Chapter Eighteen
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Rain hammered Eli’s shoulders as he sprinted after Vivian, his boots slapping through the mud. Delaney ran beside him, fast despite the pain she had to be feeling.
“We’re going in,” Eli said into the comm. “Vivian just made a run for it. She’s inside.”
“Copy,” came Noah’s voice, tight with tension. “We’re closing in from the back.”
The silhouette of the facility loomed closer. Eli caught the flash of movement just ahead—Vivian. She didn’t hesitate. She burst through the broken side door like a woman possessed.
“Damn it,” Eli hissed.
Delaney had already tucked the scanner away, gun now in hand. She nodded once, silent communication between them.
They slipped through the door behind Vivian, footsteps careful, breath shallow. He immediately spotted Vivian, pushed ahead and caught her arm, halting her just in time.
“Stop,” he whispered in her ear. “You’ll get her killed if you charge in blind.”
Vivian’s chest heaved. She looked like she wanted to argue, but she didn’t speak. However, she did whip out a small handgun from her purse that was strapped cross-body.
Shit. Eli considered taking it from her, but this wasn’t the time or place to get into an argument. Besides, he couldn’t blame the woman for wanting to protect herself and her daughter.
Still, he didn’t like her being armed. This situation was dangerous enough without adding an extra gun to the mix.
“Do you know how to use that?” he asked, his voice barely audible.
“I know how,” Vivian assured him, and he heard the fierce determination in her voice. Yeah, she wouldn’t be giving that gun up without a fight.
Delaney eased up beside them, gun raised. “We go together,” she murmured. “Slow. Quiet.”
Eli gave a single nod. His pulse was a hammer in his ears, but his grip was steady. They would get Ava out. They had to.
They stepped deeper into the darkened building, his boots scuffing the grit-covered floor. The old mental health institute felt like it was holding its breath. No lights. No electricity. Just shadows pressing in from all sides.
He pulled out his phone and flicked on the flashlight.
The narrow beam cut through the dark, bouncing off peeling paint and rust-streaked walls. Cracks lined the concrete floor like old scars. Water dripped somewhere in the distance, a slow and steady rhythm echoing off the high ceiling.
The place smelled of mildew and old insulation. Something metallic, too. Like rusted pipes or dried blood.
He swept the light across the front room. An overturned gurney lay against the wall, and a stack of broken furniture was heaped in the far corner. Worn-out wheelchairs and empty medical carts had been pushed aside, as if someone had tried to clear a path through the mess.
No sign of anyone. No sound at all.
But the floor told its own story.
Eli lowered the beam to the dust-covered tiles. Several sets of footprints crisscrossed the room. Some moved in straight lines. Others looked hurried.
He turned slightly and spoke just loud enough for Delaney to hear. “These prints are fresh. More than just Ava and Jason.”
She nodded, already glancing around with her gun drawn.
Eli’s grip tightened around his weapon. There were too many places for someone to hide. Every open doorway was a question mark. Every dark hallway a threat.
Beside him, Vivian fidgeted. “We have to keep going.”
Eli turned off the flashlight and glanced back toward the door. Rain still fell outside, faint and cold against the wind. He looked at Vivian and lowered his voice.
“Stay close,” he whispered. “No sudden moves.”
Then he and Delaney stepped forward into the black hall, the air around them thick with tension and silence.
Eli froze, one hand lifting slightly as Noah’s voice crackled through the earpiece. “We’ve got eyes on someone who came in through the rear entrance,” Noah relayed. “Dark raincoat. Couldn’t get a clear face.”
Eli exchanged a look with Delaney. “Lawrence?” he murmured. “Or Hale.”
“Could be a hired gun,” Delaney whispered back.
He didn’t like any of the options.
They moved deeper into the hall, every step muted by the thick layer of dust. With a dead grip on her gun, Vivian stayed close, her breath coming shallow and quick. Eli kept his weapon angled low but ready, his senses straining for the smallest noise, the faintest shift in the air.
Ahead, a faint glow bled out around the edges of a closed door.
Eli motioned for them to stop and crouched slightly, his eyes locked on the slim frame of light. The door wasn’t fully shut. It was old and warped, with layers of paint curling off like skin. A flickering light moved beyond it, like a lantern or maybe a flashlight swaying gently back and forth.
Eli turned to Delaney. “Movement inside.”
She gave a tight nod, already stepping to the side of the doorframe. Eli did the same on the other side. Vivian was next to him, her left hand braced on the wall.
