
Below it was a date.
The day before Rebecca died.
Arthur looked at Reed.
“She knew before the crash.”
Reed nodded grimly.
“And there’s worse.”
He handed Arthur another page.
It was a payment authorization for Graham Pike.
May you like
Two hundred thousand dollars.
Signed after Rebecca’s funeral.
