Chapter 4 - The Bride Who Was Never Supposed to Escape
Evelyn Ashcroft disappeared from the estate at 8:17 p.m.
No cameras showed her leaving.
No car was missing.
No security alarm had sounded.
She had simply vanished.
Mave refused to believe it was random.
Grayson agreed.
“She was frightened before the ceremony,” Mave said.
“She was frightened because her father threatened her.”
“Then maybe he took her.”
“He did.”
Mave frowned.
“You know that already?”
Grayson stared at the security monitor.
“Because he left a message.”
A photograph appeared on the screen.
Evelyn was sitting inside a dark room.
Her hands were tied.
A clock appeared behind her.
Under the picture was a single line.
MIDNIGHT. BRING THE SPARROW.
Mave’s heart sank.
“They want me.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Grayson looked at her.
“I wasn't asking.”
She stepped closer.
“You are not deciding what I do.”
For the first time, something like amusement crossed his face.
“You've known me less than a day and already argue like Juniper.”
“Maybe she trained me well.”
“She did.”
He looked away.
Mave noticed the pain in his expression.
“You loved her.”
Grayson took several seconds before answering.
“She was the closest thing I had to a mother.”
That changed something between them.
Mave looked down.
“She was everything to me.”
Grayson nodded.
“I know.”
“What did she tell you about me?”
“Nothing she did not want me to know.”
“Then how can you trust me?”
“I don't.”
Mave's eyes narrowed.
“That is an honest answer.”
“I trust Juniper.”
He held up the memory card.
“She trusted you.”
Mave looked at him.
“And if she's wrong?”
“Then we're both dead.”
The meeting point was an abandoned ferry terminal.
Grayson insisted Mave stay behind.
She ignored him.
Daniel tried to stop her.
She ignored him too.
At midnight, they entered the terminal.
Evelyn sat in a chair under a single lamp.
Nathan Ashcroft stood behind her.
Adrian Rourke stood beside him.
Mave saw several armed men in the shadows.
Nathan smiled.
“Mr. Hail.”
Grayson stepped forward.
“You wanted me.”
“No.”
Nathan looked toward Mave.
“We wanted her.”
Mave took out the pendant.
“This?”
Adrian's eyes fixed on it.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Adrian said, “Because your aunt stole something from us.”
Mave laughed bitterly.
“You mean evidence.”
“Call it what you like.”
Nathan raised a gun toward Evelyn.
“Give us the pendant.”
Mave removed it.
Grayson moved instantly.
“Don't.”
Mave looked at him.
Then quietly dropped the pendant.
Adrian stepped forward.
A man picked it up.
He handed it to Adrian.
Adrian opened the silver sparrow.
His face changed.
“Empty.”
Mave smiled.
“Exactly.”
Adrian looked at Grayson.
“Where is the card?”
Grayson answered, “Somewhere you will never find.”
Adrian's calm disappeared.
He pulled the gun from Nathan's hand.
Nathan looked shocked.
“Adrian?”
“You're finished.”
Adrian shot Nathan in the shoulder.
Evelyn screamed.
Men rushed forward.
Grayson moved faster than anyone.
He knocked down one attacker and pulled Evelyn behind a concrete barrier.
Mave ran toward Adrian.
He grabbed her.
“Where is it?”
She kicked his knee.
He tightened his grip.
Then Grayson appeared.
Adrian held Mave against him.
“One move and she dies.”
Grayson stopped.
Adrian smiled.
“There he is.”
“What?”
“The monster everyone fears.”
Grayson’s eyes became empty.
“Let her go.”
“Give me the card.”
“No.”
Adrian pressed the weapon closer.
Mave whispered, “Look at his left hand.”
Grayson glanced.
Adrian's left hand was trembling.
Mave had noticed.
Fear.
He was afraid.
Not of Grayson.
Of something behind him.
She looked past Adrian.
Evelyn's younger brother, Luke, stood in the shadows holding a small recording device.
Adrian saw him.
His expression collapsed.
Luke pressed a button.
Adrian's earlier conversation began playing through the terminal.
He had confessed everything.
The payments.
The planted evidence.
The fake federal agents.
The orders to kill Mave.
Nathan's voice was captured too.
Adrian released Mave.
Grayson seized him.
Seconds later, real federal agents entered.
This time they were led by an FBI supervisor named Helen Ward.
She had been investigating corruption inside the task force for months.
Adrian was arrested.
Nathan was arrested from the hospital.
Evelyn was free.
Mave should have felt relieved.
Instead, she felt suddenly exhausted.
She looked at Grayson.
He was bleeding from a cut above his eyebrow.
“Are you okay?”
He nodded.
“You?”
She nodded.
Then Evelyn approached.
“I owe you both my life.”
Mave smiled faintly.
“You saved me first.”
Evelyn looked toward Grayson.
“Why did you marry me?”
Grayson answered, “Because your father demanded it.”
Evelyn's expression softened.
“You knew?”
“I knew you were afraid.”
“Why didn't you stop it?”
“Because I thought marrying you would keep your father from using you.”
Evelyn looked down at her ring.
“Then I’m glad you never loved me.”
Grayson looked at Mave.
“I don't know about that.”
Mave's heart skipped.
Evelyn noticed.
She smiled.
Then quietly removed her wedding ring.
“We were never really married in the way people think.”
“What?”
“The legal documents were never filed.”
Grayson frowned.
Evelyn gave him a tired smile.
“My father arranged the ceremony. You were never legally bound to me.”
Mave stared.
May you like
The wedding had been a lie.
Yet somehow, that lie had led them here.
