Chapter 7 - RACHEL'S CONFESSION
Trevor released Sadie immediately.
Roman didn't touch him.
That frightened Trevor more.
"You set me up."
Sadie rubbed her wrist.
"No."
She looked toward the cameras hidden throughout the warehouse.
"You set yourself up."
Trevor looked around.
His face collapsed.
The flash drive was still in his hand.
Roman held out his palm.
"Give it to her."
Trevor laughed.
"Go to hell."
Roman shrugged.
"Keep it."
Trevor blinked.
Roman continued.
"We already copied it."
Trevor looked at the drive.
Then toward the ceiling.
"You hacked it?"
"No."
A woman's voice came from behind him.
"I did."
Trevor turned.
Rachel Monroe stepped from a side office.
Sadie gasped.
Rachel looked thinner.
Older.
Exhausted.
But alive.
"Rachel."
Sadie ran toward her.
They collided in an embrace.
Rachel started crying immediately.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"Everything."
Trevor backed toward the exit.
Two security officers blocked him.
Rachel looked at him.
"He paid me."
Sadie slowly released her.
"What?"
"Seventy-five thousand dollars."
Rachel wiped her face.
"To testify that you stole from him."
Sadie went silent.
"I never did it."
Rachel's voice cracked.
"I took the money, but I couldn't go through with it."
"That's why you disappeared?"
"I was scared."
"Of Trevor?"
Rachel looked at Roman.
"No."
"Of Grant."
Roman's expression sharpened.
Rachel continued.
"Trevor isn't running this."
Trevor shouted, "Shut up!"
Rachel flinched.
Sadie stepped between them.
"No."
Her voice was cold.
"She gets to talk."
Rachel breathed shakily.
"Grant found Trevor years ago."
"He told him who you were."
"Who my father was?"
"Yes."
"He wanted Trevor close to you."
"Why?"
Rachel looked at the flash drive.
"Because they thought your father gave your mother evidence before he died."
Sadie remembered Helen's fear.
"So Trevor dated me to search for it."
Rachel nodded.
"At first."
Sadie stared at Trevor.
"At first?"
Trevor looked away.
Rachel answered.
"Then he became obsessed with controlling you."
Sadie felt something strange.
Not heartbreak.
That had died years ago.
Grief.
Grief for the young woman who had blamed herself.
Every fight.
Every accusation.
Every night Trevor demanded to know where she had been.
He hadn't been jealous.
He had been searching.
Sadie looked at him.
"You never loved me."
Trevor laughed bitterly.
"Love?"
He shook his head.
"You were broke."
"You were nobody."
Roman took one step forward.
Sadie raised her hand.
Roman stopped.
This belonged to her.
Trevor continued.
"You think this billionaire fantasy changes what you are?"
Sadie looked at him calmly.
"No."
"It changed what you think you are."
"No, Trevor."
She stepped closer.
"Roman didn't change what I am."
Trevor scoffed.
Sadie smiled.
"He just loved me long enough for me to remember."
Trevor's face twisted.
He lunged for the flash drive.
Rachel screamed.
Roman moved.
But Sadie moved first.
She caught Trevor's wrist.
Twisted.
The drive hit the concrete.
Trevor swung toward her.
Roman grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against a steel column.
Everything stopped.
Roman's voice was almost a whisper.
"You kicked her once."
Trevor struggled.
Roman tightened his grip.
"You grabbed her twice."
His eyes were black.
"There will not be a third time."
"Roman."
Sadie's voice.
That was all it took.
Roman released him.
Trevor collapsed forward coughing.
Sadie picked up the drive.
Sirens approached outside.
Trevor looked up.
"You called the police?"
Sadie slipped the drive into her pocket.
"No."
Rachel did.
Trevor's face went white.
But before the police entered, Rachel whispered something to Sadie.
"Grant knows where your mother lives."
Sadie's heart stopped.
Her phone rang.
Roman answered his.
Both calls came at the same time.
May you like
Roman looked at Sadie.
"Your mother's house is on fire."
