Chapter 8 - THE WOMAN I CALLED MY BEST FRIEND
Lily was waiting at an abandoned train station outside Chicago.
Derek stood beside her.
Neither had a weapon visible.
That didn't make me feel safer.
Ethan and I approached slowly.
Lily looked at me.
“I'm sorry.”
I stopped.
“For what?”
“For everything.”
I felt something cold settle inside me.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Almost everything.”
My chest tightened.
“You knew about my mother.”
“Yes.”
“You knew why Ethan married me.”
“Yes.”
“You knew the Russos were watching me.”
“Yes.”
“Were you the one who sent them?”
“No.”
That answer surprised me.
“Then who?”
Lily looked at Derek.
He stepped forward.
“My father.”
“Your father is dead.”
“He was.”
“What do you mean?”
Derek explained that his father had built the network but had been killed when he tried to leave it.
The Broker wasn't a single family.
It was a system.
People inherited contacts.
Accounts.
Secrets.
Threats.
Lily had been recruited because her mother had once worked with my mother.
She had initially agreed to help protect me.
Then she became trapped.
“The people behind the network threatened your family?”
Lily nodded.
“They threatened my brother.”
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“In witness protection.”
I looked at her.
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because they told me they would kill him.”
Ethan's expression softened slightly.
“Who?”
Lily looked at him.
“The Russos weren't running the operation.”
“Who was?”
She reached into her coat.
Pulled out a photograph.
It showed three men.
My father.
Ethan's father.
And Thomas Grant.
I stared.
“The attorney.”
Lily nodded.
“He was the third.”
Derek spoke.
“He survived.”
“Why didn't he take over?”
“He did.”
I felt sick.
Thomas had been advising Ethan's family for years.
He had been at the wedding.
He had helped arrange the marriage.
He had known about my mother's death.
He had been close enough to control everything without appearing powerful.
“But why does he want me alive?”
Lily answered.
“Because your mother hid the original ledger.”
“We found the microfilm.”
“That isn't the original.”
I looked at Ethan.
“What is?”
Lily pointed at me.
“You.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“Your mother didn't hide the ledger in a place.”
“She hid it in a person.”
My stomach dropped.
“What are you talking about?”
“When you were twelve, your mother gave you something.”
I thought about my childhood.
The bracelet.
The locket.
The bluebird.
Then I remembered.
A small wooden music box.
My mother had given it to me the week before she died.
I had kept it for years.
Then lost it during college.
I looked at Ethan.
“My mother gave me a music box.”
Lily nodded.
“The original ledger was hidden inside it.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Where is it?”
“Thomas has it.”
“How?”
“He found it after your father died.”
“Then why am I still alive?”
“Because he couldn't open it.”
Ethan understood.
“He needs Jane.”
Lily nodded.
“Your mother designed the lock around something only you know.”
I remembered the little melody.
Four notes.
The song my mother sang when I was afraid.
I whispered the notes.
Derek looked at me.
“That’s it.”
Then Ethan's phone rang.
Brian.
Ethan answered.
“Talk.”
A pause.
His expression changed.
“Where?”
He listened.
“Don't touch anything.”
He hung up.
“What happened?”
“Thomas took over the main house.”
I felt cold.
“How?”
“Several guards switched sides.”
“Why?”
“Money.”
Lily looked at me.
“He knows you found the ledger.”
“How?”
She pointed toward Derek.
“Because Derek told him.”
I turned.
Derek shook his head.
“I didn't betray you.”
“Then how?”
Derek looked at Lily.
“She did.”
Lily's face fell.
“I had to.”
“You gave him the location?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To keep him from killing my brother.”
I stared at her.
“You used me.”
“I was trying to save him.”
“And almost got me killed.”
“I know.”
Derek stepped between us.
“Enough.”
Ethan looked at him.
“You brought us here.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Derek reached into his coat.
He pulled out a small wooden music box.
My heart stopped.
“My father had it.”
I took it.
It was mine.
The scratches on the lid were the same.
I opened it.
The melody played.
Four notes.
Then the bottom compartment clicked.
A tiny key appeared.
Ethan looked at me.
“That's the lock.”
But before I could say anything, gunfire erupted outside.
Lily ducked.
Derek grabbed her.
Ethan pulled me behind a concrete pillar.
Men rushed into the station.
Thomas's voice echoed across the platform.
“Jane!”
I froze.
He stepped into view.
Older.
Calm.
Almost paternal.
“You've spent your whole life believing your parents died protecting you.”
He smiled.
“They didn't.”
He looked at the music box in my hands.
“They died because they refused to give me what belonged to me.”
Ethan raised his weapon.
Thomas laughed.
“Put it down.”
Then he pointed toward the entrance.
Several armed men surrounded Brian.
Thomas looked at Ethan.
“You have ten seconds.”
I looked at the music box.
Then at Ethan.
Then at Lily.
I knew what Thomas wanted.
The key.
The ledger.
Me.
And suddenly I understood the final piece.
My mother hadn't hidden the truth because she wanted me to find it.
She had hidden it because she knew one day I would have to choose what kind of person I wanted to become.
May you like
I closed my hand around the key.
And stepped forward.
