Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN WHO REFUSED TO RUN
Sophie found Anthony in the penthouse kitchen at sunrise.
He was sitting alone.
His shirt was stained with blood.
His face looked empty.
“Anthony?”
He didn't answer.
She approached slowly.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Whose blood?”
He looked down.
“My brother's.”
Sophie pulled out a chair.
“I'm sorry.”
Anthony rubbed his face.
“Frank betrayed me.”
“Did he tell you why?”
“He wanted power. Money. Everything.”
“And Caleb?”
Anthony looked up sharply.
“Who told you about Caleb?”
“No one. I heard Marcus talking on the phone.”
Anthony stood.
“You need to leave.”
Sophie blinked.
“What?”
“This situation is becoming more dangerous. I can arrange a flight. Somewhere safe. You and your mother can start over.”
“No.”
“Sophie.”
“No.”
His voice hardened.
“You don't understand what you're dealing with.”
“I understand that everyone around you keeps deciding what happens to me.”
“This isn't a discussion.”
“Then stop pretending it's about protecting me.”
Anthony stared at her.
She stepped closer.
“You saved me because you thought I was helpless. But I'm not. My father was murdered. My brother disappeared. My mother was attacked. And the people responsible are connected to the same man I've worked for every night.”
Anthony said nothing.
“I am not leaving until I know what happened to my father.”
“You could die.”
“So could you.”
The words struck him.
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then he sat down.
For the first time, he allowed himself to look tired.
Sophie placed a cup of coffee in front of him.
“Tell me about Catherine.”
Anthony glanced up.
“Why?”
“Because I think you're still carrying something you don't know how to put down.”
He stared at the coffee.
“She used to leave notes in my jacket pockets. Little things. Reminders to eat lunch. To come home early. Once, she wrote that she was going to steal my most expensive watch because I loved it more than her.”
Sophie smiled faintly.
“What did you do?”
“I bought her a watch.”
Sophie laughed.
Anthony almost smiled.
Then his expression changed.
“I never told her I was afraid of losing her.”
“Maybe she knew.”
“I should have told her.”
“You still can.”
He looked at her.
Sophie reached across the table and rested her fingers beside his hand.
Not on it.
Beside it.
Anthony understood the difference.
He had spent twelve years believing that moving forward meant betraying Catherine.
But perhaps it meant honoring the life she had wanted him to keep living.
His phone vibrated.
An encrypted message.
Caleb.
I know where Kessler is holding Evan. Come alone.
Anthony showed Sophie.
She went pale.
“That's my brother.”
“I know.”
“Then we're going.”
“No.”
“Anthony—”
“I'm not taking you into a hostage situation.”
Sophie stood.
“Evan is my family.”
Anthony looked at her for a long moment.
Then he called Marcus.
“Prepare the vehicles.”
Sophie exhaled.
“Thank you.”
“Don't thank me yet.”
At the abandoned warehouse in Brooklyn, they found Evan tied to a metal chair.
His face was bruised.
His hands were shaking.
Sophie rushed toward him.
“Evan!”
He looked up.
“Soph?”
She knelt beside him.
Anthony watched the entrance.
Something was wrong.
The warehouse was too quiet.
No guards.
No visible cameras.
No Caleb.
Then the lights came on.
A slow clap echoed through the building.
Raymond Kessler stepped out from behind a concrete pillar.
Beside him stood Victor Hale.
And behind them was a woman Anthony had not seen in twelve years.
Catherine's younger sister.
Margaret.
Alive.
“Hello, Anthony,” she said.
Then she smiled at Sophie.
May you like
“You have no idea how long we've waited for you.”
---
