Chapter 7 - The Woman Who Was Never Supposed to Come Back
Her name was Evelyn Moretti.
Not Richard's attorney Evelyn Hart.
A different Evelyn.
Elena's younger half-sister.
Nobody in Lancaster House had known she existed.
Not Richard.
Not Maria.
Not the children.
Camille had met her twice.
“Elena's father had an affair before marrying her mother,” Camille explained. “Evelyn was born from that relationship. The families hated each other.”
“Did Elena stay in contact?”
“Secretly.”
Richard paced.
“Why keep that from me?”
“Because Evelyn's mother married into the Caruso family.”
Everything became clear at once.
“Vincent,” I whispered.
Camille nodded.
“His cousin.”
Richard stopped moving.
“So Elena's sister grew up inside Caruso territory.”
“Yes.”
“And she was communicating with Dominic.”
“Apparently.”
We spent hours reconstructing the past.
Evelyn had loved Elena.
But she also blamed Richard for Elena's death.
After the crash, Dominic apparently convinced her Richard had arranged it because Elena planned to leave.
That lie gave him the perfect ally.
Someone grieving.
Someone furious.
Someone with access to Caruso connections.
Someone eager to punish Richard.
The cruelest part was that Evelyn had spent three years helping the very men responsible for Elena's death.
She simply didn't know it.
Until recently.
That explained the strange pattern.
The warning at the warehouse.
The photograph.
The threats toward me.
Evelyn wasn't trying to kill me at first.
She was trying to frighten me away.
Camille's evidence changed everything.
Now Evelyn might know Dominic had lied.
Which made her dangerous to him.
“We have to find her first,” I said.
Richard looked at me.
“No.”
“Don't start.”
“You are staying here.”
“Evelyn contacted me.”
“Exactly.”
“She may contact me again.”
“And if she does, security handles it.”
“She doesn't trust you.”
“Neither do most people.”
“That is not the argument you think it is.”
He stared at me.
I stared back.
Camille actually smiled.
“You two are married?”
“Contractually,” I said.
Richard's eyes remained on mine.
“For now.”
My heart did something stupid.
I ignored it.
At noon, a message arrived.
UNKNOWN NUMBER:
SOPHIE. ALONE.
Attached coordinates.
A public church in Manhattan.
Richard said no before I finished reading.
“I'll wear a wire.”
“No.”
“Your people can surround the place.”
“No.”
“Richard.”
“No.”
Alex entered.
We stopped.
He looked between us.
“Are you fighting?”
“Yes,” I said.
“No,” Richard said.
Alex sighed.
“You're bad at marriage.”
I almost laughed.
He looked at the phone.
“What happened?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
Richard's answer.
Alex looked at him.
Then me.
Another lie.
I crouched.
“Someone wants to talk to me.”
“Bad person?”
“Maybe.”
“Are you going?”
I hesitated.
Richard folded his arms.
“No.”
Alex considered.
“Mom used to go when Dad said no.”
Richard looked betrayed.
Camille laughed out loud.
Two hours later, I entered the church.
Alone visually.
Not actually.
Three federal agents were inside.
Lancaster security surrounded the block.
Richard listened through my wire from a van across the street.
I sat in the third pew.
Five minutes passed.
Then a woman entered.
Early thirties.
Dark hair.
Elena's eyes.
The resemblance was unmistakable.
She sat behind me.
“You look different from the newspapers.”
“You look like your sister.”
Her breath caught.
“Did Richard tell you?”
“No.”
“Of course.”
“Camille did.”
Silence.
Then Evelyn whispered, “Dominic killed her.”
Not a question.
“Yes.”
Evelyn began crying silently.
“I helped him.”
“You didn't know.”
“I helped him hide things. Move money. I believed Richard…”
Her voice broke.
“I believed Richard had Elena killed.”
“Why?”
“Dominic showed me messages. Said Richard threatened her.”
“Were they real?”
“Edited.”
I turned slowly.
Evelyn looked destroyed.
“Why threaten me?”
“I wanted you to leave.”
“The photograph in the nursery?”
Her face changed.
“That wasn't me.”
My blood chilled.
“Who took it?”
“Dominic.”
“Where is he?”
“I don't know.”
“Evelyn.”
“He's going after Richard.”
I froze.
“What?”
“He knows Richard gave everything to the government. He's lost the businesses. Accounts are frozen. Vincent is negotiating immunity.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
My hand moved toward the wire.
“Where?”
Before she could answer, the church doors slammed.
Gunfire erupted outside.
Evelyn grabbed me.
“Down!”
Glass shattered.
Agents moved.
Chaos.
Someone had followed her.
We escaped through a side corridor into an alley.
Richard's SUV screeched around the corner.
He jumped out before it stopped.
“Sophie!”
I ran toward him.
He caught me against his chest.
Both arms.
No rules.
No pretending.
For one second, I let myself stay there.
Then Evelyn emerged.
Richard saw her.
His face changed.
