Chapter 5 - The Truth UnmaskedShe was sitting in the corner of a bare, windowless concrete cell, curled into a ball on a thin vinyl mattress.
She was wearing a thin hospital gown, her arms wrapped around her chest, her knees pulled to her chin. Her skin was deathly pale, her lips blue from the cold, and her soft brown eyes were wide with terror, filled with red, broken veins from crying.
"Natalie..." I gasped, dropping the tire iron, tumbling to my knees beside her.
She flinched away from me, pulling back against the cold concrete wall, her chest heaving as she struggled for air. "Don't... don't hurt me... please..."
The sound of her fear smashed through my soul like a sledgehammer.
"I'm not going to hurt you, Nat," I sobbed, tears streaming down my face as I stripped off my heavy winter jacket and wrapped it around her shivering shoulders. "I'm so sorry... oh God, I'm so sorry... I know what Brenda did. I know everything."
Natalie looked at me, her dark eyes searching my face through her tears. She saw the blood on my gloves, the bruises on my face, and the sheer, unadulterated agony in my eyes.
"You... you came for me?" she whispered, her voice barely a breath.
"I will never leave you again," I swore, pulling her cold, delicate hands into mine. I pulled off my glove and slid her silver wedding ring back onto her finger. "I brought this back. I'm going to fix this, Natalie. I swear on my life, I'm going to fix everything."
Natalie pulled her hands away slightly, reaching into the pocket of her thin hospital pants. Her fingers pulled out a small, crumpled flash drive.
"What is that?" I asked softly.
"I didn't... I didn't steal eight thousand dollars, Landon," Natalie wheezed, her voice shaking as I helped her sit up. "Brenda... Brenda didn't just take your father's money. She's been using Vanguard Assets to launder money from older residents at this facility. My mother's doctor... Dr. Vance... he discovered it. That's why Brenda was trying to stop the surgery. If the Chicago clinic processed my mother's insurance clearance, Brenda's illegal accounts would have been flagged by the federal banking board."
I stared at the tiny plastic drive in her hand.
"She built this entire nightmare," Natalie whispered, tears spilling over her pale cheeks, "just to keep her secrets buried."
Suddenly, the heavy metal door behind us slammed shut with a deafening CLANG.
The electronic lock engaged with a sharp, terrifying click.
Through the reinforced glass viewport of the isolation door, a face appeared.
It was Brenda.
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She was wearing her tailored camel-hair coat, holding a small silver remote control in her leather-gloved hand. Standing behind her were two more armed guards from the facility.
"How predictable, Landon," Brenda's voice came through the small intercom speaker above the door, smooth, cold, and entirely devoid of emotion. "I knew you'd come here. You always were so pathetically romantic."