Inside the room, something creaked.
A shadow passed across the crack of light.
“Get behind us,” he whispered to Vivian and was thankful that she obeyed.
Eli crouched low beside the wall, the cracked tile slick beneath his boots. The faint line of light beneath the door ahead pulsed like a warning. His heart pounded, steady and sharp.
In his earpiece, Noah’s voice came through clear. “We’re at the back door. Sheriff and I are in position.”
Eli glanced at Delaney, then Vivian. Both of them were tense, focused.
“We move on this together,” Noah said. “On my count. Three. Two. One…”
Eli shifted forward, weapon drawn, eyes on the door. Ready.
Eli pushed through the door, weapon raised, just as Noah and Sheriff Chase stormed in from the back. Rain-soaked boots squeaked against the cracked linoleum, the sharp scent of mildew heavy in the air.
Four people turned at once, startled by the sudden intrusion.
Ava and a young man were in the middle of an embrace. They jolted apart as the door burst open. The man in the raincoat—Lawrence—stood a few feet away, his face contorted in rage.
“What the hell is going on?” he bellowed, voice echoing off the walls.
The other man, someone Eli didn’t recognize, was near the far corner. He moved fast, hand diving inside his jacket.
Eli reacted just as quickly. “Gun!” he shouted.
The stranger’s weapon cleared leather, and everything snapped into motion. The gun fired.
Eli flinched, but it wasn’t his weapon. Or the man’s. It was Vivian’s.
The man with the gun stumbled back as the bullet hit him in the chest. He crashed against the wall, then crumpled to the floor, blood already pooling beneath him.
Ava screamed. Jason threw his arms around her, trying to shield her eyes from the dead man.
Vivian didn’t stop. She pivoted, raised the gun again, and leveled it at her father.
“You did this,” she shouted. “You lured her here. You planned to kill her. You want Olivia, Ava, and me gone so you can control everything. The estate. The legacy. All of it.”
Lawrence didn’t flinch. His jaw tightened, his rain-slicked coat clinging to his frame as he squared his shoulders.
“I only want you gone,” he spat. “You’re unstable. You just shot a man.” He turned to Sheriff Chase. “Arrest her. Now.”
The room pulsed with tension. Eli held his weapon low but ready, heart pounding as he glanced between Vivian and the sheriff, waiting to see what would happen next.
Delaney dropped to her knees beside the man Vivian had shot and pressed two fingers to his neck.
“He’s alive,” she said quickly. “Weak pulse.”
Sheriff Chase was already reaching for her radio. “We need an ambulance at the old Hale facility. Gunshot victim. Still breathing.”
Eli started toward Vivian, hands open, gun lowered. “Vivian, you need to give me the weapon. No one else needs to get hurt.”
But she backed away, her eyes wild as she moved to the far side of the room, her gun still fixed on Lawrence.
“Stay away from me!” Vivian snapped. “He’s not going to get away with this. He’s been trying to ruin my life for years. He wants me dead.”
Ava’s voice cracked through the rising chaos. “Mom, I wasn’t lured here. I came to see Jason.”
Vivian’s breathing hitched, her eyes darting between her daughter and the boy still shielding her.
“The man you shot,” Ava added, “he was a medical assistant from Hale’s place. He arranged it. I thought it was weird, but I wanted to see Jason.”
Jason looked at her, startled. “I thought you arranged it.”
Vivian’s grip on the gun tightened. “No. No, he did this,” she shouted, pointing at her father. “He’s behind it. Arrest him! He’s the one who should be locked away.”
Eli felt the air go razor-sharp around them. No one moved. Not yet.
Not with Vivian still holding the weapon and rage trembling in every inch of her.
Eli swept his gaze across the room, pulse pounding. Ava was still crouched behind Jason, wide-eyed and pale. Vivian looked like a live wire, her arm shaking under the weight of the still raised gun. Lawrence stood stiff and defiant, his mouth twisted in contempt.
He wanted answers. He wanted to understand what the hell had really happened here, how Ava and Jason had both been manipulated, who had brought the medical assistant in, and what Lawrence had planned. He opened his mouth to speak—
The back door slammed open.
Everyone turned at once.
Dr. Hale stumbled inside, soaked from the rain and panting hard, eyes wide behind foggy glasses.
He didn’t get a word out.
Because Vivian fired.
And the gunshot cracked through the room.
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