“Take this.”
“What is it?”
“If I don’t make it—”
“I didn’t ask that.”
“You need to know.”
She shoved it into my hands.
“Your father spent twenty years documenting everyone Black Hollow ever bribed.”
The folder felt impossibly heavy.
“As long as that survives…”
“…they lose.”
Metal screamed somewhere behind us.
Someone was cutting through the rear roll-up door.
Ellis counted silently.
Three…
Two…
One…
The back panel burst inward.
Three masked men stormed inside with rifles.
Ellis fired first.
The deafening blast echoed through the storage unit.
One attacker fell immediately.
The other two scattered behind storage lockers.
“Move!” Ellis yelled.
She grabbed my sleeve, and we ran through the side exit just as another volley of bullets ripped through the unit.
Outside, freezing rain had started falling.
The parking lot glistened beneath flickering security lights.
A black SUV blocked the main gate.
Another sat near the office.
“They planned for us to run,” Ellis muttered.
A spotlight suddenly switched on.
It blinded us.
“Julian!”
Victor stepped into the beam.
His hands were raised.
No weapon.
His gray coat fluttered in the wind.
“Listen to me.”
Ellis aimed her pistol directly at his chest.
“Don’t.”
Victor ignored her.
“I loved your father.”
“No,” Ellis replied.
“You loved his money.”
Victor almost smiled.
“You must be the FBI.”
“You’ve caused enough damage.”
His eyes never left mine.
“Julian.”
“I know what she showed you.”
“But you don’t know the whole story.”
Rain dripped from his silver hair.
“Your father wasn’t innocent.”
My stomach tightened.
“Stop talking,” Ellis warned.
Victor continued anyway.
“Ask yourself one question.”
“If Raymond was protecting the family…”
“…why did he fake his death instead of taking all of you with him?”
The question struck harder than I expected.
