Chapter 48 Breaking Point
Ariella was already running.
Down the hallway, down the stairs, screaming for Aiden, for Marcus, for anyone. Her mother’s scream still echoing in her ears, the dead phone line in her shaking hand.
Aiden caught her at the front door. “What happened?”
“Someone broke into Mom’s apartment. She called, she screamed, the line went dead…” Her voice was hysteria and terror. “We have to go, we have to…”
“Thomas is getting the car. Marcus is calling the police.” Aiden held her shoulders. “We’re going. Right now. But you need to breathe or you’ll pass out before we get there.”
She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t do anything except imagine her mother hurt, alone, scared.
The drive took twelve minutes that felt like hours.
Police cars were already there when they arrived, lights painting the street in urgent red and blue. Ariella bolted from the car before it fully stopped, running toward the bakery, toward the apartment above it, toward her mother.
An officer stopped her. “Miss, you can’t…”
“That’s my mother! Let me through!”
“Ariella!” Claire’s voice, from somewhere in the crowd.
She was there. Alive. Wrapped in a blanket, talking to paramedics, but alive and whole and breathing.
Ariella crashed into her, sobbing. “I thought…when the line went dead, I thought…”
“I’m okay. I’m okay, baby.” Claire held her tight. “He ran when the sirens got close. Didn’t get past the door.”
“Who? Did you see him?”
“No. He wore a mask. But he…” Her voice shook. “He said to give you a message. Said to tell you that Winters keeps his promises.”
The words were ice water.
Aiden was there suddenly, phone pressed to his ear, talking rapidly to someone. Marcus appeared with more security. The street became organized chaos, police taking statements, neighbors gathering, the reality of what almost happened settling like ash.
“We’re leaving,” Aiden said flatly when the police finished with Claire. “Both of you. Right now. You’re staying at the mansion where there’s actual security.”
“I’m not leaving my home…” Claire started.
“Your home just got broken into by someone working for a man who’s killed five people!” Aiden’s voice cracked. “Please. Please just let me keep you safe. Both of you.”
Claire looked at Ariella. At her daughter’s tear-stained face and shaking hands and the raw terror still in her eyes.
“Okay,” she said quietly. “Okay. Let’s go.”
They packed quickly, Claire throwing clothes into a bag while Ariella stood guard, both of them jumping at every sound. The apartment that had been home now felt violated. Unsafe.
At the mansion, Jennifer had prepared a guest room for Claire. It was beautiful and impersonal and nothing like home, but it had locks and cameras and armed security outside.
“I’ll be right next door,” Ariella promised. “If you need anything…”
“I know.” Claire hugged her. “Thank you. Both of you. For taking care of me when I should be taking care of you.”
After her mother was settled, Ariella found Aiden in his father’s study, on the phone with the FBI.
“escalated to attempted assault. Yes. Against a witness’s family member. Yes, I understand bail conditions included no contact.” He saw Ariella and his expression crumbled. “I need to go. Just find a way to put him back in custody. Please.”
He hung up and immediately pulled Ariella into his arms.
“I almost lost her,” she whispered. “If she hadn’t called 911 fast enough, if the police hadn’t gotten there in time…”
“But they did. She’s safe. You’re safe.”
“For how long? Winters has GPS monitoring but that didn’t stop him from sending someone. He has lawyers who’ll claim he didn’t order anything. He has…” Her voice broke completely. “He has all the power and we have nothing.”
“That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it? He’s out on bail. My mother’s apartment got broken into. We’re hiding in your mansion like it’s a fortress and it’s still not enough because he can reach us anywhere!”
Aiden didn’t argue. Just held her while she fell apart.
Finally, exhausted, she pulled back. “I need to see the evidence. All of it. Everything your father collected, everything the FBI has. I need to understand how someone this evil keeps winning.”
“Ariella…”
“I need to do something. I can’t just sit here waiting for the next attack.”
So they spread it all out, six years of Richard’s obsessive documentation. Financial records, witness statements, private investigator reports. The case against Winters in black and white.
And buried in the middle, a file Ariella hadn’t seen before.
“What’s this?” She pulled it out. The tab read: ETHAN HAYES - INITIAL INVESTIGATION.
Aiden’s face went pale. “I don’t know. Marcus must have added it.”
Inside were photos from the accident scene. Police reports. And a witness statement Ariella had never seen, from someone who’d been behind Ethan’s car that night.
Vehicle appeared to be deliberately forced off the road. Second car, dark sedan, no plates visible, struck the victim’s vehicle from behind, causing loss of control. Second car fled the scene. Driver of victim’s vehicle had no chance to recover.
“Deliberately forced,” Ariella read aloud, voice shaking. “They have a witness who saw it happen. Who saw someone murder my brother. Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“Because the witness recanted two days later. Said they were mistaken, that it was just an accident, that they didn’t see clearly.”
“Winters got to them. Paid them off or threatened them or…”
“Probably. That’s what he does.”
Ariella kept reading. The witness’s name was David Chen. Address in Beaverton. Statement dated six months ago.
“I’m going to talk to him.”
“Ariella, if he recanted, he won’t”
“He saw what happened. He saw my brother murdered and he lied about it to protect himself. I need to know why.” She looked at Aiden. “I need to hear him say it.”
“Then we go together. Tomorrow. With security.”
“Okay. Together.”