The Lie Hidden in Roses Chapter 14

The Lie Hidden in Roses Chapter 14 The Deal Beneath the Dead Oak

We drove as close to the marked location as the road allowed. After that, we left the car behind and

continued on foot.

The trail was barely a trail. Thornbushes pressed in from both sides, catching on our clothes, while loose stones and slick mud shifted beneath every step. More than once, my boot slid out from under me, and Elliot had to catch my arm before I went down.

After nearly an hour of climbing, the trees began to thin.

A clearing opened ahead of us.

In the center of it stood a dead oak.

The trunk was enormous, wide enough that it would have taken two people linking arms to wrap around it. But the tree itself was long dead. Not a single leaf clung to its branches. They reached into the gray sky like the dried fingers of a skeletal hand.

And beneath that tree, someone was waiting.

The fake Rowan.

He was wearing a black hiking jacket and carrying a large backpack. He looked less like a man running from federal agents and more like someone who had arrived early for a scheduled meeting.

When he saw us, he smiled.

“Maren,” he said. “You finally made it. Half an hour later than I expected.”

Damon and Elliot immediately moved in front of me.

The fake Rowan raised both hands, palms open.

“Easy. I’m not here to fight.”

I stepped around Damon and moved closer.

“Who are you?”

His smile weakened slightly.

“My name doesn’t matter. What matters is that I know where Rowan is.”

“Then tell me.”

“First, you answer something for me.”

His expression turned serious.

“Did you bring the evidence?”

“No”

“Do you know where it is?”

“Yes.”

He gave a single nod, as if that was the answer he had been waiting for.

“Good. Then here’s how this works. Rowan is somewhere nearby. If you want him back alive, you trade the evidence for him.”

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

He took out his phone, opened a video, and handed it to me.

Rowan appeared on the screen.

He was tied to a chair. Bruises covered his face, one eye was nearly swollen shut, and dried blood had darkened the corner of his mouth. His shirt had been torn in several places, revealing skin underneath marked in purple and black.

But his eyes were open.

“Maren, don’t come…”

His voice was so rough I could barely hear it.

The video cut off before he could finish.

My fingers tightened around the phone, and the screen blurred as my eyes began to burn.

“He’s alive,” the fake Rowan said, taking the phone back. “But if you keep wasting time, I can’t promise he’ll stay that way. The men holding him don’t understand restraint. Yesterday, they broke two of his ribs.”

“What do you need the evidence for?”

“That isn’t your question to ask.”

“What happens if I refuse?”

He smiled again.

And for one sickening second, it looked exactly like Rowan’s smile.

The shape was warm.

The meaning was wrong.

My blood went cold.

“You won’t,” he said.

He was right

I wouldn’t

“Give me one day.”

“One day?”

“Same place. Same time tomorrow. I bring the evidence. You bring Rowan.”

He studied me for several seconds before he nodded.

Finished

“Fine. One day. But understand me clearly. If you don’t show up, he dies. If you bring a fake, he dies. If yo bring law enforcement, he dies faster.”

Then he turned and walked into the woods.

Within seconds, the trees swallowed him.

Damon came up beside me.

“You’re actually thinking about handing it over?”

“I don’t have another choice.”

“What if he takes the evidence and kills Rowan anyway?”

“That’s why he won’t get the real thing.”

I looked at Damon and lowered my voice.

“Send your people to the location on the map first. If they find the evidence, copy everything and secure the original. I’ll use a fake for the exchange.”

“That is a dangerous gamble. What if he checks it on the spot?”

“Then he checks it,” I said. “As long as he can’t prove it’s fake right away, we buy enough time to get Rowan

out.”

Damon stared at me for a long moment.

Then, reluctantly, he nodded.

“All right. I’ll send the team in. But listen to me, Maren. The second anything feels wrong, you leave. No hesitation. No heroics. You get out.”

We stayed in the mountains that night.

Damon’s people searched for the evidence in the dark while Elliot and I waited in the car.

The cold was vicious. By midnight, the temperature had dropped below freezing, and a thin layer of frost had spread across the windows. I pulled my coat tighter around myself and leaned back against the seat, but sleep never came.

Every time I closed my eyes, the video played again.

Rowan tied to that chair.

The bruises across his face.

The bloodshot eyes.

The split lips.

He had told me not to come.

But how was I supposed to stay away?

At three in the morning, the radio crackled.

“Captain Cross, we found it.”

The voice on the other end was controlled, but I could hear the excitement beneath it.

Damon grabbed the radio.

“What did you find?”

“A waterproof box buried beneath a tree,” the agent replied. “Documents inside, plus a flash drive. The papers are intact. No water damage.”

My heart kicked hard against my ribs.

Damon’s voice dropped, firm and steady.

“Bring it back.”