A single contract name in his memory stabbed through Nathan—one huge deal he’d closed just before the “accident.” A merger he’d been proud of. A deal that now stank of something else: money laundering, fraud, and his own blind trust.
He was about to ask more when bright headlights flooded the shed entrance. Ranger barked like crazy. Aiden grabbed Nathan’s arm.
“They found me,” Mike whispered, turning pale. “They found us.”
Gunfire shattered the night. Metal rang as bullets tore into the building. Mike bolted for the back, but he dropped like a puppet with its strings cut, collapsing into the dirt.
Aiden screamed. Nathan grabbed him and pulled him close.
“Don’t look,” he said. “Run!”
They staggered out through a side door, tripping over wood and trash. They practically fell into the car. Nathan started the engine with shaking hands.
In the rearview mirror, the shed grew smaller, but the echo of gunfire rattled around Aiden’s skull.
“He died… helping us,” the boy whispered.
“He died because of them,” Nathan replied, jaw clenched. “And I’m not letting his death disappear.”
Hours later—his shoulder already burning with the bullet it would soon take—Nathan pulled the car off the road, following directions Mike had given him earlier. There, half-hidden in the trees by the river, stood an old house sunk deep in fog.
Aiden was asleep in the backseat again, arms around Ranger. Nathan reread Lauren’s letter by the soft glow of the dashboard. Every line felt like she was whispering right into his ear.
A crackle of branches drew his eyes to the side. Through the fog, a small figure approached slowly—hunched over, wearing a light coat, steps unsteady.
“Lauren…” Nathan breathed. “Lauren.”
The figure stopped, then took two more steps forward. His flashlight beam cut through the fog and found her face: thinner, tired, carved by fear and time—but impossible to mistake.
It was her.
Nathan stumbled out of the car and ran to her, nearly falling over the uneven ground. When he reached her, he wrapped her in his arms like she might disappear if he let go.
“My God…” he said, voice breaking. “It’s really you. It’s really you.”
Lauren gave a weak smile and cupped his cheek.
“I told you I’d make it back to you… if you were still alive,” she said with a shaky attempt at a joke.