Chapter 9 - The Mother Who Never Died
Marcus traced Victor’s live feed to a private airfield north of Denver.
We arrived before his plane could take off.
Security vehicles blocked the runway.
Victor dragged Celeste from the hangar with a gun against her neck.
Brenda ran forward.
“Mom!”
Celeste looked at her daughter for the first time in eighteen years.
Her face broke.
Victor pressed the weapon harder.
“Reverse the transfer.”
“It cannot be reversed by me alone,” I said.
“You built the system.”
“No. People built systems around me.”
He began pulling Celeste toward the plane.
A shot cracked.
Victor fell.
Margaret stood behind a security vehicle holding an officer’s gun.
She had escaped custody again.
Marcus disarmed her.
Victor remained alive, wounded in the shoulder.
Brenda rushed toward Celeste.
Her mother opened her arms.
Brenda stopped several feet away.
“You don’t get to hug me yet.”
Celeste lowered her hands.
“I understand.”
I approached.
“Who poisoned my father?”
Celeste looked at the image on my phone.
“Isabella.”
My mother.
“Where is she?”
A voice spoke behind me.
“Closer than you think.”
The wedding planner from Andrew’s reception stepped from the hangar.
She removed a blond wig.
Then colored contact lenses.
My mother stood before me.
Alive.
Older.
Sharper.
She had attended the party.
She had watched Andrew strike me.
“You were there,” I whispered.
“Yes.”
“You watched him hit me.”
“I needed the agreement activated.”
The words destroyed whatever hope had risen inside me.
“You arranged the accusation?”
“I arranged the conditions.”
“Why?”
“To expose Victor.”
“You could have told me.”
“You would not have believed me.”
“You never gave me the chance.”
Andrew stared at her.
Recognition filled his face.
“You.”
I looked at him.
“You know her?”
Isabella answered.
“I recruited Andrew.”
The airfield went silent.
“He did not meet you by chance, Mariana. I paid him to approach you.”
I turned toward my husband.
“How long did you know my mother was alive?”
His silence answered me.
“Before we met?”
“Yes.”
Ten years of marriage collapsed inside one word.
Our first dinner.
Our first kiss.
His proposal.
May you like
Every promise.
Every lie.
