Chapter 9 - Darwin Comes Back Alone
Cole emerged behind Marcus.
Darwin raised his gun.
Cole raised empty hands.
“Listen.”
Marcus collapsed.
Betsy rushed forward.
He had been stabbed.
Cole explained.
Marcus had indeed worked for Silas.
Years ago.
Then Arthur discovered him.
Instead of exposing Marcus, Arthur convinced him to become an informant.
Marcus spent years feeding information to Arthur and later Daniel.
Silas discovered the betrayal two days earlier.
Cole rescued Marcus from a safe house.
Darwin stared at Cole.
“You didn’t tell me.”
“Marcus made me swear.”
Darwin’s anger flashed.
Betsy stepped between them.
“Later.”
Outside, Silas demanded her again.
Marcus grabbed Darwin’s sleeve.
“He wants Betsy because Arthur put something in her name.”
“What?”
“Not property.”
Marcus struggled to breathe.
“A corporation.”
Betsy stared.
“I don’t own a corporation.”
“You do.”
Arthur had quietly registered a holding company decades earlier.
King Hospitality LLC.
Betsy assumed it only owned the diner.
It didn’t.
Through layers of old agreements, it owned a minority interest in a transportation company controlled by the Vales.
Arthur had acquired the shares from Daniel.
Those shares included voting rights.
Enough, combined with frozen Vale assets, to strip Silas of control.
Betsy laughed once.
“My dead husband turned a diner into a weapon.”
Marcus nodded.
“Pretty much.”
Silas did not merely need her dead.
He needed her signature.
That gave them leverage.
Evelyn contacted federal agents she trusted.
They were coming.
But the storm slowed them.
Again.
Betsy looked around.
Same diner.
Same armed men.
Same snow.
Same threat.
Only this time she understood the board.
“Turn on the lights.”
Darwin stared.
“What?”
“Generator.”
Cole activated it.
Oak Haven glowed again.
Betsy walked to the window.
Silas stood outside beside a vehicle.
She opened the door.
Darwin grabbed her.
“No.”
“Trust me.”
He hated it.
But he released her.
Betsy stepped onto the porch.
“Silas!”
He smiled.
“Mrs. King.”
“You want my signature?”
“Yes.”
“Then come eat.”
Silas stared.
Darwin whispered, “You’re insane.”
Betsy looked back.
“Frequently.”
Darwin recognized his own word.
Despite everything, he smiled.
Silas entered with two men.
Betsy made them leave weapons at the door.
Astonishingly, Silas agreed.
She served stew.
He sat in Darwin’s booth.
“You think this is funny?”
“No.”
“Then why feed me?”
“People talk better when they’re eating.”
Silas tasted the stew.
His expression changed.
“Good?”
He ignored her.
Betsy placed documents on the table.
“You want King Hospitality.”
“Yes.”
“You want me to sign control to you.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“You disappear.”
Darwin’s hand tightened beneath the counter.
Betsy remained calm.
“Alive?”
Silas smiled.
“That depends.”
Exactly what Evelyn needed.
A recording device hidden beneath Betsy’s apron transmitted everything.
Silas continued.
He admitted ordering the attack.
He admitted kidnapping Daniel.
He admitted using Pike.
He was arrogant enough to believe nobody could touch him.
Then he noticed Betsy’s apron.
A tiny light blinked.
His face changed.
He lunged.
Darwin moved.
The diner exploded into chaos.
Silas grabbed Betsy.
A knife appeared against her throat.
“Everyone back!”
Darwin froze.
Silas dragged Betsy toward the door.
Outside, engines approached.
Federal vehicles.
Silas panicked.
Betsy felt the knife tremble.
“You rebuilt this place for her,” Silas shouted at Darwin. “You think that makes you a better man?”
“No.”
Darwin’s voice was steady.
“She does.”
Silas pulled Betsy outside.
Snow struck her face.
A helicopter thundered overhead.
Agents surrounded the lot.
Silas pressed the knife harder.
Then Betsy did what Arthur once taught her.
She stomped backward on Silas’s foot and drove her elbow into his ribs.
Darwin rushed forward.
Agents tackled Silas.
Within seconds, it was over.
Or appeared to be.
Silas lay handcuffed in the snow.
Betsy looked at Darwin.
He crossed toward her.
Then a gunshot came from the tree line.
Darwin jerked.
Blood appeared across his shirt.
May you like
He fell into Betsy’s arms.
And somewhere beyond the headlights, a second shooter chambered another round...
