at Claire.
“I knew more than any of you.”
Hayes suddenly raised his weapon.
“Don’t move.”
Margaret didn’t flinch.
“Still afraid of me, Thomas?”
Thomas.
Mr. Hayes.
My alleged father.
His jaw tightened.
“You should have stayed gone.”
“And you should have stayed out of my daughter’s life.”
I looked between them.
“What is happening?”
Margaret’s gaze returned to me.
“I’ll explain everything.”
“You’ve had nine years.”
“Emily—”
“Nine years!”
My scream echoed through the basement.
“I watched you die!”
She swallowed.
“No. You watched a woman with my name die.”
“What?”
Russell groaned on the floor.
Margaret rushed toward him.
Hayes aimed at her.
“Stop.”
She ignored him.
“Russell’s bleeding badly.”
Claire’s gun shifted toward Hayes.
“Lower it.”
Hayes laughed.
“Now you’re protecting her?”
“I’m protecting my father.”
Russell looked up at Claire.
For the first time that night, something tender entered his expression.
“Claire.”
“Don’t,” she said. “I’m
