The Ring with Two Initials
Chapter 03 - The Ring with Two Initials
For one impossible second, no one moved.
Noah stared at Grant, his small face drained of color. Lily grabbed Claire’s hand so tightly that her nails dug into her aunt’s skin.
“What did you say?” Claire demanded.
Grant lifted both hands, enjoying their shock. “Sarah survived the crash. At least, she survived long enough to make a deal.”
Robert struck him across the face.
Grant stumbled, then laughed as blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“You knew,” Claire said to her father.
Robert’s eyes filled with grief. “I knew she might be alive. The police said telling anyone could get her killed.”
The second envelope contained a letter for Claire and the children. Sarah explained that she had discovered Grant and Rose’s plan two weeks before the crash. She copied their messages and tried to reach the police, but someone inside the department warned Grant. On her way to meet a state investigator, her brakes failed.
A truck driver pulled her from the wreck seconds before the car exploded.
Badly injured and certain Grant would try again, Sarah entered protective custody. Her death was announced to force him into revealing the rest of his scheme. Only Robert knew she might have survived, and even he was denied her location.
Lily shook her head. “Mom would never let us think she was dead.”
Robert knelt in the mud. “She did it because Grant had already ordered someone to watch your school.”
The flash drive held one final recording. Sarah’s voice filled the speakers, weak but steady.
“My babies, every hour away from you is breaking me. But if Grant knows I’m alive, he will run. If he thinks I’m dead, he will reach for the money, the files, and Rose. That is when the police can take them all.”
Claire covered her mouth as Sarah continued.
“The ring is the key. Rose wore it during every secret video call. Its serial number connects them to the offshore account.”
Grant suddenly shoved Robert aside and ran toward Sarah’s grave, where a black device lay hidden beneath the white lilies.
Noah saw it first. “He’s going to destroy the evidence!”
Grant raised the device and pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
From behind the headstones, a woman said, “That’s because I replaced the detonator yesterday.”
Grant turned.
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Rose Dalton stepped into the rain, a police wire visible beneath her black coat.
Behind her, three state investigators drew their weapons.
