Chapter 14 - RICHARD'S LAST BARGAIN
The blackout lasted eleven seconds.
Backup generators activated.
Security locked every exterior door.
Maya carried Lily into the secure room while Grant’s security team searched the property.
No intruder was found.
But someone had attempted remote access to the estate’s gate controls.
The source was traced to a disposable device registered near Richard’s neighborhood.
Richard denied involvement.
Maya didn’t believe him.
Neither did Naomi.
At 2:00 the next afternoon, Richard called from an unfamiliar number.
Maya answered only because investigators were recording.
“Where is your mother?”
Richard sounded exhausted.
“I don’t know.”
“Where is Adrian?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why are you calling?”
“Because I need to see Lily.”
“No.”
“Maya, she’s my daughter.”
“And you threatened to use her against me.”
“That was anger.”
“It was recorded.”
Silence.
Richard lowered his voice.
“I can make this easier.”
“There is nothing you can make easier.”
“I’ll sign anything.”
“Custody.”
“Divorce.”
“Whatever you want.”
Maya waited.
There it was.
The bargain.
“In return for what?”
Richard exhaled.
“Ten million dollars.”
Even the investigator listening nearby looked stunned.
Maya almost laughed.
“You’re trying to sell me my freedom?”
“I gave you six years.”
“You took six years.”
“I supported you.”
“I worked.”
“You lived in my house.”
“We paid the rent from a joint account.”
Richard’s breathing became heavier.
“You wouldn’t even have Lily without me.”
Maya’s voice went cold.
“Never use my daughter as an invoice again.”
She prepared to end the call.
Richard panicked.
“Wait.”
Maya stayed silent.
“My mother has something.”
“What?”
“Something from your mother.”
Maya looked toward the investigator.
“Explain.”
“When Olivia worked for Adrian, she kept copies of everything.”
“She said it was insurance.”
“Where?”
Richard hesitated.
“Ten million.”
Maya smiled sadly.
Even now.
Even with his family collapsing around him.
He could only think in prices.
“No.”
“Maya.”
“No.”
“I can give you proof that Adrian ordered your mother killed.”
Maya’s hand tightened.
Richard continued.
“And proof my mother helped him.”
The investigator wrote something quickly.
Maya forced herself to remain calm.
“Where is the evidence?”
Richard whispered, “A house in Queens.”
“Address?”
“Money first.”
Maya ended the call.
Richard immediately called back.
She ignored it.
Twenty minutes later, Naomi received an email.
One photograph was attached.
It showed Olivia standing beside Adrian twenty-five years earlier.
Behind them was Catherine’s damaged car.
The timestamp was from three days before the supposed accident.
There was also an address.
No money requested.
Richard had finally understood that bargaining wasn’t working.
But Maya saw something else in the photograph.
A third person stood partly hidden behind the car.
A man.
Maya enlarged the image.
Grant entered the room.
He saw the face.
His expression turned to disbelief.
“That’s Detective Howard Lane.”
“Who is he?”
May you like
Grant whispered, “The officer who told me Catherine was dead.”
—
