Her 20-Year Silence Ended When Her Daughter Came Back for Revenge novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: The Coat

Nesta's POV

The photographs reached my phone at a quarter to ten, one after another, and then Rhys went quiet.

I called him again and again, and it rang out every time.

At noon Gareth rang from the marble steps of the bank.

"He's inside," he said. "The manager says Rhys forged a card, and Lavinia asked him to hold the vault on a safety timer. It won't open before midnight."

"Break it."

"I've tried. Two directors have to sign an override, and the engineer can't be there before ten tonight." His voice was hoarse. "I am one director. The other is the mayor, and the mayor will be at her party."

I sat down on the lake house steps.

"Nesta, he sent us the book. He did the hard part. Now we do ours."

"I know."

"Don't come here. I'll be at the party by eight, and I'll bring the mayor away from it by ten. I swear it on the ring."

"You don't have the ring."

"Then on your mother."

I said that would do, and hung up, and looked at the lake.

My mother stood behind me in the doorway with the printed pages in her arms.

Somebody had to carry them onto that stage.

At seven I was in a black dress and a white apron again, with the pages folded flat against my ribs.

I walked through the Mercer kitchen door with my hair tied back.

The caterer's manager had taken my name off the list on Tuesday, after the news.

Then she had put it back on at noon, without being asked, and told me to come hungry.

The kitchen was a roar of pans.

The cook saw me, and her spoon stopped.

"They said you were in jail."

"I was."

"Mrs. Mercer said you stole."

"The medal was in my towels because she put it there. You all know that."

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