Chapter 12 - VICTORIA'S LAST GAME
Nobody intended to let me go alone.
Victoria knew that.
The meeting location was an abandoned children's hospital scheduled for demolition.
Of course it was.
A monument to forgotten rooms and erased records.
Agent Brooks fitted me with a transmitter.
Reed argued against the entire operation.
“She'll know.”
Brooks nodded.
“She probably will.”
“Then why send Laura?”
“Because Victoria wants the ledger.”
I looked at both of them.
“And because Michael is inside.”
Reed didn't like that answer.
Neither did I.
But I went.
The hospital smelled like dust and rain.
My footsteps echoed through empty corridors.
“Victoria?”
My voice disappeared into darkness.
Then lights came on.
One by one.
A path.
Leading upstairs.
I followed it.
Second floor.
Third.
Fourth.
At the end of the corridor was an old pediatric ward.
Michael sat inside.
Melissa beside him.
Emma stood near the window.
And Victoria Crane waited in the center of the room.
She looked exactly like she did on television.
Perfect hair.
Perfect clothes.
Perfect posture.
“You look disappointed,” she said.
“I expected a monster.”
Victoria smiled.
“Monsters are useful stories for children.”
“You hurt children.”
“I moved children.”
“You stole them.”
“I placed them.”
“With people who paid you.”
“Sometimes.”
My disgust made her smile wider.
“You think the legal system is clean?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She stepped closer.
“Then don't pretend I invented corruption.”
“You profited from it.”
“So did hundreds of respectable people.”
Michael looked at me.
“Laura, don't give her anything.”
Victoria slapped him.
Not hard.
Almost casually.
“Don't.”
I stepped forward.
Victoria looked at me.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“You still love him.”
“He's my husband.”
“A husband who let you believe he was dead.”
Michael closed his eyes.
She was trying to divide us.
It almost worked.
“Where's the baby?” I asked.
Victoria's smile disappeared.
“Safe.”
“With whom?”
“Someone more useful than Daniel.”
Melissa spoke.
“She's lying.”
Victoria turned.
Melissa didn't flinch.
“The baby is downstairs.”
My heart jumped.
Victoria's expression changed.
Michael saw it too.
Melissa smiled weakly.
“You always underestimate mothers.”
Then alarms screamed throughout the building.
Victoria spun around.
“What did you do?”
Melissa laughed.
“I pulled the fire alarm twenty minutes ago.”
Victoria grabbed a gun.
Everything changed.
“DOWN!”
Michael threw himself sideways.
I dropped.
The window exploded.
Police tactical officers entered from two directions.
Victoria ran.
Not toward the stairs.
Toward Emma.
She grabbed the girl.
Gun against her side.
“Back away!”
Everyone froze.
Caleb's twin sister stared at Victoria.
She wasn't crying.
That surprised me.
Victoria pulled her toward the stairwell.
“You're coming with me.”
Emma looked at her.
“No.”
Victoria tightened her grip.
“You don't have a choice.”
Emma did something none of us expected.
She stomped hard on Victoria's foot.
Victoria lost balance.
Emma twisted free.
Reed came through the doorway.
“Gun!”
Victoria raised it.
A shot cracked.
Michael fell.
“MICHAEL!”
Police tackled Victoria.
I crawled toward my husband.
Blood spread across his shirt.
His eyes found mine.
“Laura.”
“No.”
I pressed my hands against the wound.
“No, no, no.”
He tried to smile.
“Not again.”
“Don't you dare.”
His eyes fluttered.
“I'm not burying you twice.”
For the first time in three years, Michael laughed.
Weakly.
But he laughed.
Paramedics rushed in.
And while they carried him away, Agent Brooks came upstairs holding a newborn.
Emma.
The baby was alive.
Victoria Crane was in handcuffs.
But as Reed led her past me, she smiled.
“You think this ends with me?”
I stared at her.
“It ends with all of you.”
Victoria leaned closer.
“No.”
May you like
Her voice became a whisper.
“You haven't opened file zero.”
