Page 105 of Enigma

Olive nodded, piecing together the timeline. “And what really happened at the hospital with Lloyd and Nancy?”

“Nancy told us the whole story during debriefing. She left when visiting hours ended, just like they said. But Sarah was waiting in the parking garage. She grabbed Nancy first and used her to get Lloyd to come willingly. Sarah made him throw his phone out so he couldn’t be traced then took them both.”

They stood in comfortable silence for a moment, watching the sun sink lower toward the horizon.

“You know,” Olive said after a moment. “I’ve been thinking a lot about my dad lately. About the things Sarah told me about his change of heart in Oasis.”

“What about it?”

“From what she told me, he really was trying to do the right thing in the end. All those late-night arguments I heard, the way he seemed different in our last few months together . . . he was fighting to get out of his line of work. He’d found God and wanted to make amends for what he’d done.” She touched the headstone with her father’s name. “I spent so many years angry at him for the choices he made, but he was trying to change. He was on the right track.”

“It sounds like he was.”

“And knowing that . . . somehow it helps me too. I never knew if my dad really believed and had faith or if it was all an act. I transferred that hurt and frustration over my dad to frustration about God.” She paused. “But not anymore. I’ve been considering the idea of God and faith for a long time, wanting to believe. And I think I’m finally ready. I’ve come to terms with what happened all those years ago, and I can finally move on.”

Jason’s expression softened as he listened to her. “Nothing makes me happier than hearing you say that.”

“What do you mean?”

“The way you talk about faith, about redemption, about people being able to change . . . it gives me hope. For us, for everyone.” He paused, studying her face in the golden light. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

Jason turned to face her fully, his expression serious but warm. “Do you think we can make this work? You and me as a couple? Working together at Aegis? After everything that’s happened, all the secrets and mistakes we’ve both made?”

Olive looked into his eyes—the same warm brown eyes that had captured her heart when she was sixteen. But now she saw something deeper there: maturity, understanding, and a love that had weathered storms and survived despite everything that had tried to tear them apart.

“I think we can,” she said, her smile genuine and full of hope. “I think we’re both different people than we were eight years ago. Better people. And I think we’re finally ready to be honest with each other about everything.”

“No more secrets?”

“No more secrets,” she promised.

Jason leaned down and kissed her then, soft and sweet in the gathering twilight. When they broke apart, Olive felt something she hadn’t experienced in years: complete peace.

Her family’s story had finally found its ending. Her parents had tried to do the right thing, her sisters had been innocent victims, and Olive had survived to bring their killers to justice. The network that had destroyed so many lives was dismantled, the victims were safe, and the people she loved were alive and healing.

As they walked back toward Jason’s car, hand in hand, Olive allowed herself to believe that maybe—just maybe—the future held more promise than pain.

And for the first time since that terrible night eight years ago, she was ready to find out.

~~