Chapter 11 - The Building After Midnight
BrightHouse occupied three floors of a downtown office tower.
By midnight, police had surrounded the building.
We weren’t there.
Monica made sure of that.
Ryan hated waiting at home.
I hated it too.
But Lily was asleep upstairs.
And for once, protecting her meant staying exactly where we were.
At 12:43 a.m., Monica called.
“They found Diane.”
Ryan put the phone on speaker.
“Is she okay?”
“She’s alive.”
That answer told us enough.
Diane had entered BrightHouse with a key card Vanessa once used.
Martin was already inside.
According to security footage, they argued in a records room.
Diane demanded drives containing old contracts and videos.
Martin refused.
Then someone triggered a fire alarm.
Sprinklers activated on the second floor.
Several computers were damaged.
A storage cabinet caught fire.
But the evidence servers were backed up remotely.
Martin fled through a stairwell.
Police arrested Diane in the lobby.
They found three external drives in her purse.
One belonged to BrightHouse.
One contained copies of Lily’s forged contracts.
The third contained years of recordings involving Martin and young clients.
Ryan stared at the phone.
“Where’s Martin?”
“Gone.”
“How?”
“He left before officers sealed the garage.”
I felt a chill.
“Is he dangerous?”
“We don’t know.”
That was not reassuring.
The next morning, Diane called Ryan from custody.
He almost refused.
Then he answered.
“Ryan.”
His mother sounded exhausted.
“I need you to listen.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“You helped hurt Lily.”
“I was trying to fix it.”
“You forged Claire’s name.”
“I was protecting Vanessa.”
“You stole from our daughter.”
“I was going to put it back.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
Then Diane said something unexpected.
“Martin has copies of everything.”
Ryan’s eyes opened.
“What everything?”
“Addresses.”
My heart started beating faster.
“Whose addresses?”
“All the families.”
I stepped closer to the phone.
“Does he have ours?”
Diane heard me.
“Yes.”
Ryan stood.
“Why didn’t you tell police?”
“I did.”
“Then why are you calling?”
Diane began crying.
Not elegantly.
Not quietly.
For the first time, she sounded terrified.
“Because there’s one file Martin never gave me.”
“What file?”
“Lily’s medical authorization.”
I looked at Ryan.
I had never signed one.
Diane continued.
“He had it prepared in case EverBelle required travel.”
Ryan’s face went white.
“And?”
“He put himself down as an emergency guardian.”
The room became silent.
Then Diane whispered.
May you like
“If Martin still thinks Lily is worth money, he may not be finished.”
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