She looked so much like Elena that it was painful to witness.
“You're Richard.”
“Yes.”
“I hated you.”
“I understand.”
“My sister loved you.”
His eyes closed briefly.
“I know.”
“I helped the man who killed her.”
“You didn't know.”
I looked at Richard.
The fact he offered her mercy so quickly told me how much he'd changed.
Evelyn handed him a key.
“Dominic has a safe house near Pier 19.”
Richard stiffened.
“He's waiting for you.”
“Why?”
“He wants the original memory card.”
“He won't get it.”
“He thinks you have it.”
Richard looked toward me.
I knew instantly.
“No.”
“Sophie.”
“No.”
“He won't stop.”
“Then police handle it.”
“He has someone.”
My stomach dropped.
“Who?”
Richard's phone rang.
Maria.
He answered.
His face drained.
“What?”
I grabbed his arm.
“What happened?”
Richard lowered the phone.
“Alex and Max.”
I couldn't breathe.
“They're gone.”
The world stopped.
“How?”
“One of the replacement security officers.”
Dominic.
He had planned everything.
Richard began issuing orders.
Federal agents moved.
I stood frozen for exactly three seconds.
Then something became crystal clear.
Dominic didn't want money.
He didn't want escape.
He wanted Richard destroyed.
And the children were the final weapon.
An hour later, a video arrived.
Alex and Max sat tied to chairs.
Unhurt.
Terrified.
Dominic stepped into frame.
“Pier 19. Midnight. Richard alone.”
The camera moved closer.
“If anyone else enters the building, your sons die.”
Video ended.
Richard stood completely still.
Then he reached for his coat.
I blocked him.
“You cannot go alone.”
“Yes.”
“He'll kill you.”
“Possibly.”
“The boys need their father.”
“And right now their father needs to get them back.”
I grabbed his coat.
“And what do you think happens afterward? Alex loses another parent? Max grows up remembering you as another person who disappeared?”
Pain flashed in his eyes.
“What would you have me do?”
“Trust people.”
His face hardened.
“Sophie.”
“You built this entire fortress because you couldn't trust anyone after Elena. Dominic counted on that.”
Richard went silent.
“He knows you'll go alone,” I continued. “He knows you'll sacrifice yourself because guilt makes you predictable.”
“What choice do I have?”
“Stop acting like Richard Lancaster the boss.”
I touched his chest.
“Be Richard Lancaster their father.”
His eyes dropped to my hand.
“Which means?”
“Bring everybody.”
At eleven fifty-eight, Richard entered Pier 19 alone.
At least, Dominic believed he did.
Federal tactical teams surrounded the warehouse from underground access points Evelyn provided.
Richard wore a transmitter.
I waited inside a command vehicle.
Every second felt unbearable.
Dominic's voice came through.
“You finally listened.”
“Where are my sons?”
“Memory card.”
“First my sons.”
A pause.
Then Alex screamed.
“Dad!”
I covered my mouth.
Richard's voice remained steady.
“I'm here.”
Dominic laughed.
“You always thought you could control everything.”
“No.”
Silence.
That answer surprised him.
Richard continued.
“I lost Elena because I thought control was protection.”
“You lost Elena because she betrayed us.”
“She exposed you.”
“She chose weakness!”
“No. She chose our children.”
Richard's voice changed.
“So do I.”
That was the signal.
Agents breached.
Gunfire.
Shouting.
Then silence.
Seconds became years.
Finally:
“Children secure.”
I started crying.
I didn't even realize until Camille grabbed me.
“Richard?”
No answer.
“Where is Richard?”
Static.
Then another voice.
“Lancaster is down.”
I stopped breathing.
By the time I reached the warehouse, paramedics surrounded him.
Blood covered his side.
Alex was screaming.
Max clung to an agent.
I dropped beside Richard.
His eyes opened.
“Sophie.”
“You promised.”
“I know.”
“You promised you'd come back.”
“I'm trying.”
“No.”
I pressed my hands against the wound where a paramedic instructed.
“You don't get to make me care about you and then leave.”
His eyes held mine.
Behind the pain came surprise.
“You care?”
I laughed through tears.
“You idiot.”
His mouth moved slightly.
“A lot?”
“Richard.”
“A little?”
“Shut up.”
The paramedics loaded him onto a stretcher.
Before they pulled him away, his fingers closed around mine.
“Sophie.”
“What?”
“The contract.”
“What about it?”
“If I don't—”
“Don't.”
“Destroy it.”
I stared.
“Why?”
His eyes softened.
“Because I don't want you staying because you agreed to.”
Then they took him away.
And as the ambulance doors closed, I finally understood what terrified me most.
It wasn't losing the house.
Or the money.
Or the protection.
It wasn't even Dominic.
It was that somewhere between broken pancakes, bedtime arguments, whispered secrets, and children who had slowly stopped seeing me as a stranger…
I had fallen in love with Richard Lancaster.
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And I didn't know if he was going to live long enough for me to tell him.
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