Chapter 14 - What Ryan Chose
Ryan splashed gasoline across the concrete.
Diane screamed.
"Are you insane?"
He looked at her with tears in his eyes.
"You said the papers were the only thing connecting us."
"Not with Emily standing here!"
That was the first moment I saw it clearly.
Diane loved control more than she loved Ryan.
Ryan loved escape more than he loved anybody.
Victor loved only himself.
I grabbed the black case and ran.
Ryan caught my coat.
Pain shot through my burned hand when I twisted free.
"Let go of me!"
Detective Lane shouted from the corner.
"Police! Drop the can!"
Ryan froze.
Victor ran.
Two officers chased him between the storage rows.
Diane lifted both hands.
"I didn't do anything."
I almost laughed.
Ryan looked at me.
Then he looked at the case in my arms.
"Emily, give me that."
"No."
"Please."
"No."
"You don't understand what happens if they open it."
"Then tell me."
His face collapsed.
"North Ridge wasn't just my debt."
Detective Lane moved closer.
Ryan kept talking.
"Victor used it to move employee retirement money. Mom approved the transfers. I thought we'd replace it before anyone noticed."
Charles's employees.
People who had worked thirty years believing their pensions were safe.
I stared at him.
"How much?"
"Two-point-six million."
Diane shouted, "Ryan, stop talking!"
He turned on her.
"You said Dad would cover it!"
The silence afterward felt enormous.
Detective Lane handcuffed Ryan.
At the far end of the row, officers dragged Victor back.
Then Lane opened the black case.
The trust papers were inside.
So was a blue ledger none of us had seen before.
Monica flipped it open.
May you like
The first page listed payments from Victor to a highway maintenance contractor.
The first payment was dated three days before my father's crash.
