Chapter 7 - SADIE STOPS RUNNING
Mara survived.
The bullet passed through her shoulder without hitting an artery.
Thomas had gotten the drives.
But not the notebook.
Sadie had shoved it beneath her sweatshirt when the lights failed.
At the hospital, Ronan stood outside Mara's room staring through the glass.
“This happened because I hesitated.”
Sadie leaned against the wall.
“No. It happened because Thomas shot her.”
“I should have ended this at Pier 19.”
“You promised me.”
“I know.”
“Do you regret it?”
Ronan turned.
“Yes.”
Sadie's face changed.
“I regret that keeping the promise put Mara in danger,” he continued. “I don't regret giving it to you.”
That mattered.
More than Sadie wanted it to.
Evelyn arrived before dawn.
The notebook was enough to open a federal corruption investigation.
But Thomas still had copies of the evidence.
And he had begun releasing selected pieces online.
Enough to create panic.
Not enough to reveal himself.
By noon, two city officials had resigned.
A judge was under investigation.
Three police officers had disappeared.
And Carl Jenkins was sitting in federal custody offering to testify in exchange for immunity.
Sadie laughed when she heard.
“Of course.”
“He can implicate Thomas,” Evelyn said.
“He'll lie.”
“Probably.”
“Then let me talk to him.”
Ronan immediately said, “No.”
Sadie turned.
Evelyn raised an eyebrow.
Ronan corrected himself.
“I think that's a terrible idea.”
“Better.”
Sadie faced Evelyn.
“Can I?”
Two hours later, she sat across bulletproof glass from Carl.
He looked smaller.
That was the first thing she noticed.
Without the apartment around him, without his badge and gun, without darkness and locked doors, Carl was simply a tired man with angry eyes.
He smiled.
“Baby.”
Sadie felt nothing.
That surprised her.
“You look good.”
She picked up the phone.
Carl did the same.
“You've gotten yourself mixed up with dangerous people.”
Sadie almost smiled.
“So have you.”
His expression tightened.
“Hayes will destroy you.”
“No.”
“You don't know men like him.”
“I know men like you.”
Carl's jaw flexed.
There he was.
The monster she remembered.
But the glass remained between them.
“You think you're strong now because he's standing outside?”
Carl asked.
Sadie glanced toward the door.
Ronan wasn't there.
She had asked him to stay at the hospital with Mara.
“No.”
Carl's smile faded.
“Where is he?”
“Not here.”
For the first time, uncertainty entered Carl's face.
Sadie leaned closer.
“You need to understand something. I didn't leave because Ronan rescued me.”
Carl said nothing.
“I left because one night somebody looked at my face and refused to pretend he didn't see it.”
Her voice remained steady.
“But I walked through the door.”
Carl's hand tightened around the receiver.
“You'll come back.”
“No.”
“You always do.”
“Not this time.”
Sadie placed a photograph against the glass.
The two previous women.
Carl's face drained.
“Where did you get that?”
“Thomas kept records.”
“Sadie—”
“You're going to testify.”
“Go to hell.”
“Then Evelyn releases everything.”
Carl stared at her.
“You don't have the guts.”
Sadie smiled.
He didn't recognize her anymore.
That was the greatest victory of her life.
“Try me.”
She hung up.
Carl began shouting as she walked away.
She never turned around.
That evening Carl signed a cooperation agreement.
His testimony revealed Thomas's final leverage.
A private server inside an abandoned hotel in Atlantic City contained years of blackmail material.
Thomas planned to sell it overseas within forty-eight hours.
Federal agents moved.
The server was empty.
Thomas had anticipated Carl.
But he made one mistake.
Again.
He contacted Sadie.
A message appeared on her phone at 9:06 p.m.
You think Hayes saved you? Ask him what happened to your father.
Sadie stared.
Her father had died when she was eleven.
A warehouse accident.
At least, that was what her mother had always told her.
Another message arrived.
A photograph.
Her father stood outside a shipping warehouse.
Beside him was Ronan's father.
Sadie's blood went cold.
Ronan entered the room and saw her face.
“What?”
She handed him the phone.
He stared at the photograph.
Sadie watched recognition spread across his features.
“You know him.”
Ronan didn't answer quickly enough.
“You know my father.”
“Yes.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“How?”
Ronan looked at her.
“Because your father was the man who tried to help my mother escape.”
May you like
Sadie stopped breathing.
“And three days later,” Ronan said quietly, “he was dead.”
