Rain returned the night Josie went to meet her husband.
It felt appropriate.
A year earlier, she had buried Nathaniel beneath freezing rain.
Tonight, she intended to bury the power he still believed he possessed over her.
The warehouse stood beside the Chicago River, dark except for a row of industrial lights.
Josie carried a small purse.
Inside was the drive.
A copy.
The original evidence had already been secured.
A recording device was hidden beneath the lining of her coat.
Police investigators monitoring the Aaron Keller case were positioned nearby.
Mateo’s people were farther back.
Josie had insisted.
She didn’t want Nathaniel seeing an army and running.
Mateo hated the plan.
But he respected it.
Before she left the car, he caught her gaze.
“Josie.”
“What?”
“If anything feels wrong, you walk away.”
She smiled faintly.
“Everything feels wrong.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes.”
He hesitated.
Then said the most important thing he could have said.
“You don’t owe anyone bravery.”
Josie looked at him.
Nathaniel had always demanded performances from her.
Beautiful wife.
Supportive wife.
Quiet wife.
Mateo was telling her she could change her mind.
“I know.”
She stepped into the rain.
Nathaniel waited inside.
A suitcase sat near his feet.
“You came.”
“You knew I would.”
He smiled.
“I did.”
Josie almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
“Give me the drive.”
“First, I want answers.”
“We’ve been through this.”
“No. You talked. I listened. That isn’t the same thing.”
His smile faded.
“What do you want to know?”
“Why me?”
Nathaniel frowned.
“What?”
“Why did you marry me?”
The question surprised him.
Eventually he shrugged.
“You were beautiful.”
“Not enough.”
“You were ambitious.”
“You hated my ambition.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“I admired it.”
The confession hurt more than an insult.
“Then why destroy it?”
Nathaniel walked closer.
“Because you didn’t know when to stop.”
Josie stared.
“You were becoming successful. People noticed you. You started making decisions without asking me.”
There it was.
No mystery.
No complicated psychology.
Control.
“You were afraid of me.”
Nathaniel laughed.
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
“You were.”
His expression changed.
“You needed my building.”
“Convenient.”
“My designs.”
“Useful.”
“My backup systems.”
Nathaniel’s jaw tightened.
“You’re trying to provoke me.”
“I’m trying to understand how a man who thought I was worthless depended on everything I built.”
“Give me the drive.”
“Tell me about Aaron Keller.”
Nathaniel’s eyes hardened.
“He was nobody.”
Josie’s stomach turned.
“His sister disagrees.”
For the first time, Nathaniel looked genuinely shocked.
“You found Rebecca?”
“Yes.”
“That was stupid.”
“No. What you did was stupid.”
Nathaniel moved toward her.
Josie held her ground.
“He trusted you.”
“He wanted money.”
“You killed him.”
“I didn’t kill anyone.”
“You put him in that car.”
“He knew there were risks.”
“Did he know you planned to burn it?”
Nathaniel stopped.
That silence was being recorded.
Josie continued.
“You forged the dental records.”
“Jo.”
“You moved the money.”
“Stop.”
“You stole thirty million dollars.”
“Lower your voice.”
“Why? Nobody’s here.”
Nathaniel looked around.
Suspicion.
Josie had pushed too far.
She softened her expression.
“I’m tired.”
Nathaniel studied her.
“I want this finished.”
“Then give me the drive.”
“I will.”
She removed it.
His eyes followed.
“I want one thing.”
“What?”
“Say it.”
“Say what?”
“That you did this.”
Nathaniel smiled.
“Why?”
“Because I spent a year thinking I was crazy for feeling relieved when you died.”
Something shifted in his face.
Josie let tears come.
Those were real.
“I need to know I wasn’t wrong about you.”
Nathaniel’s ego did the rest.
He stepped closer.
“You weren’t wrong.”
Josie swallowed.
“You stole the money?”
“Yes.”
“You staged the accident?”
“Yes.”
