Chapter 3 - The Husband Who Disappeared on Purpose
The arts center was nearly empty when they arrived.
A single light burned upstairs.
Jillian ran inside.
“Cody!”
A voice answered.
“Mom?”
She nearly collapsed with relief.
Cody came down the stairs.
His backpack was still on.
He looked tired.
Scared.
But alive.
Jillian wrapped her arms around him.
“Oh, my God.”
Cody clung to her.
“I knew you'd come.”
“I've been looking everywhere.”
“I know.”
“Who brought you here?”
He glanced at Emmett.
“Him.”
Jillian looked over her son's head.
Emmett stood near the entrance.
Cody stepped back.
“Uncle Emmett said you couldn't go home.”
Jillian blinked.
“Uncle?”
Emmett raised one eyebrow.
“I didn't ask him to call me that.”
Cody shrugged.
“You look like one.”
For the first time since the night began, Jillian almost laughed.
“You're supposed to be terrified.”
“I am.”
“Then why are you making jokes?”
“Because you taught me that being scared doesn't mean you stop thinking.”
Jillian stared at him.
He had been listening.
All those years.
She hugged him again.
Then Emmett said quietly:
“We need to leave.”
Cody looked at him.
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“Are they coming?”
“They know where you were.”
Cody's face went pale.
He reached into his backpack.
“I have something.”
He pulled out a sketchbook.
Jillian recognized it.
“What's inside?”
“Places.”
“What places?”
“The ones Uncle Shawn wanted me to remember.”
Emmett stepped closer.
“Show me.”
Cody opened the book.
Page after page.
Buildings.
Street corners.
Parking lots.
Warehouse numbers.
Jillian had seen them before and thought they were drawings.
They weren't.
They were maps.
Emmett's face grew serious.
“This one.”
He pointed.
“What's this?”
“An office.”
“Why did Shawn make you draw it?”
“Because he said I was good at noticing details.”
Jillian turned the page.
A floor plan.
At the bottom was a handwritten note.
Room 18.
Emmett stared.
“That room doesn't exist anymore.”
Cody looked confused.
“It did when Uncle Shawn showed me.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
Jillian looked at Emmett.
“What was Room 18?”
He didn't answer.
“Emmett.”
“An old Bannon warehouse.”
“What happened to it?”
“Burned down.”
“When?”
“Five weeks ago.”
Cody frowned.
“That's where I drew it.”
Jillian looked at him.
“Did Shawn take you there?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To show me something.”
“What?”
Cody's eyes moved toward Emmett.
He looked frightened.
Emmett crouched so they were eye level.
“You can tell us.”
Cody swallowed.
“He showed me a box.”
“What was inside?”
“Pictures.”
“Of what?”
“People.”
“Which people?”
Cody opened the sketchbook to another page.
It showed Malcolm Bannon.
Then Dean.
Then three politicians.
Then a judge.
Then a man Jillian did not recognize.
Emmett went still.
“Who is that?”
Cody answered.
“Grandpa's friend.”
Jillian looked closer.
She recognized the man too.
She had seen him once at Malcolm's house.
He was a federal prosecutor.
“What does he have to do with this?”
Cody shrugged.
“Uncle Shawn said he was important.”
Emmett stood.
“Very.”
He pulled out his phone.
His face became darker with every second.
Jillian watched him.
“What's wrong?”
“The warehouse wasn't burned by the Bannon family.”
“Then who?”
“Someone covering evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
Emmett looked at Cody.
“The network your brother-in-law discovered.”
Jillian's expression changed.
“You keep calling it a network.”
“Because it is.”
He looked at her.
“Your family isn't one organization.”
“What is it?”
“Three.”
She stared.
“Bannon legitimate businesses.”
“Yes.”
“Illegal operations.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“The political network.”
Jillian swallowed.
“Who controls it?”
Emmett's answer was quiet.
“Your father-in-law.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Malcolm has spent twenty-five years buying influence.”
“He's a businessman.”
“He's a kingmaker.”
“And Shawn?”
“He wanted out.”
“What did he find?”
Emmett looked at Cody's sketchbook.
“Proof that Malcolm was preparing Cody to inherit the political network.”
Jillian's face drained.
“Cody?”
“He wanted to put the boy in the middle of everything.”
“He's sixteen.”
“He is also the legal heir to assets your father-in-law cannot access directly.”
“What assets?”
“Companies.”
“Money.”
