Laura’s red lips widened into a sad smile. “The god of shadows. Latif named my avatar.”
“Why didn’t he tell me all this?”
The smile dropped. “He didn’t want you to worry.”
Samira closed her eyes tightly, for a second. Her side burned but the pain seemed distant, like it was happening to someone else. The entire scene seemed to be happening in another dimension.
“Right before Latif died, he introduced me to Charlotte,” Laura continued. “He knew if he didn’t...survive, she’d help me track down what we needed. But in the end what we needed was you.”
Samira gulped. Latif had trusted Laura and Charlotte but not her. He hadn’t thought she could handle it. And maybe she couldn’t have, back then. Hell, two hours ago she’d have thought herself incapable of any of this.
“I finally found out where the evidence was kept but Charlotte didn’t have the skills to hack in,” Laura continued. “We needed you. We just didn’t know how to contact you. So she wrote the postcard and I mailed it from Paris. But apparently it got intercepted.” She looked at Jamie. “Some of this I’ve only managed to put together tonight... And then of course Charlotte disappeared and my father bullied his way into a trip to the UK. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why.”
Hyland advanced on Laura. “Last warning—keep back,” her bodyguard said, dark eyes glittering.
“I pay your wages,” Hyland hissed. “I hired you.”
“You pay me to protect your daughter and that’s what I’m doing. It’s what I’ve always done. You’ve bullied and used her long enough.”
“You fucking trait—”
“Yes,Pops. You put people on my detail who are loyal to you but not everyone remains that way, not after they discover what you’ve done.”
“You’ll lose everything, you stupid little girl.”
Laura’s bodyguard met her eye. She held the gaze, like she was downloading strength from him. “Not everything,” she said.
“You will regret this,” Hyland said to Laura, holding his ground. “If I go down, you’re coming, too. I’ll wring your pampered neck.”
“No, that’s not your style. You’d rather pay someone else to.” Laura looked at the ceiling, her eyes glossing over. “He wasn’t always like this,” she said to no one in particular. “They say he was damaged by his time in the marines, the CIA, by Mom’s death. He lost his empathy. His black and white was upended.”
“You know nothing.”
“I know a lot more than you’ve ever given me credit for, Pops.” Laura returned her gaze to Samira. “I was devastated when Latif was killed. I’m so sorry.”
Samira’s eyes pricked.
“But I’m thankful we got to Charlotte in time.”
“Charlotte?” Samira gasped. “Charlotte’s dead.”
“No.” Laura’s eyes brightened. “She’s fine.”
“But the photo... I saw her...”
“A trick. I saw your note in the game, with her location. We already had a team combing the area.” Laura exchanged another glance with her bodyguard. The other half of thewe? “When you gave us the coordinates, we pulled her out quick. One of her guards’ phones pinged with a message from Fitz ordering her death, so we faked the photo, to buy us time. Oh, and our team came across a friend of yours trying to extract her single-handedly and unarmed—”
“Texas,” Jamie explained.
“Apparently, he’d almost succeeded,” Laura’s bodyguard added. “He was a little pissed that our guys were crashing his party.”
Rafe’s lip slightly curved upward.
Footsteps thundered down the hallway. Laura leaned forward to look through the open door, unfolding her arms. “The police commander, at last. I’ll go talk to her.” She turned. “Pops, I’m still your daughter. Nothing changes that. When the dust clears, when you’ve let all this go, I’ll be the only one standing by you. But I can’t be your enabler any longer. It’s over. There’s no coming back this time.” She sniffed.
Hyland sank into a chair, his head in his hands. Suddenly, he looked his age, like the spell of youth had been broken.
“The paramedics are here, too,” Laura said, still looking down the hallway. “Shall I send them in, Jamie?”
