Chapter 15 - Nolan’s Confession
Harper did not want to see Thomas Nolan.
She went anyway.
Federal agents surrounded the hospital.
Nolan lay in a private room with oxygen beneath his nose.
He looked nothing like the loud man Harper remembered from Derek’s kitchen.
He looked old.
Small.
Afraid.
Agent Price stood near the door.
Gabriel was not permitted inside.
Harper sat beside Nolan’s bed.
He opened his eyes.
“You look like your father.”
Her stomach tightened.
“You knew him.”
Nolan laughed weakly.
“Everyone knew Ben after he found the books.”
“What happened to him?”
Nolan stared at the ceiling.
“Hale.”
“Is he dead?”
A long pause.
“No.”
Harper stopped breathing.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
Anger exploded.
“You asked for me.”
She stood.
“So talk.”
Nolan turned toward her.
“Hale ordered your father killed.”
Harper went still.
“But your father knew.”
“He disappeared before they could reach him.”
“Why didn’t he take us?”
Nolan’s eyes filled with something that almost resembled shame.
“Because Hale threatened your mother.”
Harper sat again.
“He stayed away to protect us.”
“That was the deal.”
“Did my mother know?”
“Yes.”
Harper closed her eyes.
Her entire childhood shifted beneath her.
The silence.
The fear.
Her mother refusing to discuss Benjamin.
It had not been grief.
It had been protection.
“What did Derek have to do with this?”
Nolan swallowed.
“Years later, Hale became afraid your father left evidence with your mother.”
“So Derek watched me.”
“Yes.”
“He married me.”
Nolan looked away.
“That wasn’t the original plan.”
Harper felt sick.
“What was?”
“Get close.”
“Search your mother’s things.”
“Find whatever Ben left.”
Harper whispered.
“There was nothing.”
“That’s what Derek eventually believed.”
“Then why stay?”
Nolan’s face tightened.
“Because he liked controlling you.”
The answer hurt more than Harper expected.
Derek’s cruelty had not been ordered.
It had been his choice.
Every bruise.
Every threat.
Every moment of humiliation.
That part belonged completely to him.
Harper stared at Nolan.
“And Isabella?”
Nolan closed his eyes.
“She found Ben’s original audit.”
Gabriel’s sister had somehow found the same evidence decades later.
“She tried to take it to federal authorities.”
“Hale stopped her.”
“Derek?”
“He was young.”
Nolan coughed.
“But he helped move the car.”
Harper felt cold.
“And Emily?”
“Mills hurt her.”
“When she started collecting evidence, Derek told Hale.”
“Did Derek kill her?”
Nolan looked at Harper.
“No.”
Relief lasted less than a second.
“Hale did.”
Nolan reached weakly toward the bedside table.
Agent Price stepped forward.
“What?”
“There’s a key.”
Price opened the drawer.
A small brass key rested inside.
Nolan looked at Harper.
“Your father left something.”
“Where?”
“Old Ashford warehouse.”
Gabriel’s warehouse.
“Locker seventeen.”
Price took the key.
Nolan gripped Harper’s wrist.
She flinched.
He released her immediately.
“Sorry.”
Harper stood.
“One more question.”
Nolan nodded.
“Where is Derek?”
Fear entered his face.
“I don’t know.”
“You were helping him.”
“No.”
“Your car.”
“He took it.”
“When?”
Nolan swallowed.
“After he found me.”
Harper stared.
“What did he want?”
“The key.”
“Did you give it to him?”
“No.”
Nolan looked toward Agent Price.
“That’s why I’m in here.”
Agent Price stepped closer.
“When did he leave?”
“Yesterday morning.”
“Did he say where he was going?”
Nolan nodded.
Harper’s heart accelerated.
“What did he say?”
Nolan looked directly at her.
“He said if he couldn’t find what your father left behind, he’d take the one thing you would trade it for.”
Harper went cold.
“Noah.”
Agent Price immediately grabbed his phone.
Harper ran into the hallway.
Rebecca was waiting.
“Where is Noah?”
“At the federal residence.”
“Call them.”
Rebecca did.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Agent Price emerged behind Harper.
His face had changed.
“Move.”
They raced toward the elevator.
Price’s radio exploded with voices.
Then one sentence cut through everything.
“Protection team is down.”
May you like
Harper stopped breathing.
“And the child is missing.”
