Chapter 3 - The Price of Silence
The phone went dead.
Norah stared out the window, her world spinning. Danny? Her sweet, quiet brother who spent his days hooked up to a machine? He had set up a little girl to be murdered?
She turned around to see Danny walking down the hall toward her, looking exhausted.
"Danny," she whispered, grabbing his arm and pulling him into her room, locking the door behind them. "What did you do?"
Danny’s face crumbled. He fell to his knees, burying his face in his hands. "Norah, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I got in deep with some bad people. They were going to cut off my treatments. They said they just wanted to kidnap the Vane girl for ransom. They didn't say they were going to kill her!"
"You put a child in danger!" Norah cried, tears streaming down her face. "I almost died saving her! The only reason we are in this house is because Stellan thinks we are victims!"
"If Stellan finds out, he'll kill me, Norah," Danny sobbed, grabbing her knees. "You don't know what he does to people who betray him. Please, you have to help me. They want his ledger. It has all his bank accounts, his routes, his contacts. If we give it to them, they'll clear my debt and let us go."
"And what happens to Stellan? To Mia?" Norah asked, her heart breaking. "They will kill them, Danny."
"It's them or me!" Danny cried.
Norah stood in the center of the room, torn in half. On one side was her brother, the only family she had left, the boy she had spent her entire life protecting. On the other side was a innocent little girl who called her a mermaid, and a man whose dark, protective gaze made her feel a dangerous spark she had never felt before.
"I'll get it," Norah whispered, the betrayal tasting like ash in her mouth.
Late that night, the estate fell silent. Norah slipped out of her room, wearing dark clothing. She crept down the grand staircase, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird.
She knew where Stellan's private study was. She had seen him walk in there earlier.
The door was unlocked. She slipped inside, the room smelling of leather, mahogany, and expensive whiskey.
She located the safe behind a painting of the Chicago skyline. She didn't know the code, but she remembered seeing Stellan enter it earlier from the hallway. 0-8-1-2-1-1. The date his wife died.
The safe clicked open.
Inside lay a thick, leather-bound book. The ledger.
Norah reached out, her fingers trembling as she grabbed it.
"Looking for something?"
May you like
The lights snapped on.
Stellan Vane stood in the doorway. He wasn't wearing his shirt anymore, and in his hand was a sleek black handgun, pointed directly at her chest.
