Chapter 8 - The Husband Who Returned
Evelyn ran toward him.
Marcus caught her around the waist.
“Wait.”
“That’s my husband.”
“Something is wrong.”
Daniel continued walking.
He looked older than the man Evelyn remembered. A scar ran from his left temple to his jaw. His hair was longer, and his eyes held no warmth.
The helicopter hovered above him.
Police officers aimed their weapons.
Daniel raised one hand.
The shooters in the tree line stopped firing.
“Evelyn,” he called.
His voice broke something inside her.
She pulled away from Marcus.
“Daniel!”
He looked at her without smiling.
“Where is Sophie?”
“She’s safe.”
“You shouldn’t have brought her to the wedding.”
“You don’t get to tell me what I should have done. You let us believe you were dead.”
“I did what was necessary.”
“For whom?”
“For all of us.”
Caroline stood behind Evelyn.
“Daniel, don’t trust the people in that helicopter.”
Daniel’s gaze shifted to his sister.
“You lied to me.”
“I saved you.”
“You delivered me to them.”
“I didn’t know Reed worked for Vivian.”
The helicopter turned.
A woman appeared in the open side door.
She wore a dark green gown.
The sapphire necklace had been replaced by a narrow black ribbon around her throat.
Margaret.
Vivian.
The woman who had raised Evelyn smiled down at them.
“Bring her,” she ordered.
Daniel looked at Evelyn.
“Come with me.”
“No.”
“If you stay, more people will die.”
“Is Sophie the reason you came?”
“She has something Vivian needs.”
“The red book?”
“Not the book.”
“Then what?”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“A memory.”
Evelyn felt cold.
“She is seven.”
“So were we.”
“You’re helping Vivian continue the program?”
“I’m trying to end it.”
“By kidnapping our daughter?”
“I didn’t order that.”
“But you knew it would happen.”
Daniel did not deny it.
Caroline moved closer.
“Vivian has conditioned him.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“You don’t know anything.”
“I know she kept you for eighteen months.”
“She showed me the truth.”
“She rewrote your memory.”
“She restored it.”
Evelyn stared at the man she had mourned.
“What truth?”
Daniel looked toward the helicopter.
“Ask your mother.”
“She is not my mother.”
“No,” he said. “She isn’t.”
“Then who is?”
Before Daniel could answer, an explosion tore through the hangar office.
Fire burst across the wall.
Police officers scattered.
Daniel lunged forward and seized Evelyn.
Marcus tried to reach her, but smoke divided them.
Daniel dragged Evelyn toward the rope hanging from the helicopter.
She struck him in the ribs.
He tightened his grip.
“I’m trying to save Sophie.”
“By taking me?”
“You are the key.”
“To what?”
“To remembering where you hid Zero.”
Evelyn froze.
“You said he survived?”
“He did.”
“Where is he?”
“That’s what Vivian wants to know.”
Evelyn drove her elbow into Daniel’s injured shoulder.
He released her.
Caroline reached them.
Daniel pulled a gun from inside his coat.
Caroline stopped.
“You won’t shoot me,” she said.
“I already did once.”
Caroline’s face changed.
The helicopter descended.
Vivian extended her hand.
“Daniel.”
He looked up.
For one moment, Evelyn saw the conflict in his eyes.
Then a small voice sounded from behind them.
“Daddy?”
Sophie stood at the edge of the runway.
Detective Ortiz was running toward her.
Sophie had slipped away from the police vehicle during the explosion.
Daniel lowered the gun.
His face broke.
“Sophie.”
She took one uncertain step toward him.
“You’re alive.”
Daniel’s eyes filled with tears.
He moved toward her.
Vivian shouted from the helicopter.
“Do not approach the child.”
Daniel ignored her.
Sophie ran.
He dropped to his knees and caught her in his arms.
For a moment, he looked like the man Evelyn remembered.
He buried his face in Sophie’s hair.
“I’m sorry.”
Sophie held him tightly.
“Come home.”
Daniel looked at Evelyn over their daughter’s shoulder.
“I can’t.”
A red targeting light appeared on his chest.
Evelyn saw it first.
“Down!”
She threw herself toward Daniel and Sophie.
A shot came from the helicopter.
The bullet struck the pavement.
Daniel lifted Sophie and ran behind a police vehicle.
Vivian’s expression turned cold.
“You made your choice.”
The helicopter rose.
Daniel fired at its fuel line, but missed.
Before Vivian disappeared, she looked directly at Evelyn.
“Ask Caroline who your real mother was.”
Then the helicopter vanished beyond the trees.
Daniel placed Sophie in Evelyn’s arms.
Police surrounded him.
Ortiz ordered him to drop his weapon.
Daniel obeyed.
Caroline stared at Evelyn.
She looked terrified.
“What did Vivian mean?” Evelyn asked.
Caroline stepped backward.
“Nothing.”
“She told me to ask you.”
“This isn’t the place.”
“Who was my mother?”
Daniel answered for her.
“Beatrice Ashford.”
Evelyn turned toward him.
“The woman who supposedly died twelve years ago?”
“She didn’t die twelve years ago.”
“When did she die?”
May you like
Daniel looked toward the burning hangar.
“The night you opened Zero’s cage.”
