Chapter 5 - The Night Harper Walked Away From the Most Powerful Man in Chicago
Harper didn’t scream.
That surprised everyone.
Instead, she became terrifyingly calm.
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
Vincent watched her.
“One of the guards received a call supposedly from Owen instructing them to move Susan.”
Owen looked furious.
“I never made that call.”
“They used your voice?”
“Probably cloned.”
Harper’s hands curled into fists.
“Where did they take her?”
“We’re tracing the vehicle.”
“Who was driving?”
“A contractor.”
Vincent’s voice became colder.
“Not one of mine.”
Harper turned on him.
“Not one of yours?”
“It was arranged through a third-party security firm.”
“You said she was safe.”
“She should have been.”
“You said you would protect her.”
“I know.”
Her voice rose for the first time.
“You promised.”
Vincent’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
“And now she is gone.”
“Yes.”
Harper stepped backward.
All the strange intimacy of the previous hours disappeared.
The pancakes.
The laughter.
Patrick’s letters.
The moments when Vincent seemed almost human.
All Harper could see now was power.
His power.
His world.
His enemies.
His mistakes.
“You brought this into our lives.”
Vincent stared.
“That isn’t fair.”
“I don’t care.”
“Gerald was already watching you.”
“And you made everything move faster.”
“Harper—”
“No.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“You want to know why everybody lies to you? Because when you enter a problem, it stops being theirs.”
She pointed toward him.
“You take over.”
“I’m trying to help.”
“You always think taking control is helping.”
Vincent’s jaw hardened.
“What would you prefer? That I do nothing?”
“I would prefer my mother home.”
He had no answer.
Harper grabbed her coat.
“Where are you going?”
“To find her.”
“Absolutely not.”
She laughed through tears.
“There.”
“What?”
“That.”
Harper opened the door.
“You did it again.”
Vincent followed.
“You cannot walk into Chicago looking for Gerald Rourke alone.”
“Watch me.”
“I will stop you.”
Harper turned.
“Then you are exactly who everyone says you are.”
He froze.
She continued quietly.
“A man who mistakes possession for protection.”
The words landed harder than shouting ever could.
Harper walked away.
Vincent did not stop her.
Owen waited until the elevator closed.
“That was unpleasant.”
Vincent glared.
“Find Susan.”
“We are.”
Vincent looked at the closed elevator.
“And follow Harper.”
“Without her knowing?”
Vincent paused.
Then exhaled.
“No.”
Owen’s eyebrow rose.
“No?”
“She told me not to control her.”
“You’re listening?”
“Don’t make it sound miraculous.”
“It is slightly miraculous.”
Vincent grabbed his coat.
“I’ll follow her myself.”
“That is still following.”
“She’ll know.”
Owen almost smiled.
Harper reached the lobby and found Vincent beside her before she crossed the street.
She looked furious.
“I said—”
“I know.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because I’m not stopping you.”
She stared.
“I’m coming with you.”
“That is not better.”
“It’s the best version of me currently available.”
Despite everything, Harper nearly laughed.
She hated him for that.
They traveled first to Dr. Voss’s motel.
Voss was gone.
But he had left another clue.
A handwritten address in Lake Forest.
Gerald Rourke’s estate.
Vincent looked at it.
“He wants us to go there.”
Harper nodded.
“Good.”
“No.”
“You just said you weren’t stopping me.”
“I’m developing as a person, not becoming stupid.”
Harper folded her arms.
“My mother is there.”
“Maybe.”
“Then we go.”
Vincent looked at Owen.
“Police?”
Harper blinked.
“You’re calling police?”
“I can be unpredictable.”
Owen checked his phone.
“We have enough evidence to bring federal investigators into the trust fraud.”
Vincent nodded.
“Do it.”
Harper stared.
“What?”
“I expected you to handle this privately.”
“I considered it.”
“And?”
Vincent looked at her.
“You told me downstairs to call the police.”
Her mouth opened.
He continued.
“I’m trying something new.”
For the first time since Susan disappeared, hope flickered inside Harper.
Federal investigators agreed to move once Owen transferred the financial evidence.
But they needed time.
Harper did not have time.
So Vincent drove north.
Not a convoy.
Not twenty armed men.
One car.
Owen behind them.
They parked a quarter mile from Gerald’s estate.
Harper looked through the trees at the massive house.
“What now?”
Vincent’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Gerald’s voice came through.
“You always were predictable.”
Vincent’s face hardened.
“Where is Susan?”
“Safe.”
