CHAPTER 10 The Third Passenger #3
“Claire, this is Detective Kim. Stay exactly where you are.”
Mason turned toward the door.
I grabbed his arm.
“No.”
He looked at me.
The man in front of me was no longer my boyfriend at a skating rink.
He was rage.
Fear.
Violence held together by control.
“Let go.”
“No.”
“Emma.”
“No.”
“He was in your apartment.”
“I know.”
“He threatened you.”
“I know.”
“I’m done waiting.”
“And then what?”
“I find him.”
“How?”
“I’ll figure it out.”
“Exactly.”
He tried to move.
I tightened my grip.
“Mason.”
His eyes met mine.
“Look at me.”
He did.
Barely.
“Do not become the version of yourself everyone expects.”
That stopped him.
Completely.
I stepped closer.
“Jason wants you angry.”
Mason’s breathing was hard.
“He wants you reckless.”
Silence.
“He knows what happened after Lily died.”
His face changed.
“Yes.”
“He knows what buttons to push.”
“Yes.”
“So don’t give him what he wants.”
Mason looked at me for a long time.
Then slowly, painfully, his hands unclenched.
Noah moved closer.
For once, not as my brother.
As Mason’s former friend.
“She’s right.”
Mason looked at him.
Noah continued.
“This is exactly what someone did to you four years ago.”
Mason’s jaw tightened.
“Don’t.”
“Someone pushed until you exploded.”
“Bennett.”
“And you paid for it for years.”
Silence.
Noah stepped closer.
“Not again.”
I watched them.
Four years of hate.
Four years of guilt.
And somehow the thing beginning to rebuild them was the same thing that had destroyed them.
Protecting someone they cared about.
Mason looked at Noah.
Then at me.
Finally, he nodded.
“Okay.”
One word.
But it mattered.
Detective Kim returned my phone.
“Claire is safe. Officers have her.”
Relief nearly dropped me to the floor.
“Your apartment is now a crime scene.”
I nodded.
“Fine.”
“You’re not going home tonight.”
“Understood.”
Mason immediately said, “She stays with me.”
Noah opened his mouth.
I pointed at him.
“Don’t.”
He closed it.
Growth everywhere.
Kim shook her head.
“No. Neither residence.”
Mason frowned.
“Then where?”
“We’ll arrange somewhere secure.”
Derek stepped forward.
“I have a place.”
Everyone looked at him.
“No,” Mason said.
“Why?”
“Because every sentence beginning with you saying you have a place ends badly.”
Derek almost smiled.
“It’s a corporate apartment under another name.”
Noah frowned.
“Whose?”
“Mine.”
“That is not comforting.”
Kim considered it.
“We’ll check it first.”
Mason looked at me.
“You okay with that?”
He asked.
Not told.
Asked.
I smiled faintly.
“Yes.”
His hand found mine.
I squeezed.
Then the laptop chimed.
One final file had finished decrypting.
Detective Kim frowned.
“Wait.”
We all turned.
The file was a video.
Recorded from a dashboard camera.
Date:
The night Lily died.
Mason stopped breathing.
Noah went pale.
Kim opened it.
Dark road.
Rain.
Headlights.
A car ahead.
Evan’s car.
The dashboard vehicle followed at a distance.
For fifteen seconds, nothing happened.
Then another car appeared from the left.
Black sedan.
It accelerated.
Pulled beside Evan.
The two vehicles disappeared briefly around a curve.
The camera car followed.
When the road came back into view, Evan’s vehicle was swerving.
The black sedan struck it.
Once.
Hard.
Evan’s car crossed the lane.
Hit the barrier.
Then disappeared over the edge.
No one spoke.
It had not been an accident.
Lily had been murdered.
Mason made a sound I had never heard from another human being.
Not a word.
Not a cry.
Something between.
I grabbed his hand.
Noah moved beside him.
The video continued.
The black sedan stopped.
A man got out.
He walked toward the broken barrier.
Looked down.
Then turned toward the dashboard camera.
For one frozen second, his face was visible.
Jason Mercer.
My stomach dropped.
But he wasn’t alone.
The passenger door opened.
A second man stepped out.
Noah stopped breathing.
Derek went pale.
Mason stared.
I looked between them.
“You know him.”
Noah whispered, “Yes.”
“Who is he?”
Mason’s face turned empty.
Not angry.
Worse.
Broken.
“He was my agent.”
Silence.
I stared at the screen.
The second man was older now, but unmistakable.
The same man who had managed Mason’s early career.
The same man who had helped bury his assault case.
The same man who knew every weakness, every secret, every piece of damage.
Mason whispered his name.
“Richard Vale.”
Noah closed his eyes.
Derek swore.
Detective Kim immediately reached for her phone.
And suddenly the entire story made sense.
Not all of it.
But enough.
Someone hadn’t simply covered up Lily’s death.
Someone had built Mason’s career while making sure the truth stayed buried.
Someone who had spent years close enough to know exactly how to control him.
And now that Lily’s evidence had resurfaced, that person was willing to threaten me to keep Mason from learning the truth.
Mason stared at the frozen image.
His hand shook inside mine.
I held tighter.
“No disappearing,” I whispered.
His eyes moved to me.
“No running.”
His breathing slowed.
Then he looked back at the screen.
“No.”
His voice was quiet.
Controlled.
Terrifyingly controlled.
“This time, I stay.”