Chapter 7 - THE SECOND BETRAYAL
"Give me your phone."
Travis stared at me.
"What?"
"Give it to me."
"Emily—"
"Now."
He hesitated.
That was enough.
I stepped back.
"You've been talking to Madison."
"It's not what you think."
"Then show me."
He unlocked the phone.
There were seventeen messages.
Madison had been contacting him since the hospital.
Most were angry.
Some begged him to come back.
But the latest conversation was different.
Madison: I found what Dad hid.
Travis: Don't touch anything.
Madison: She doesn't know yet.
Travis: Where are you?
Madison: Rose's house.
I looked at him.
"What did she find?"
"I don't know."
"You didn't tell me."
"I was about to."
"When?"
"After I knew whether she was lying."
I shoved the phone back at him.
"Everybody keeps deciding what I should know."
"Emily—"
"I'm done with that."
I called Coleman.
Police raced to Rose's house.
Madison wasn't there.
But the basement floor had been torn open.
Underneath was an empty metal compartment.
Whatever Rose had hidden there was gone.
Madison had taken it.
Her phone was off.
Her car was abandoned six miles away.
Then Mom called me.
She was screaming.
"Emily!"
"What happened?"
"It's Madison."
"What about her?"
"Someone took her."
A video had been sent to Mom.
Madison was tied to a chair.
Her mouth was taped.
A man stood behind her.
Victor Hale.
He was seventy-one.
Silver-haired.
Elegant.
He looked like someone's grandfather.
He smiled into the camera.
"Emily."
My stomach turned.
"If you want your sister alive, bring me the jade pendant."
The video ended.
Mom collapsed.
"You have to give it to him."
I stared at her.
"Mom."
"Please."
"That pendant contains evidence."
"I don't care!"
Of course she didn't.
"It's Madison!"
Three words.
Three familiar words.
It's Madison.
Madison always mattered more.
Even now.
Even after she had tried to kill me.
I felt something inside me become strangely calm.
"Police will handle it."
Mom grabbed my arm.
"You selfish little bitch."
Travis stepped between us.
Mom screamed.
"She's your sister!"
I looked at her.
"When Dad held my wrists down while Madison raised that wrench, did you remember I was her sister?"
Mom went silent.
I pulled my arm away.
"I hope Madison comes home safely."
"But I won't hand a murderer evidence to buy her back."
Coleman agreed.
Instead, investigators created a replica pendant.
They arranged an exchange.
Victor chose an abandoned rail warehouse.
I wasn't supposed to go.
I went anyway.
Hidden in an armored surveillance van, I watched through cameras.
Travis delivered the fake pendant.
Victor appeared.
Madison was with him.
But she wasn't tied up.
She wasn't injured.
She walked freely beside him.
My stomach dropped.
Travis froze.
Victor smiled.
Then Madison kissed him on the cheek.
The kidnapping had been fake.
My sister had joined him.
Madison looked directly toward the hidden camera.
Somehow, she knew exactly where I was.
Then she smiled.
And held up a folder.
Across the front were the words:
HALE FAMILY TRUST.
Victor's voice came through Travis's microphone.
"Your sister finally understands something you don't, Emily."
May you like
"This was never about family."
"It was always about who inherits the empire."