“Properties.”
“Enough to make Malcolm untouchable.”
Jillian looked at Cody.
“He doesn't understand any of this.”
“I know.”
“Why would Malcolm involve him?”
“Because Shawn wouldn't let him.”
“So he killed Shawn.”
“Yes.”
“And now Malcolm wants Cody.”
“Yes.”
Jillian's hands shook.
“Then Patrick…”
Emmett said nothing.
“Patrick knows.”
“Yes.”
“He's helping you.”
“Yes.”
Jillian's voice broke.
“Why didn't he tell me?”
“Because he thought if you knew, Malcolm would use you.”
“But I deserved to know.”
“I agree.”
She looked at Emmett.
“You sound angry.”
“I am.”
“At Patrick?”
“At myself.”
“Why?”
“Because I should have forced him to tell you.”
Silence.
Then headlights appeared outside.
Cody saw them first.
“Mom.”
Jillian turned.
Three black vehicles stopped outside the arts center.
Emmett pulled his gun.
“Back door.”
“Cody.”
“I have him.”
They ran.
The building erupted with footsteps.
Someone shouted.
“Find the boy!”
Emmett pushed Jillian through a side exit.
They ran behind the building.
A bullet struck the brick wall beside her.
She screamed.
Emmett covered her with his body.
“Keep moving.”
They reached the SUV.
Cody was already inside.
Jillian climbed in.
Emmett followed.
The driver accelerated.
A vehicle pursued them.
“Hold on,” Emmett said.
The chase lasted seven minutes.
Two cars followed.
One spun out.
The second stayed.
Emmett looked at the driver.
“Bridge.”
The SUV crossed a bridge over the river.
Jillian looked behind.
The pursuing car was gone.
“Did we lose them?”
“No.”
Emmett's expression hardened.
“They wanted us to think we did.”
An hour later, they reached a hidden lake house.
Cody fell asleep almost immediately.
Jillian sat on the porch.
Emmett stood nearby.
“Thank you.”
He looked at her.
“For what?”
“For keeping him alive.”
“He made that easy.”
“He trusts you.”
“He shouldn't.”
“Why?”
“Because he knows too much.”
Jillian stared at the water.
“Tell me about Patrick.”
Emmett sat beside her.
“Your husband came to me three days before Shawn died.”
“What did he say?”
“He said Malcolm had ordered Shawn killed.”
Jillian closed her eyes.
“He had evidence?”
“Yes.”
“What kind?”
“A recording.”
“Do you have it?”
“No.”
“Who does?”
“Patrick.”
“Where is he?”
Emmett looked away.
“He was taken.”
Jillian's heart stopped.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“By whom?”
“Your father-in-law.”
She stood.
“Then we have to get him.”
“We will.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
“No.”
She looked at Emmett.
“Now.”
He stared.
“You're not a soldier.”
“I’m his wife.”
“You are Cody's mother.”
“Exactly.”
Her voice hardened.
“I'm done waiting for men to decide what happens to my family.”
Emmett looked at her for several seconds.
Then a faint smile appeared.
“You sound like your mother-in-law.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
He stood.
“Get some sleep.”
“I don't want to sleep.”
“I know.”
She looked at him.
“What did you mean?”
Emmett paused.
“Your husband didn't marry you because you were easy to control.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means Patrick knew you would fight.”
He walked toward the house.
Jillian watched him.
Then she remembered something.
“What did Patrick ask you to do if things went wrong?”
Emmett stopped.
“Keep you alive.”
“And?”
“He asked me to do one other thing.”
“What?”
Emmett turned.
“Make sure you never hated him for what he was about to do.”
Jillian felt tears rise.
“What was he about to do?”
“Leave you.”
“Why?”
“To make Malcolm believe he had chosen the family.”
She stared.
“He sacrificed himself.”
“Yes.”
“For us.”
“Yes.”
“And now he's being held captive.”
“Yes.”
Jillian nodded.
Then she smiled through tears.
“Let's bring him home.”
Emmett's eyes met hers.
“Tomorrow.”
“No.”
She stepped toward him.
“Tonight.”
This time, Emmett didn't argue.
Because he understood something he had been trying not to acknowledge.
Jillian Bannon was no longer the frightened woman who climbed into his car.
She was becoming something much more dangerous.
May you like
A woman with nothing left to lose.
And Emmett Carbone had just decided he would help her burn the Bannon empire to the ground.
