Chapter 10 - RYAN’S CHOICE
Emily read the message twice.
Then took Ryan’s phone from his hand.
“No.”
Ryan looked at her.
“No what?”
“You’re not going alone.”
“The message—”
“I can read.”
Her voice trembled.
“I also know exactly what your instinct is.”
Ryan folded his arms.
“What instinct?”
“To protect everyone by making yourself the only target.”
Ryan said nothing.
Emily nodded bitterly.
“Exactly.”
Detective Ellis agreed.
“You are not walking onto a yacht with evidence in your hands.”
Ryan looked toward Ava.
“She needs her mother.”
“And she needs her uncle alive.”
The word landed unexpectedly.
Uncle.
Ryan still had not grown used to it.
Ava sat in the family room with Lily, unaware of the photograph on his phone.
Ryan thought of Ethan.
If the situation were reversed, what would he demand?
Probably something reckless.
Which was exactly why Ryan could not follow his brother’s imaginary advice.
They built a plan.
The red ledger remained in police custody.
A replica was prepared.
Tracking devices embedded.
Marine units positioned outside visual range.
Ryan would attend the exchange—but not alone.
Emily objected anyway.
“You don’t need to be there.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because they asked for me.”
“That’s not a reason.”
Ryan looked at her.
“Claire ran for six years because she believed my family could not protect her.”
“That isn’t your fault.”
“Maybe not.”
He glanced toward Ava.
“But what happens next is my responsibility.”
Emily stared at him.
Then quietly said, “That sounds like your father.”
Ryan stiffened.
Emily immediately regretted it.
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“I don’t mean the danger.”
“What do you mean?”
“The idea that responsibility means carrying everything yourself.”
Ryan looked away.
Emily touched his arm.
“That part is him.”
Ryan wanted to reject it.
Could not.
Charles Carter had believed asking for help was weakness.
Ryan had spent his life claiming to be different while practicing the same habit with better manners.
He exhaled.
“Fine.”
Emily waited.
“I follow Ellis’s plan.”
“Completely?”
“Mostly.”
“Ryan.”
“Completely.”
That earned the smallest smile.
Then he asked the question they had both avoided.
“After this, we talk.”
Emily’s smile disappeared.
“Yes.”
“Everything.”
“Yes.”
“No more protecting me from information.”
“I know.”
“No more Claire asks and you hide it.”
Emily’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
Ryan lowered his voice.
“You had three months.”
“I was terrified.”
“So was Claire for six years.”
Emily looked down.
“I thought secrecy was keeping you safe.”
Ryan nodded.
“I understand.”
She looked surprised.
“That doesn’t mean it was right.”
“No.”
“It means I understand why people make bad choices when they’re scared.”
Emily thought of Graham.
Charles.
Claire.
Perhaps Ethan.
Fear had shaped this family almost as much as love.
The exchange was set for dawn.
But at 2:13 a.m., everything changed.
Mark woke Ryan.
“We have movement.”
Ryan dressed immediately.
“What?”
“The tracking on Graham’s yacht.”
“I thought it was disabled.”
“It came back online.”
“Where?”
Mark showed him.
The yacht was not heading north.
It had doubled back during the night.
Now it sat near an old industrial harbor south of Chicago.
Ryan frowned.
“Why?”
“Maybe they realized police were watching Milwaukee routes.”
Detective Ellis arrived ten minutes later.
Her team traced the coordinates.
The yacht was docked beside a long-abandoned Carter Marine warehouse.
Ryan stared at the name.
“My father owned that.”
“Until twelve years ago.”
Mark shook his head.
“No.”
He zoomed into property records.
“Officially it was sold.”
Ryan already knew what came next.
“Shell company?”
“Yes.”
“To whom?”
Mark looked at him.
“Hollis Kane.”
The warehouse connected everything.
Ryan’s father.
Graham.
Hollis.
Old property records.
Ethan.
Detective Ellis ordered surveillance.
Thermal cameras showed four adults inside.
One smaller heat signature aboard the yacht.
Claire?
Maybe.
Then another vehicle arrived.
Security footage from a traffic camera captured the driver.
Graham Whitmore.
No decoy.
No lawyer’s office.
No courtroom.
The man himself.
Ryan looked at Ellis.
“He’s going there.”
“Yes.”
“So the exchange message was never about tomorrow.”
“No.”
Ellis understood.
“It was meant to keep us waiting.”
Ryan’s face hardened.
“They’re moving Claire tonight.”
Police units deployed.
Ryan reached for his coat.
Ellis blocked him.
“You stay here.”
Ryan stared.
“No.”
“You agreed to follow the plan.”
“The plan changed.”
“That does not make you law enforcement.”
“No.”
He pointed toward the warehouse feed.
“It makes that my sister-in-law and my brother’s daughter’s mother.”
Ellis held his gaze.
Ryan continued.
“I will stay behind your officers.”
“No heroics.”
“No heroics.”
“No weapons.”
“Fine.”
“No improvising.”
Ryan paused.
Ellis raised an eyebrow.
“Ryan.”
“Fine.”
Twenty-eight minutes later, they approached the abandoned Carter Marine warehouse under a moonless sky.
Police moved first.
Ryan remained behind an armored vehicle with Mark.
Then a gunshot cracked from inside.
Ryan’s entire body locked.
A second shot.
Radio traffic exploded.
Officer down?
No.
Shot fired into ceiling.
Suspect moving.
Then a woman screamed.
May you like
Ryan knew the voice even after six years.
Claire.
