Chapter 6 - The Night Ronan Finally Told the Truth
Ronan moved Sadie, Poppy and Eleanor into the secure West Wing.
Nobody slept.
At 2:16 a.m., Sadie found Ronan alone in the kitchen.
He was sitting at the enormous marble island with a cup of coffee untouched before him.
“You should sleep,” he said.
“So should you.”
“I don’t sleep much.”
“Neither do I.”
She sat opposite him.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Then Ronan said, “Elias was better than me.”
Sadie looked up.
“He believed people could be saved.”
“And you don’t?”
“I believe people can be protected.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“No.”
Ronan stared into the coffee.
“My father raised me to inherit everything Elias hated. I spent twenty years becoming useful to dangerous men because I thought keeping control was the same as keeping my family safe.”
He laughed without humor.
“Meanwhile, Marsh operated beneath my roof.”
Sadie reached across the island.
Her fingers touched his.
Ronan looked down.
She almost withdrew.
He turned his hand and held hers.
No dramatic declaration.
No demand.
Just warmth.
Then Poppy entered wearing pajamas covered in yellow stars.
“Why are you holding hands?”
Sadie immediately pulled away.
Ronan did not.
“Your mother was cold.”
Poppy narrowed her eyes.
“There are blankets.”
Sadie covered her face.
Ronan almost smiled.
Poppy climbed onto a stool.
“Grandma says you like Mommy.”
Sadie choked.
Ronan looked genuinely alarmed.
“Grandma cannot speak.”
“She has hands.”
Sadie laughed.
For perhaps thirty seconds, Raven Hill felt like a normal home.
Then the security alarm began.
A vehicle had breached the east gate.
Ronan stood.
“Take Poppy upstairs.”
The approaching car stopped outside.
The driver stepped out with both hands raised.
Wesley.
The young kitchen employee who had filmed Sadie’s humiliation.
His face was bruised.
“They took June.”
Ronan opened the door.
“Who?”
“Marsh.”
Wesley held out a phone.
A video played.
June was tied inside an unknown room.
Marsh stood beside her.
“You have something belonging to me, Ronan.”
He smiled.
“And I have something belonging to you.”
June screamed through tape.
Marsh continued.
“Midnight tomorrow. Bring the microfilm.”
The video ended.
Ronan looked at Wesley.
“How did you get this?”
“They made me deliver it.”
“Why are you bleeding?”
“I told them I wouldn’t go back.”
Wesley’s eyes moved toward Sadie.
“I’m sorry.”
She frowned.
“For what?”
“For filming you.”
His voice cracked.
“I thought it was funny. Everybody did. Then Mrs. Cain looked at you like you were the first person who had treated her like a human being in years.”
He lowered his head.
“I deleted it.”
Sadie studied him.
“Thank you.”
That night, they created a plan.
But Sadie had learned something about Marsh.
He expected Ronan to behave like Ronan Cain.
Power.
Weapons.
Force.
So Sadie proposed something different.
They would let Marsh believe he had won.
At midnight the next day, Ronan arrived at the abandoned Ashport Theater carrying the microfilm.
Marsh waited onstage.
June sat beneath the old screen.
Ronan walked forward.
Marsh smiled.
“Always predictable.”
Ronan tossed him the film.
Marsh caught it.
Then the theater lights came on.
Dozens of federal agents surrounded the balconies.
Marsh laughed.
“You think this ends with me?”
“No,” Sadie said.
She stepped from backstage.
“It ends with your records.”
Marsh stared.
Sadie held up a tablet.
While he had focused on the microfilm, Bell and federal investigators had used its account information to locate Marsh’s encrypted server.
Everything was being copied.
Marsh’s smile vanished.
He raised his gun toward Sadie.
Ronan moved instantly.
The shot exploded.
Sadie fell.
For one impossible second, Ronan believed she had been hit.
Then Marsh collapsed.
June had kicked his knee at the exact moment he fired.
The bullet had missed Sadie by inches.
Agents swarmed.
Ronan reached her.
“Sadie.”
“I’m fine.”
He grabbed her face between his hands.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
Then he kissed her.
It lasted perhaps two seconds.
Long enough for both of them to realize it had happened.
Ronan pulled back.
Sadie stared.
June, still tied to the chair, cleared her throat.
“This is extremely touching.”
Sadie closed her eyes.
“June.”
“Sorry.”
Ronan cut her loose.
Marsh was arrested alive.
It should have ended there.
But as agents dragged him away, he looked directly at Ronan.
“You still don’t understand.”
Ronan said nothing.
Marsh smiled through blood.
“Ask your mother what happened the night Elias died.”
Eleanor had already told them Marsh betrayed Elias.
But Marsh laughed.
“Not that night.”
His eyes moved to Sadie.
“The night before.”
Sadie felt cold.
May you like
Marsh whispered:
“Ask her who ordered Elias to disappear.”
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