Chapter 7
I froze.
“What did you do?”
Rebecca stepped into the light.
She was holding Noah by the arm.
He was crying.
There was tape over his mouth.
“Let him go!”
“Not so fast,” Rebecca said. She was holding a gun. Pointed right at Noah’s head. “Drop the duffel. Kick it over here.”
I dropped the bag.
Kicked it across the concrete floor.
It slid to her feet.
She looked down at it.
“Good girl. Now—”
The warehouse doors burst open.
“POLICE! HANDS UP!”
Rebecca spun around.
She tightened her grip on Noah.
The gun pressed harder against his temple.
“STAY BACK! Or I’ll kill him!”
I saw Marcus and Dad run in behind the officers.
Dad’s face was white.
Marcus had his own gun drawn.
“Rebecca,” Detective Alvarez said calmly. She was in front, her weapon aimed but steady. “Put the gun down. Let the boy go. There’s no way out of this.”
Rebecca laughed.
Crazy.
Wild.
“You think I care? Melissa’s life is over because of these brats. I’ve got nothing left to lose.”
She looked at me.
“This is all your fault, Emma. If you’d just kept your mouth shut, none of this would have happened. You and your brother would have grown up, gotten over it. Life goes on. But you just had to be the hero.”
Noah was whimpering.
Tears streamed down his face.
“Please,” I said. “Let him go. Take the money. Take it all. Just let him go.”
Rebecca smiled.
“Too late for that, honey.”
She started backing toward the back of the warehouse.
Dragging Noah with her.
“I’m leaving here with the boy. And if anyone follows me, I blow his brains out all over this nice concrete floor.”
“Rebecca—” Detective Alvarez started.
“NO!”
Everyone froze.
It was Noah.
He’d somehow gotten his hands free enough to yank the tape off his mouth.
And then he did the bravest thing I’ve ever seen.
He bit Rebecca’s hand.
Hard.
She screamed.
The gun went off.
*BANG.*
The bullet hit the ceiling.
Noah twisted free.
He ran.
Straight toward me.
Rebecca raised the gun again.
Aimed at his back.
*BANG.*
Two shots this time.
One from Rebecca.
One from Marcus.
Rebecca’s bullet hit the floor inches from Noah’s feet.
Marcus’s hit her in the shoulder.
She dropped the gun.
Went down screaming.
Three officers were on her in a second.
Cuffs on.
Dragged away.
I caught Noah.
He slammed into my chest so hard we both fell down.
“I got you,” I sobbed. “I got you, bug. You’re safe. You’re so safe.”
Dad was there in a second.
He pulled both of us into his arms.
Marcus knelt down beside us.
He was still holding his gun.
His hand was steady.
“Told you I didn’t miss,” he said.
Later, at the hospital, the doctor checked Noah over.
No physical injuries.
Just scrapes on his knees from running.
And a lot of fear.
But also… something else.
Pride.
“I bit her,” he told the doctor. “Hard. Like a alligator.”
The doctor laughed.
“Sounds like you were very brave.”
Detective Alvarez came in to see us.
She was holding the duffel bag.
“Your money,” she said, setting it on the table. “All accounted for. And Rebecca is in custody. No bail this time. She’s facing kidnapping, attempted murder, assault on a police officer… she’ll be in prison for the rest of her life. Both sisters, gone. You’re safe now. All of you.”
She looked at Marcus.
“Nice shot, by the way. Army?”
“Ten years. 75th Ranger.”
Detective Alvarez nodded.
“Explains it. Don’t worry about the weapon. We’ll verify your permit and get it back to you. Clean shoot. She was about to kill a child. No grand jury in the world would indict.”
She left.
Dad looked at the duffel bag.
Then at me.
“You never told me about this.”
I pulled Mom’s letter from my pocket.
Handed it to him.
“Mom wrote it. She… she was worried about you. About us. She wanted to make sure we’d be okay if something went wrong.”
Dad read the letter.
When he finished, he cried.
Not quiet tears.
Big, heaving sobs.
He’d lost Mom twice now.
Once to cancer.
Once to the realization that she’d known he’d fail.
“I’m so sorry, Sarah,” he whispered to the letter. “I’m so sorry I didn’t listen.”
Marcus put a hand on his shoulder.
“She knew you’d try, Daniel. That’s why she left the safety net. Not because she thought you were weak. Because she knew the world was cruel. And she loved you both too much to leave you exposed.”
That night, we went back to the little blue house.
Marcus stayed.
He slept on the couch.
Said he wasn’t going anywhere until we were all one hundred percent sure Rebecca and Melissa couldn’t hurt us again.
I lay in bed that night, staring at the ceiling.
Noah was asleep in the other bed.
He’d insisted on sleeping with the door open.
And the hall light on.
And Marcus’s door open too.
I didn’t blame him.
I thought about everything that had happened.
The two years with Melissa.
The phone call.
The arrest.
Rebecca.
The warehouse.
The gunshots.
Mom’s letter.
The money.
Uncle Marcus.
It felt like a lifetime had passed since that afternoon in the kitchen.
Since Melissa had dragged me across the floor by my hair.
Since Noah had been brave enough to call 911.
I thought about what Mom had written.
*Be brave, my girl. The world needs more people like you.*
I was trying.
God, I was trying.
But I was so tired of being brave.
I just wanted to be sixteen.
To worry about boys and homework and what clothes to wear.
To not have to think about guns and prisons and safety deposit boxes.
I heard a soft knock on my door.
Marcus stood in the doorway.
“Can’t sleep?”
I shook my head.
He came in and sat on the edge of my bed.
“Me neither. Haven’t slept this good in years, actually. Knowing you kids are safe.”
He looked around the room.
“Sarah would’ve loved this house. She always wanted something small. Cozy. Said big houses were just more to clean.”
I smiled.
“I don’t remember much about her. Just bits and pieces. Her laugh. The way she sang off-key in the car. How her hugs felt.”
Marcus’s eyes got shiny.
“She had the best laugh. Loud. Honest. When Sarah laughed, the whole room laughed with her.”
He pulled his wallet out.
Handed me a photo.
Mom at twenty.
Standing on a beach.
Wind in her hair.
Smiling like she didn’t have a care in the world.
“You can keep it,” he said.
“Thank you.”
We sat in silence for a while.
“Marcus?”
“Yeah, kiddo?”
“What happens now?”
He sighed.
“Well. The trials are gonna take months. Maybe a year. Melissa and Rebecca will both go away for a very long time. Your dad’s gonna have to figure out the money situation—though with what Sarah left, that should be easier. And you kids… you’re gonna heal. It won’t be fast. It won’t be easy. Some days you’ll think you’re over it, and the next day you’ll be right back in that kitchen or that warehouse. But you will get better. I promise.”
“Are you staying?” I asked quietly.
Marcus looked at me.
“You want me to?”
I nodded.
“Dad needs help. Noah needs… someone. I need someone. We’re family, right?”
Marcus smiled.
The first real smile I’d seen from him.
“We’re family, Emma. Blood of my blood. And I’m not going anywhere. Not until you tell me to.”
He stood up to leave.
“Marcus?”
“Yeah?”
“Mom would’ve been glad you came.”
He stopped in the doorway.
May you like
His shoulders shook a little.
“Go to sleep, Emma. Tomorrow’s a new day.”
