Chapter 22 - David
DAVID
The vault door slammed shut with a deafening clang.
Everything happened at once.
Milly moved like a striking snake. One second she was standing beside William, the next she had Calvin on the ground, her knee in his back, twisting his arm at an angle that made him cry out in pain.
Nolan was there in a flash, helping restrain him.
“Lila!” Mia screamed.
She and Eve rushed toward the small glass window in the vault door.
“No...” Mia’s voice was breaking, raw with terror.
David moved forward, his heart in his throat. “Let me through.”
He pressed his face to the glass.
Gas was pouring into the room. Thick. White. Filling the space rapidly.
Through the fog, he could see movement. Two figures running. A larger one was staggering behind them.
“Lila, Brian,” David’s voice was frantic, his heart hammering so loudly in his chest he could barely hear anything else.
His hands flew to the keypad beside the door.
He punched in the original code.
Error.
The panel flashed red.
“She’s overridden the code,” he hissed anxiously, trying again. “Darn it, Lila.”
His hands were shaking. Through the window, he could see them getting closer to the door. See Lila stumble. See Preston’s hand reach out.
No. No, no, no.
He turned to Mia, desperate. “Tell me about her. Tell me about Lila.”
“What?” Mia looked at him, stupefied and blank.
“David needs to know about Lila so he can try to figure out what she changed the code to,” Eve explained calmly, stepping up beside Mia and putting a hand on her arm.
David’s heart swelled as he watched the woman he’d fallen in love with. The way she knew exactly how to calm Mia. How much she cared for his daughter. The strength in her voice despite the terror in her eyes.
Guilt swallowed him for a moment.
He didn’t deserve either of them.
But he gave himself a mental shake. Now was not the time for this. His granddaughter was inside that room with a cold-blooded killer.
“What... what do you need to know?” Mia was confused, her voice shaking.
“Her birthdate,” David asked, his fingers poised over the keypad.
“No,” Nolan stepped up beside him. “She just told us we were outdated using that.”
His eyes narrowed, and he turned toward Mia. “She told me at the ice rink when I told her about my parents that her worst day was the day your mother died.”
Mia rattled off the date.
David punched it in.
Error.
“No,” he breathed.
Not the day.
The day of the week.
“Lila’s worst day of the week,” Eve said suddenly. “Sunday.”
David’s fingers flew across the keypad. S-U-N-D-A-Y.
The first click sounded.
Relief flooded through him. “Now only three more to go.”
“Three more?” Mia hissed, pressing against the window. “My daughter’s in there...”
Through the glass, David could see Lila on the ground. He could see Preston’s hand on her ankle and Brian kick out.
Come on, come on.
What would she use?
Something personal. Something that mattered to her.
Something she loved.
“Her favorite food,” David said suddenly, looking at Mia. “What’s her favorite food?”
“She loves...” Mia stopped, her eyes widening. “Hot fudge sundaes. With caramel.”
“Hot Fudge Caramel Sunday,” David breathed.
He was about to type it in when suddenly the door swung open.
They all froze.
Brian stumbled out first, supporting Lila. Both were coughing violently, their faces red, tears streaming from their eyes.
“Hot Fudge Caramel Sunday,” Brian gasped out between coughs.
Mia and Eve rushed forward.
Mia grabbed Lila, pulling her daughter away from the door. “I’ve got you, I’ve got you.”
Lila was swaying, coughing so hard her whole body shook.
“Quick,” Milly said, indicating for Nolan to help her.
They grabbed Calvin, who was still struggling against his restraints on the floor.
He fought them, his eyes wild. “No, wait—”
They dragged him toward the open vault door.
“No!” Calvin thrashed. “You can’t—”
Milly and Nolan shoved him hard through the doorway.
He stumbled into the vault, arms windmilling.
Through the white fog, David could see Preston’s form on the ground, unconscious.
Calvin turned, his face appearing at the window, mouth open in a yell they couldn’t hear.
David slammed the door shut.
His fingers flew across the keypad, entering a new code. One Calvin wouldn’t be able to break.
Through the window, Calvin’s fists pounded against the glass.
His movements grew slower. More sluggish.
Then he collapsed beside Preston, both men lying still in the dissipating gas.
David turned away from the vault.
Lila was in Mia’s arms, still coughing but breathing. Alive.
Brian was bent over, hands on his knees, gulping air. Eve was beside him, her hand on his back.
“Don’t you ever,” Mia said, her voice shaking as she held Lila’s face in her hands, “ever do anything like that again. Do you hear me?”
“Mom,” Lila croaked. “We’re okay.”
“You could have died,” Mia’s voice broke. “You could have...”
She pulled Lila into another fierce hug.
David’s chest ached watching them.
