Page 100 of Mine

Valerie, Astor’s wife, is alive.

I stand there, in the doorway of Astor’s office, as Cillian walks him through a message he just received from a woman who’s supposed to be dead.

I’m not even certain Astor is aware I’m here. He’s too preoccupied with the earth-shattering news. As if the world is just as stunned, a thunderstorm has erupted, sending rain slashing across the windows.

“I don’t understand,” Astor says, shaking his head. He’s even paler than when I opened my bedroom door and saw him on the floor.

“It’s real. I validated it. The email was sent from the secure account that you set up secretly for her years ago for emergencies.”

Astor leans in, studying the screen. “Did you check the IP address?”

“Yes, it’s registered to Blum and Levy.”

“Carlos.” He grabs a mug off the desk and shatters it against the wall. “That liar. He still has her. She never died. That son of a bitch.”

Astor begins pacing, his shoulders hunched, his fists trembling at his sides.

Cillian watches him, frowning. “She must have somehow gotten into Carlos’s personal computer or phone and reached out that way.”

“When was it sent?”

“Two hours ago. I’ve pinned the coordinates to an abandoned airport hangar about an hour north of here, out in the middle of nowhere. It was previously used for helicopters and small planes to conduct search-and-rescue missions in the mountains, but the facility was shut down a few years ago and the business was relocated.” Cillian pauses. “If Valerie never committed suicide like Carlos said she did, why the hell did he tell you that? Why did he make you think that?”

“To get back at my mother.” Astor shakes his head.

“What do you mean?”

“After she got his brother locked up, he committed suicide, in the same way Carlos said Valerie did. In jail, he wrapped a sack around his head and suffocated himself to death. I didn’t even put it together.”

“The picture he showed you of her dead on the floor must have been AI generated.”

“Stupid, how could I have been so stupid?”

“Don’t beat yourself up. We’ve got him now.”

“Get your shit together. We leave in twenty minutes.”

“What?” I rush into the room, no longer able to keep my mouth shut.

Astor spins around, his expression softening when he sees me.

Thunder rumbles in the distance.

“Leave us.” He flicks his wrist at Cillian.

Cillian spares me a glance before closing the door behind him.

My pulse is pounding as I stride across the room and meet Astor behind his desk. Long gone is the broken, shattered man begging me not to leave him. Standing in front of me now is a resolute, tenacious mercenary ready to fight. A killer.

But this time, he’s not fighting for me. He’s fighting for his wife.

“What the hell is going on?” I snap.

“Valerie emailed me.”

The sound of her name coming off his lips is like a knife through my heart.

“Are you sure it’s her?”

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