Chapter 14 - The Choice Evan Cannot Make
Adrian smiled when Nora and Evan entered.
“You came together.”
Nora looked around.
Wires crossed the floor.
Charges attached to steel columns.
Evan recognized military-grade detonators.
“This is excessive,” he said.
Adrian laughed.
“I had the same thought about your hotels.”
Nora held Samuel's ledger.
Adrian's eyes dropped to it.
“Put it down.”
“No.”
He looked amused.
“You think this is negotiation?”
“Yes.”
“Nora.”
Evan's voice warned her.
She ignored him.
“You want the ledger because you think it restores your father's empire.”
Adrian's smile faded.
“You know nothing about my father.”
“I know he wrote you a letter telling you Thomas Harper betrayed him.”
“He was dying.”
“He was honest.”
“Victor Hale was never honest.”
“Then why are you still trying to inherit his life?”
Silence.
Evan almost smiled.
She was terrifying.
Adrian tightened his thumb on the switch.
“Careful.”
Nora didn't move.
“You spent your life proving you were your father's son.”
His eyes hardened.
“Stop.”
“But your father lost.”
Evan whispered, “Nora.”
She continued.
“He went to prison. His organization collapsed. His friends betrayed him. His own son spent years rebuilding something that already destroyed everyone.”
Adrian's jaw clenched.
“You sound like Cole.”
“No.”
Nora looked at Evan.
“Evan finally learned when to walk away.”
The words hit him too.
Adrian laughed.
“Did he?”
He looked at Evan.
“Tell her.”
Evan's stomach tightened.
Nora turned.
“Tell me what?”
Adrian smiled.
“He found me six weeks ago.”
Nora went still.
“What?”
Evan said nothing.
Adrian continued.
“He had me in Savannah.”
“Evan?”
“Nora.”
“You found him?”
“Yes.”
“And let him go?”
Silence.
Adrian laughed.
“He didn't let me go.”
Nora's face changed.
“What happened?”
Evan looked at Adrian.
“Don't.”
“Your girlfriend wants truth.”
Adrian's smile widened.
“So give it.”
Nora stepped closer to Evan.
“What did you do?”
Evan's voice was quiet.
“I kidnapped him.”
Silence.
Nora stopped breathing.
Adrian continued.
“For three days.”
“Why?”
“To find Thomas.”
“You told me you were done using fear.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Her face fell.
There it was again.
The justification she'd feared.
Adrian watched with satisfaction.
“He chained me inside one of his old warehouses.”
“Nora—”
“Did you hurt him?”
Evan didn't answer fast enough.
She knew.
“How badly?”
“Not permanently.”
Nora laughed once in disbelief.
“That's your standard?”
“I was trying to find the man who kidnapped Lily and threatened your family.”
“You lied to me.”
“I didn't tell you.”
“That's lying.”
“Yes.”
The admission made it worse.
Adrian smiled.
“You see? Men like us don't change.”
Evan looked at him.
“You and I are nothing alike.”
“You're right.”
Adrian's voice sharpened.
“You pretend your violence is love.”
Nora flinched.
Evan did too.
Because sometimes the cruelest accusations were effective precisely because they contained a fragment of truth.
Adrian held out his free hand.
“Ledger.”
Nora stared at Evan.
Hurt filled her eyes.
But this wasn't the place.
Not yet.
She put the ledger on the floor.
Adrian kicked it closer.
“Back away.”
They did.
Adrian picked it up.
He opened it.
Read one page.
Then another.
His expression changed.
“This is a copy.”
“Yes,” Nora said.
“Where's the original?”
“Federal evidence.”
Adrian looked furious.
“You lied.”
Nora almost laughed.
“Apparently everyone does.”
Evan winced.
Fair.
Adrian threw the ledger.
“Then we're done.”
His thumb moved.
Evan lunged.
Nora screamed.
The detonator fell.
Adrian and Evan crashed onto the floor.
The switch skidded beneath a crate.
One explosive indicator turned red.
Caleb's voice shouted through Evan's hidden earpiece.
“Timer active!”
“How long?”
