Chapter 12
1563 Words
Chapter Twelve
The Necklace
Emma’s fingers closed around the silver pendant at her throat.
For ten years, she’d worn it without knowing what it meant.
Now it felt impossibly heavy.
Ghost stared at it.
“Take it off.”
Emma shook her head.
“Why?”
“Because if Marcus knows what’s inside it, I don’t want you wearing it where someone can take it.”
Ruth stepped closer.
“Your father gave it to you on your eighteenth birthday.”
Emma nodded.
“He told me it was your mother’s.”
Ruth’s face changed.
“Your mother never owned that necklace.”
Emma’s stomach dropped.
“What?”
“Your father gave it to her before you were born.”
“Why would he lie?”
“Because he needed you to believe it was sentimental.”
Emma touched the pendant.
“What is it?”
Ruth looked at Ghost.
“Your father told me it contained something important.”
“Like what?”
“I never knew.”
Ghost reached for the pendant.
Emma hesitated before removing it and placing it in his palm.
He examined the tiny silver angel.
“There’s a seam.”
Bishop stepped closer.
“Can you open it?”
Ghost shook his head.
“Not without damaging it.”
Cole took the pendant.
He turned it over.
“There’s a tiny hole.”
Emma frowned.
“For what?”
Cole looked at the brass key from the wooden box.
“Maybe this.”
He inserted the tip of the key into the hole.
Click.
The pendant opened.
A tiny memory card fell into Emma’s hand.
Everyone stared.
Bishop whispered,
“Thomas hid it inside the necklace.”
Emma’s heart raced.
“What’s on it?”
Ghost looked toward the computer on his desk.
“Let’s find out.”
⸻
The file contained only one video.
No title.
No date.
Ghost clicked play.
Static filled the screen.
Then Emma saw her father.
He looked tired.
Older than she remembered.
He was sitting behind a desk.
A camera had been placed directly in front of him.
“If you’re watching this,” Thomas said, “then I’m probably dead.”
Emma covered her mouth.
Ghost reached for her hand.
She let him.
Thomas continued.
“I don’t know who will find this recording. But if it’s Emma…”
He paused.
His eyes softened.
“My baby girl, I’m sorry.”
Emma began crying.
“I wanted to tell you everything. I wanted to keep you safe. But there are things a father does because he loves his child, even when she hates him for it.”
The recording flickered.
Thomas leaned closer to the camera.
“Ryder Callahan is not your enemy.”
Ghost closed his eyes.
“He never was.”
Emma looked at him.
Thomas continued.
“If Ryder is with you when you watch this, listen to him. He knows more than he thinks he does.”
Ghost frowned.
“What does that mean?”
The video continued.
“Ryder’s memory was damaged the night I died. But before he was attacked, he saw something.”
Thomas paused.
“He saw Marcus.”
Emma’s breath caught.
“Marcus was the one who followed me to the mill.”
Ghost leaned forward.
“Keep watching.”
Thomas looked frightened now.
“Silas ordered Marcus to kill me. But Marcus wasn’t loyal to Silas.”
Thomas swallowed.
“He was loyal to someone else.”
The video cut to black.
Emma stared at the screen.
“That’s it?”
Ghost shook his head.
“No.”
A second file appeared.
Ghost clicked it.
This time, Thomas wasn’t alone.
A younger Cole stood beside him.
Emma stared.
Cole looked barely eighteen.
Thomas placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Promise me you’ll protect Emma.”
Young Cole nodded.
“I promise.”
Thomas looked toward the camera.
“If Ryder can’t protect her…”
He looked at Cole.
“…you do it.”
The video ended.
Emma slowly turned toward Cole.
“You knew my father.”
Cole nodded.
“I did.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
Cole’s expression hardened.
“Of failing him.”
⸻
The clubhouse door suddenly slammed open.
Jax rushed inside.
“Ghost!”
Ghost stood.
“What?”
“Someone breached the south gate.”
Bishop grabbed his weapon.
“How many?”
“Three.”
“Where?”
“Inside the compound.”
Ghost looked at Emma.
“Stay here.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Emma.”
“You told me we’re done running.”
His jaw tightened.
She stepped closer.
“I’m not hiding in another room while everyone else fights.”
Ghost stared at her.
