Chapter 7 - EVELYN'S LAST WARNING
I left the hotel through the back entrance with Lily wrapped tightly against my chest. I didn't take the suitcase. I didn't take the folder. I took only the flash drive, Evelyn's key, and the documents that could fit inside my coat. Every instinct told me that whoever had found me could also find the evidence, so I needed to separate myself from it.
I drove to a small apartment that belonged to an old friend from before my marriage. She hadn't spoken to Scott in years, which made her one of the few people I trusted.
The moment I locked the door behind me, I called Evelyn again.
This time, someone answered.
But it wasn't Evelyn.
It was a man.
“Diane.”
I froze.
“Who are you?”
“You know exactly who I am.”
I didn't.
Then he said something that made my stomach drop.
“Your father-in-law knew me.”
I stared at the wall.
Evelyn had never told me much about Scott's father. He had died before Scott and I married, and every time I asked about him, Evelyn changed the subject.
“What do you want?”
“I want what belongs to my family.”
“This is my company.”
“No.”
His voice was calm.
“It was never yours.”
I felt anger rising inside me.
“Then why did you need forged documents?”
Silence.
That question had hit something.
Finally, he said,
“You've become more intelligent than Scott said you were.”
I almost laughed.
“Scott doesn't know me at all.”
“He knows enough.”
“Where is Evelyn?”
Another pause.
Then his voice lowered.
“She made one mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“She protected you.”
The call ended.
I immediately turned to my friend.
“Do you know where Evelyn lives?”
She gave me an address.
I drove there before sunrise.
The house was dark.
The front door was unlocked.
I stepped inside.
“Evelyn?”
Nothing.
The living room looked untouched, but there was a broken glass near the fireplace and a chair lying on its side.
My heart began pounding.
Then I noticed something on the table.
A photograph.
It showed Evelyn standing beside a much younger Scott.
Behind them was the garage where Scott and I had started the company.
But there was someone else in the photograph.
A man standing in the shadows.
I recognized him.
Marcus Hale.
I turned the photograph over.
There was a sentence written on the back.
“He met Scott before he met you.”
I heard a sound upstairs.
I froze.
Then footsteps moved slowly across the floor above me.
Someone was still inside the house.
I picked up the photograph and stepped backward.
The footsteps stopped.
Then a man's voice came from the hallway.
“You shouldn't have come here, Diane.”
I turned.
But nobody was there.
Only an open doorway.
And on the floor beside it was Evelyn's phone.
The screen was still glowing.
One unfinished message was visible.
“Diane, don't trust—”
The rest was cut off.
I grabbed the phone.
Then I heard the front door slam downstairs.
May you like
Someone had just entered the house.
And this time, they weren't trying to hide.