Harper leaned closer.
Gerald laughed.
“Is my brother’s daughter with you?”
Vincent looked at Harper.
“Yes.”
“Good. Put me on speaker.”
Vincent did.
Gerald spoke.
“Harper, your mother is fine.”
“Let me hear her.”
“No.”
“Then I assume you’re lying.”
A pause.
Then Susan’s voice.
“Harper?”
Harper nearly collapsed.
“Mom.”
“I’m okay.”
“Did they hurt you?”
“No.”
Gerald returned.
“See?”
Harper’s voice shook.
“What do you want?”
“A signature.”
Vincent frowned.
“What signature?”
“Harper will disclaim her interest in Patrick’s trusts.”
“No.”
Gerald laughed.
“You didn’t even ask what I’m offering.”
“I don’t care.”
“Your mother.”
Harper’s stomach twisted.
Vincent leaned toward the phone.
“Gerald.”
“Vincent.”
“If Susan is harmed—”
Gerald interrupted.
“Still playing king?”
Vincent became silent.
Gerald continued.
“You were always Patrick’s favorite mistake.”
Harper looked at Vincent.
The insult hit him.
But Vincent didn’t react outwardly.
Gerald said, “Harper comes inside alone. She signs. Susan leaves.”
“No,” Vincent said.
Harper said, “Yes.”
Vincent turned.
“No.”
“You promised not to control me.”
“This is different.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Harper.”
She took the phone.
“Gerald, I’m coming.”
The call ended.
Vincent stared at her.
“You are not going inside that house.”
Harper’s eyes filled.
“My mother sacrificed twenty-five years protecting me from your family.”
“Which is exactly why she wouldn’t want this.”
Harper stepped closer.
“She is all I have.”
Vincent’s voice softened.
“No.”
Harper froze.
He looked directly at her.
“She isn’t.”
The words hung between them.
Harper’s breath caught.
Vincent seemed to realize what he had admitted.
He looked away.
Then said, “Give me ten minutes.”
“For what?”
“To do this your way.”
“My way?”
“Lawfully.”
Harper almost smiled.
“What happened to you?”
“You called me pathetic.”
“Apparently very effective.”
Vincent contacted federal agents.
They were fourteen minutes away.
Gerald called again after five.
“You have one minute.”
Vincent looked at Harper.
She understood.
There wasn’t time.
Harper walked toward the estate.
Vincent did not physically stop her.
But he followed ten steps behind.
Gerald’s men emerged.
“Only her.”
Vincent stopped.
Harper entered alone.
Inside, Gerald Rourke waited beside a long dining table.
He was seventy-one.
Silver-haired.
Perfectly dressed.
Susan sat in a chair nearby.
Alive.
Harper rushed toward her.
A man blocked the path.
Gerald smiled.
“Sign first.”
Harper stared at him.
“You stole from us for twenty-five years.”
“I protected the family.”
“You stole medical money from a sick woman.”
“I protected the family.”
“You threatened my father.”
Gerald’s smile faded.
“Patrick became sentimental.”
Harper stepped closer.
“He loved me.”
“He barely knew you.”
“He knew enough to protect me.”
Gerald’s voice sharpened.
“He endangered everything for you.”
Susan shouted, “Harper, don’t sign.”
Gerald looked at her.
Harper noticed something.
A phone beneath Susan’s hand.
Recording.
Her mother had been recording everything.
Harper understood instantly.
So she kept Gerald talking.
“What did you do to Patrick?”
Gerald smiled coldly.
Vincent, standing outside, listened through the call Harper had secretly left connected in her coat pocket.
Gerald said, “Patrick should have remembered who built the family beside him.”
Harper’s heart hammered.
“That isn’t an answer.”
Gerald leaned closer.
“His death was an accident.”
Susan looked terrified.
Harper whispered, “You caused it.”
Gerald’s smile answered before his words did.
Outside, Vincent heard everything.
So did the federal agents who had just arrived.
Seconds later, the doors opened.
Gerald’s expression finally changed.
And Vincent Rourke walked inside.
But instead of attacking his uncle, he stepped aside.
Federal agents entered behind him.
Gerald stared in disbelief.
Vincent looked at Harper.
She understood what he had done.
For the first time in his life, Vincent had chosen law over fear.
But as agents approached Gerald, the older man smiled.
“You think this ends with me?”
Vincent’s eyes narrowed.
Gerald looked directly at Harper.
“Ask your mother why Patrick really died.”
May you like
And Susan went white.
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