“Four minutes!”
Nora ran toward the device.
Evan shouted.
“Don't touch anything!”
“What should I do?”
“Get out!”
“No.”
“NORA!”
She looked at him.
“No more deciding for me.”
Even now.
Evan would have laughed if they weren't about to explode.
Adrian hit him.
Evan responded.
They fought near the crates.
Nora followed Caleb's instructions through her own earpiece.
“Main circuit is probably under the west column.”
“Probably?”
“Bomb squad is remote. Nobody planned on you standing inside.”
“Helpful.”
She found the junction.
Three wires.
Red.
Black.
White.
“This is cliché.”
Caleb shouted, “Don't cut anything!”
“Wasn't planning to!”
Evan slammed Adrian against the wall.
“Where's the failsafe?”
Adrian laughed.
“No failsafe.”
“Wrong answer.”
“Three minutes!” Caleb shouted.
Nora examined the explosives.
She noticed something.
Baking had trained her to see systems.
Timing.
Temperature.
Sequence.
One charge had a different blinking pattern.
“Caleb.”
“Yes?”
“Charge seven isn't synchronized.”
“What?”
“The light flashes every two seconds. Others every one.”
Silence.
Then bomb technician voice entered.
“That's the relay.”
“What do I do?”
“Find the receiver.”
Nora followed wiring.
Behind a steel beam.
Small black module.
“Found it.”
“Pull battery housing straight down.”
She did.
Nothing.
Timer continued.
“Didn't stop.”
“It wouldn't. But remote detonation is disabled.”
Evan shouted, “Timer?”
“Two minutes!”
Adrian broke free.
He ran toward the rear exit.
Evan followed.
Nora grabbed his arm.
“No!”
“He'll escape.”
“So?”
Evan froze.
Adrian disappeared outside.
Nora looked at him.
“Choose.”
One word.
Adrian.
Or Nora.
Revenge.
Or life.
The old Evan would have chased.
This Evan looked at her.
Then grabbed her hand.
They ran.
Security evacuated the perimeter.
One minute.
Thirty seconds.
They reached the vehicles.
“Down!”
The explosion rocked Magnolia Point.
Warehouse Three lifted in a wall of fire.
Windows shattered.
The ground shook.
Nora hit the dirt.
Evan covered her.
Heat rolled across them.
Then silence.
Smoke rose.
Nora coughed.
“Evan?”
“Here.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
She looked toward the burning warehouse.
“Adrian?”
Caleb approached.
“Unknown.”
Evan stared at the flames.
For once he didn't chase.
Nora noticed.
That mattered.
But so did Savannah.
Hours later, after firefighters contained the blaze, Evan and Nora stood alone near the river.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“I need more than yes.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Evan looked exhausted.
“I thought if I found Thomas before he reached you, it wouldn't matter how.”
“It matters to me.”
“I know now.”
“You knew then.”
He couldn't deny it.
Nora's eyes filled.
“You decided your reason was good enough.”
“Yes.”
“And that's exactly what every controlling person in my life has done.”
His face tightened.
Nora continued.
“I love you.”
Everything stopped.
It was the first time she'd said it.
Evan looked almost wounded.
She cried.
“And I hate that I'm saying it during this conversation.”
“Nora—”
“No.”
She wiped her face.
“I love you.”
His eyes closed.
“But love cannot be permission to become whoever you want as long as you claim you're protecting me.”
He nodded slowly.
“You're right.”
“I know.”
“What do you want?”
“I want you to decide who you are when nobody is forcing you.”
“Nora.”
“Not for me.”
Her voice softened.
“For yourself.”
Then she walked away.
This time, unlike before, she wasn't asking for space.
She was asking him to change without using her as the reason.
And Evan knew that was harder.
Because changing for someone else could become another form of obsession.
Changing because you finally believed you deserved a different life?
That required something Evan had never learned.
Hope.
Behind them firefighters uncovered a tunnel beneath Warehouse Three.
Inside, they found blood.
But no body.
Adrian Hale was alive.
May you like
And somewhere beyond Magnolia Point, he was planning one final move.
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