“Aaron?”
Nathaniel sighed.
“Aaron wasn’t supposed to matter.”
Josie nearly broke.
But she held on.
“And me?”
Nathaniel touched her cheek.
Every nerve in her body recoiled.
“You were supposed to move on.”
“You left me to bury him.”
“I knew you could handle it.”
“You spent seven years telling me I couldn’t handle anything.”
Nathaniel smiled.
“That was different.”
“How?”
“I needed you manageable.”
The word hung between them.
Manageable.
Josie stepped away.
Nathaniel frowned.
“Give me the drive.”
“No.”
His face changed instantly.
“What?”
“No.”
“Jo.”
“No.”
He grabbed her.
Josie twisted free.
Nathaniel caught her coat.
The recording device fell onto the concrete.
Everything stopped.
Nathaniel stared at it.
Then at her.
“You stupid—”
He lunged.
Josie ran.
Nathaniel caught her near the loading platform and shoved her against a railing.
“You set me up!”
Josie struck his arm away.
“You set yourself up!”
He grabbed her again.
Then a voice echoed through the warehouse.
“Nathaniel.”
Mateo.
He stood near the entrance.
Several figures moved behind him.
Police.
Nathaniel released Josie.
His hand went inside his coat.
Mateo froze.
“Don’t.”
Nathaniel pulled a handgun.
Josie’s heart stopped.
Police shouted commands.
Nathaniel grabbed Josie and pulled her backward.
The gun pressed against her side.
“Everybody back!”
Mateo’s face became terrifyingly calm.
Josie could see how badly he wanted to move.
But he didn’t.
Because moving might endanger her.
Nathaniel dragged her toward a side exit.
“You ruined everything.”
Josie breathed carefully.
“No.”
“You should have stayed home.”
“No.”
“You should have stayed my wife.”
There it was.
Josie looked down.
Nathaniel’s grip was strong, but frantic.
He was watching Mateo.
Not her.
Nathaniel had always underestimated her.
One final time.
Josie drove her heel down onto his foot and twisted sharply away.
The gun shifted.
She dropped.
Police surged forward.
A shot cracked through the warehouse ceiling.
Then Nathaniel was on the ground.
Officers restrained him.
Josie crawled backward.
Her ears rang.
Mateo reached her but stopped several feet away.
“Josie.”
She looked up.
He didn’t touch her.
He waited.
She understood.
Even now.
Even after that.
He was waiting for permission.
Josie stood and crossed the distance herself.
Then she wrapped her arms around him.
Mateo held her.
Not tightly.
Not possessively.
Just enough.
Behind them, Nathaniel shouted while officers read him his rights.
Josie didn’t look back.
For the first time in eight years, his voice no longer controlled where she looked.
Hours later, dawn appeared over Chicago.
Nathaniel Miller was in custody.
The evidence connected him to fraud, financial crimes, falsified records, and Aaron Keller’s death investigation.
Rebecca would finally be able to bury her brother under his own name.
Mateo’s stolen money would become part of a complicated legal process.
Josie didn’t care.
She sat beside the river wrapped in Mateo’s coat.
“You took his chair,” she said.
Mateo looked at her.
“What?”
“The first night.”
“At Laurent?”
“Yes.”
She smiled.
“I hated you for it.”
“I noticed.”
“It felt like you were disrespecting the dead.”
Mateo looked toward the water.
“He wasn’t dead.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“No.”
Josie studied him.
“Why did you really sit there?”
Mateo was quiet.
Then he answered.
“Because you looked lonely.”
Her throat tightened.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“You terrorized half of Chicago because I looked lonely?”
“I sat in a chair.”
“You’re very dramatic about chairs.”
He almost smiled.
Josie looked toward the waking city.
A year earlier, she believed her life had ended with Nathaniel’s.
Now she understood something.
Nathaniel’s funeral had never been the ending.
It had been an exit door.
She simply hadn’t known she was allowed to walk through it.
Until now.