Chapter 6 - The Secret Lucas Had Been Hiding
Lucas didn't deny it.
When I asked about his father's death, he simply said:
"I suspected something for years."
We were sitting in his private office.
I had the black envelope between us.
"What did you suspect?"
"My father wasn't sick when he died."
I stared.
"Then what happened?"
"The official story was a heart attack."
"And you don't believe it."
"I found discrepancies."
"What kind?"
He opened an old file.
"His medications were altered."
My stomach tightened.
"Similar to what happened to you."
"Yes."
I looked at him.
"Did Thomas do it?"
"I don't know."
"What about your father and my father?"
Lucas showed me another document.
"My father had planned to expose Thomas."
"And my father helped him."
"Yes."
"Then both of them were threats."
Lucas nodded.
"That's what I believe."
I looked down.
"My mother knew?"
"Possibly."
"Why would she never tell me?"
"To protect you."
I closed my eyes.
Everyone had been protecting me by keeping me in the dark.
I was beginning to hate secrets.
Then Lucas reached across the desk.
"Bailey."
I looked at him.
"I should have told you sooner."
"You didn't know whether it was true."
"Still."
I smiled faintly.
"You're learning."
He laughed.
Then the door opened.
Natalie rushed inside.
"Lucas."
"What happened?"
"Thomas has contacted the board."
Lucas stood.
"What does he want?"
"Control."
The board meeting was called immediately.
Thomas appeared through a video conference.
His face was calm.
He looked directly at me.
"Bailey."
I felt a chill.
"You should not have gotten involved."
Lucas stepped forward.
"You're finished."
Thomas smiled.
"Not yet."
He held up a file.
"Your father established an emergency succession clause."
Lucas froze.
"What?"
"If you are medically incapacitated, control transfers temporarily to the board."
"And you're on the board."
"Yes."
Lucas's eyes hardened.
Thomas looked at me.
"Your father trusted my judgment."
"No," I said. "My father trusted the truth."
Thomas laughed.
"You sound just like him."
That was a mistake.
Because I suddenly remembered something.
My father had once told me:
"If anyone ever tells you I died in an accident, ask about the blue train."
I had forgotten for years.
Now I understood.
"The blue train," I whispered.
Lucas looked at me.
"What?"
"My father said something about it."
Thomas's face changed.
Only for a second.
But I saw it.
So did Lucas.
"What is the blue train?" Lucas asked.
Thomas ended the connection.
We began searching my mother's belongings.
At the back of an old storage box was a train ticket.
Blue Line.
Chicago.
A date.
Six days before my father's death.
Lucas stared at it.
"He met someone."
"Who?"
The ticket number matched a station locker.
We found it the next morning.
Inside was a flash drive.
The files contained videos.
My father had recorded meetings.
Thomas.
Lucas's father.
Several executives.
And one name appeared repeatedly.
Evelyn Grant.
I knew the name.
Lucas did too.
His aunt.
She had died years before.
"She couldn't have been involved," he said.
"Why not?"
"Because she was on my father's side."
We watched the final video.
Evelyn was arguing with Thomas.
"You've gone too far."
Thomas replied:
"You knew this would happen."
"I won't let you hurt them."
"You don't have a choice."
The video ended.
Then another file opened automatically.
A voice recording.
My mother's voice.
I covered my mouth.
She was crying.
"If you're hearing this, Thomas has already found the documents."
Lucas stared at the screen.
My mother continued.
"Bailey doesn't know. Please don't tell her unless there is no other choice."
Her voice broke.
"She deserves a life that isn't defined by this."
I started crying.
Then she said:
"There is one person you can trust."
A name.
Lucas.
I looked at him.
He looked stunned.
"My father."
She had recorded this before Lucas ever met me.
"He will protect her because your father made a promise to mine."
The recording ended.
Lucas sat down.
For several seconds he couldn't speak.
Then he looked at me.
"My father knew about you."
"Apparently."
"And he planned to protect you."
"He failed."
Lucas shook his head.
"No."
He stood.
"He kept part of that promise."
He stepped toward me.
"I'm here."
My heart broke open.
I didn't kiss him because I was scared.
He didn't pressure me.
He simply held me.
And in his arms, for the first time since my mother died, I cried without feeling like I had to apologize for it.
But that night, the truth nearly cost us everything.
The car brakes failed.
We were driving through downtown when Lucas pressed the pedal.
Nothing happened.
The vehicle accelerated toward an intersection.
I grabbed the dashboard.
"Lucas!"
He swerved.
The car crashed through a barrier and slammed into a snowbank.
Airbags exploded.
Silence.
Lucas turned toward me.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
He was bleeding from the forehead.
I touched his face.
"We're alive."
He stared at me.
Then smiled weakly.
"Apparently you really don't let me die."
I laughed through tears.
"Not tonight."
Sirens approached.
May you like
And somewhere in the city, Thomas Reed realized something terrifying.
The two people he had tried to separate had become the two people most capable of destroying him.
