Page 135 of Trace of Doubt
“What happened?”
She swore. “I didn’t expect to get pregnant. An abortion made sense, but I figured out how to use the situation to my advantage—more trips away to rest and take care of business. Eli often joined me. He helped me devise a plan to leave the baby with Travis and lose myself in Europe.”
“But why shoot Travis?”
“He found out I’d been embezzling his poor orphans’ money. His accusation threatened to ruin my future, and while I aimed a gun at him, my mind danced with how to cover it up with my grandest scheme ever—a glorious means to keep my good-girl facade.”
“And I fell right into it.”
“You became my scapegoat, my sweet rebellious sister. You swallowed a pregnant woman’s desperation, and the rest paved my golden road to millions.”
“After my prison release, you sent your dogs after me. Why, after I paid your debt? I honored the request to stay away from all of you.”
“Couldn’t risk losing all I’d built. I needed your death to permanently lock away the past so I could make my escape.”
I hid my anger and grief. “Whose handwriting was on the sympathy card?”
“Eli found a maid from a Miami hotel.”
“And what of Aria?” My lungs warred against me. I struggled to keep my strength and sucked in air.
She sneered at me. “Do I look like I want to be chained to a fifteen-year-old? She makes me crazy. Transforming Dad into a Shelby-hater took time. He denied your guilt for a few years.” She clenched her jaw. “Aria and Mom were at church every time the door opened. I went to keep up the facade. Utterly disgusting.” She laughed, a hysterical high pitch. “Aria looks and acts like you.You should see yourself. You can’t mask your revulsion of me. And I worked so hard all those years to teach you how to hide your body language.”
“My hatred is for what happened to you as a child.”
“Marissa,” Aria said. “I’m sorry I stood in your way.”
“Shut up. You and Shelby make me sick.”
“Are you going to kill us?” Aria whispered.
“You had doubts? I don’t deal with liabilities.”
The sound of an approaching vehicle seized Marissa’s attention.
84
Eli sped to the side of the car in a battered pickup and stepped out, gun in hand. “Marissa, we need to talk.”
She opened the car door and aimed her gun, sending a bullet into his left shoulder directly above his heart. Eli fell back and didn’t move. “Another problem resolved.” She whirled to us. “Out of the car. Time’s running out, and I don’t need anyone reporting gunfire.”
We exited the car, and she gestured to the front of it. A gust of wind blew, and droplets of rain hit my face... like the day I was released from prison. Then it was morning, now we faced sunset.
“Leave Aria out of this. Do this one good thing. She deserves a full life.” I softened my voice. “I know you want your daughter free of the hurt you’ve felt all these years.”
“Fat chance.”
The whir of helicopter blades sounded. Marissa had specifically said a plane was coming. The helicopter hovered closer over the landing strip. A bullhorn sounded.
“Marissa Stover, this is the FBI. Lay your weapon down now.”
Denton. Hope fluttered inside me.
“How did they find us?” Marissa’s anger erupted in a shriek. She stared at the car and quickly searched the sky. “They won’t shoot up the place as long as I have you two.” She pointed the gun at Aria and me. “Besides, I won’t go down alone.”
Aria and I knew where we’d spend our eternity. “Marissa, God doesn’t want you miserable. He—”
“Preaching to me is a waste. I know God wants me happy. I’m blessed. I have money tucked away all over the world. Even here.”