Then he nodded.
“Fine.”
He handed her a weapon.
Emma looked at it.
“I don’t know how to use this.”
“Then don’t.”
He took it back.
“Stay close to me.”
They moved toward the hallway.
Footsteps echoed outside.
Then a gunshot.
Jax returned fire.
Someone screamed.
Ghost pulled Emma behind him.
“Back door.”
They moved quickly.
But when they reached the exit, the door opened.
A masked man stood there.
Ghost raised his weapon.
The man froze.
Then slowly removed his mask.
Emma’s heart stopped.
She knew him.
Bishop stared.
“That’s impossible.”
The man smiled.
“Hello, brothers.”
It was one of the Iron Saints.
A man Emma had met only days earlier.
A man who had eaten breakfast with them.
A man who had sworn loyalty to Ghost.
Ghost’s face hardened.
“You’re the rat.”
The man laughed.
“Finally figured it out.”
Emma stared at him.
“Who are you working for?”
He looked at her.
“Marcus.”
Ghost stepped forward.
“Where is he?”
The man’s smile widened.
“You’ll never find him.”
Ghost grabbed him by the collar.
“Try me.”
The man laughed.
“You’re still the same, Ryder.”
Ghost’s expression darkened.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Always protecting everyone.”
The traitor looked toward Emma.
“Even when they don’t deserve it.”
Ghost’s grip tightened.
“Where’s Marcus?”
The man’s smile disappeared.
“At your old house.”
Emma froze.
“My house?”
“He’s waiting for you.”
Ghost released him.
“Why?”
The traitor looked directly at Emma.
“Because that’s where your father hid the rest.”
Emma’s stomach dropped.
“The rest of what?”
“The evidence.”
⸻
They left immediately.
The Iron Saints followed in formation.
Emma rode behind Ghost again.
But this time, she wasn’t thinking about the past.
She was thinking about her childhood home.
The house had been empty since her father died.
She hadn’t been back since the funeral.
Every memory was still there.
Every room.
Every photograph.
Every secret.
Ghost stopped at the end of the driveway.
The house stood dark beneath the moon.
Emma climbed off.
“I don’t want to go inside.”
Ghost removed his helmet.
“You don’t have to.”
She looked at him.
“Yes, I do.”
Together, they walked toward the front door.
It was unlocked.
Emma’s heart pounded.
Ghost pushed it open.
Dust filled the air.
Nothing looked disturbed.
Then Emma noticed something.
The hallway photograph.
Her father.
Her mother.
Emma as a little girl.
The frame was crooked.
She reached toward it.
Ghost caught her wrist.
“Wait.”
He carefully removed the picture.
Behind it was a small metal safe built into the wall.
Emma stared.
“My father hid this here?”
Ghost nodded.
“Apparently.”
She touched the safe.
“What’s the combination?”
Ghost looked at her.
“Your birthday?”
She tried.
Nothing.
“Your father’s birthday?”
Nothing.
She thought.
Then remembered something.
“The day he died.”
She entered the date.
Click.
The safe opened.
Inside was a single envelope.
Emma pulled it out.
Her name was written across the front.
But beneath it was something else.
A warning.
DO NOT GIVE THIS TO RYDER.
Emma slowly looked at Ghost.
He stared at the envelope.
“Open it.”
She did.
Inside was a letter.
Not from her father.
From someone else.
The handwriting was unfamiliar.
The first sentence made Emma’s blood run cold.
Thomas Brooks didn’t die because he knew too much.
She read the next line.
He died because he discovered who Emma’s real mother was.
Emma stopped breathing.
Ghost looked at her.
“What?”
Her hands trembled.
“My mother…”
She couldn’t finish.
The letter continued.
And if you’re reading this, Emma, there’s a reason you were never told the truth.
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
Ghost immediately reached for his weapon.
Emma looked toward the staircase.
“Someone’s here.”
A man’s voice drifted down from the darkness.
“Hello, Emma.”
Ghost stepped in front of her.
Marcus Vale appeared at the top of the stairs.
He smiled.
“About time you came home.”
Emma stared at him.
“Who is my mother?”
Marcus’s smile disappeared.
Then he said the words that shattered everything Emma thought she knew.
“Your mother is still alive.”
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