Footsteps on the stairs made everyone turn.
Dan appeared, followed by several men in suits. Federal agents, David recognized immediately.
“We’ve got the harbor master,” Dan said, his voice carrying across the basement.
“He’s talking. We now have everything we need to put Preston away for the rest of his life.
” He looked at David, and for the first time in twenty-eight years, Dan’s face broke into a genuine smile. “It’s over, David. It’s really over.”
David couldn’t believe it.
After twenty-eight years of running, hiding, and hunting.
It was over.
“Our names?” he asked, his voice rough.
“Being cleared as we speak,” Dan confirmed. “You, me, Milly, Nolan. Full reinstatement and back pay. But we have to go in for debriefing.”
David felt his knees go weak.
It was really over.
One of the agents stepped forward. “Mr. Moore, we need you to come with us. There’s debriefing, paperwork, and testimony to prepare.”
David nodded. He’d known this was coming.
But looking at Mia, at Lila, and at Eve, he didn’t want to leave. Not now. Not when he’d just found them again. Not where there was still so much to say…
“I’m sorry, but I have to go,” he said, turning to face them.
Mia was still holding Lila, but both of them were looking at him.
They all walked out of the basement and the house into the air. A few black official SUVs were parked at the curb of the house that belonged to David’s father.
“Lila...” David swallowed hard. The pride and fear he’d felt watching her in that vault shone in his eyes. “That was both amazing and terrifying. I think you aged me by at least another ten years.”
Lila gave him a small smile.
It wasn’t much. But it wasn’t the scathing look or sneer she’d been giving him before.
Progress, David thought.
He looked at Mia. “There’s still so much I need to say. So much I need to explain...”
Mia let go of Lila and stepped forward.
She wrapped her arms around David, hugging him tightly.
“There’ll be time,” she said, her voice soft but steady. She smiled up at him. “When you’re back, Dad. We’ll still be here.”
Dad.
The word nearly stopped his heart.
He nodded, not trusting his voice.
“Come on, Lila,” Mia said, gently guiding her daughter away so David could have privacy with Eve.
David turned to Eve.
She was watching him with those intelligent eyes, her expression a mix of emotions he couldn’t fully read.
He moved closer and pulled her to him.
“We have a lot to talk about as well,” he said, his voice low. His eyes met hers.
“Like Mia said,” Eve told him, her hands coming up to rest on his chest. “We’re not going anywhere just yet.” She glanced past him at the agents waiting near the stairs. “You’re not going to federal prison, are you?”
David gave a soft laugh despite everything. “I hope not.”
“We have to go, sir,” one of the agents stepped forward, then moved away again when David shot him a look.
David leaned down and kissed Eve.
Soft. Quick. But full of promise.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he said when he pulled away.
“We’ll be waiting,” Eve promised, her eyes dark with emotion that mirrored his own.
David stepped back reluctantly.
He turned and started walking toward the cars where the agents waited.
Dan, Milly, and Nolan were already there, sliding into the vehicle.
He was halfway to the SUV when a voice cracked through the air.
“Grandpa... wait!”
David’s heart lurched in his chest.
He turned, his eyes misting immediately.
Lila was running toward him, her face still flushed from the gas, her eyes red from coughing.
But she was smiling.
Really smiling.
She flung herself into his arms.
David’s arms clamped around the young woman, holding her so tightly he had to check himself, worried he might actually crack one of her ribs.
Twenty-eight years of loss.
Twenty-eight years of wondering if he’d ever know his grandchildren.
And here she was.
Brave. Brilliant. Beautiful.
His granddaughter.
Lila stepped back, still smiling, and put her hand into her pocket.
She pulled out the front part of the locket, the ruby heart catching the light.
“I thought you might need the microdot beneath the ruby,” she said softly.
David stared at her.
Then he smiled, his vision blurring with tears he didn’t bother to hide.
He took the locket piece and kissed her cheek.
“You are so much like your grandmother,” he said, his voice thick with emotion.
Lila’s smile widened. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“It’s the highest one I can give,” David told her.
He squeezed her hand once more, then forced himself to let go.
He turned and walked to the vehicle’s door, where he paused and looked back.
Mia, Eve, William, and Julie stood at the edge of the garden with Lila and Brian, all of them watching him.
Mia had her arm around Lila. Eve stood close beside them. William and Julie flanked them like protective sentinels.
His family.
After twenty-eight years, he had a family again.
David raised his hand in a wave.
They all waved back.
Then he climbed into the SUV.
As the vehicle pulled away from the house, David looked out the rear window.
They were still standing there, watching.
Still waiting.
And for the first time in twenty-eight years, David Moore allowed himself to believe that maybe, just maybe, everything was going to be okay.