Chapter 9 - The Person I Trusted Most
There was only one person who knew about my backup.
My best friend, Jenna.
I'd sent her a voice message two days earlier.
“If anything weird happens, keep whatever I send you.”
At the time, it sounded paranoid.
Now my hands shook as I called her.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Dad didn't speculate.
We drove to Jenna's apartment with my attorney on speaker.
Her car was outside.
The door was unlocked.
I called her name.
She appeared from the bedroom.
Alive.
Crying.
Relief hit me so hard I nearly collapsed.
Then I saw Richard sitting at her kitchen table.
Dad immediately stepped in front of me.
Richard raised both hands.
“Relax.”
“What are you doing here?”
Jenna couldn't look at me.
Richard answered.
“Cleaning up your misunderstanding.”
I stared at my friend.
“What did you give him?”
“Lily, I'm sorry.”
My chest tightened.
Richard had discovered Jenna was months behind on her mortgage.
Cole Development bought the debt.
Then he offered to erase it if she gave him anything I'd sent her.
She surrendered a cloud-storage password.
Richard smiled.
“The recording is gone.”
Dad looked at me.
I looked at Richard.
And despite everything, I smiled.
“No, it isn't.”
His face changed.
I'd never uploaded the patio recording to Jenna.
The only file she had was an earlier argument.
Useful.
Not decisive.
The patio recording had automatically synchronized to a separate account Richard didn't know existed.
Dad had helped Mom establish it years ago for family records.
Richard stood.
“You're bluffing.”
I took out my phone.
“Maybe.”
That uncertainty drove him crazy.
He stepped toward me.
My attorney's voice came through the speaker.
“Mr. Cole, I strongly recommend you stop approaching my client.”
Richard froze.
Jenna started sobbing.
I wanted to hate her.
Instead, I realized Richard had done to her what he'd done to everyone.
Find the weakness.
Apply pressure.
Buy silence.
Then Jenna whispered something that changed everything.
“He didn't come alone.”
Richard spun toward her.
“Shut up.”
May you like
She finally looked at me.
“Chief Mercer was here first.”
