Chapter 5
Richard looked at the tablet.
Sophie stood very still.
A masked man held her shoulder.
Eleanor lay unconscious beside the hospital bed.
Nora was nowhere in sight.
“You wanted me here,” Richard said. “Leave Sophie out of it.”
Daniel laughed.
“Sophie is the only reason any of this matters.”
“You know she isn’t your daughter.”
“I know what Emily wanted you to believe.”
“The DNA report proves it.”
“Reports can be changed.”
Vanessa glanced at Daniel.
For the first time, Richard saw uncertainty between them.
She had expected the evidence to be weaker.
“The original files are with the police,” Richard said.
Daniel’s smile disappeared.
“You gave them the drive?”
“I gave them everything.”
Vanessa raised the pistol.
“You fool.”
Richard kept his eyes on Daniel.
“If anything happens to Sophie, you lose your only bargaining tool.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You still think this is about money.”
“What else could it be?”
“Father chose you.”
Their father, Charles Sterling, had died twelve years earlier.
He had left Daniel a large inheritance, but control of the company went to Richard.
Daniel had never forgiven either of them.
“He chose the person who stayed,” Richard said.
“He chose the obedient son.”
“You stole from the company before he died.”
“I took what belonged to me.”
“You nearly destroyed thousands of employees.”
Daniel’s face twisted.
“And you became the hero.”
Vanessa interrupted.
“We don’t have time for this.”
A fire alarm screamed through the hotel.
Guests evacuated below.
Maya’s voice whispered through Richard’s earpiece.
Keep him talking.
Richard touched the cut on his forehead, pretending to be dizzy.
“Where did you take Sophie?”
Daniel held up the tablet.
“You don’t recognize the room?”
Richard studied the walls.
The suite looked like the hospital.
But something was wrong.
The clock showed a different time.
The image was recorded.
Sophie was not there now.
Richard lunged for the tablet.
Daniel fired.
The bullet struck the table.
Richard knocked Daniel into the wall.
Vanessa aimed at Richard.
Maya and a tactical team burst through the door.
“Drop the weapon!”
Vanessa fired toward the officers.
Glass shattered.
Daniel threw himself through a connecting door.
Vanessa followed.
Richard grabbed the tablet.
The recording replayed from the beginning.
At the bottom of the screen, a reflection showed a red symbol.
A winged horse.
Richard knew it.
Sterling Aviation used the symbol on equipment at the family’s abandoned airfield.
“They took Sophie to Hawthorne Field.”
Maya ordered units to the airfield.
Richard ran toward the elevator.
She caught his arm.
“You’re bleeding.”
“My daughter is there.”
“You cannot help her if you rush into another trap.”
“They are moving her.”
“We’ll use the helicopter.”
The hotel roof shook as the police helicopter landed.
Richard climbed aboard with Maya.
Below them, smoke poured from a ballroom storage room.
The fire had been set as a distraction.
No one had been seriously injured.
Daniel and Vanessa escaped through a service tunnel.
During the flight, Richard called the hospital.
Nora answered.
“Where is Sophie?”
Her voice broke.
“They came dressed as federal agents.”
“What happened to my mother?”
“She fought them. They injected her with something.”
“How long ago?”
“Twenty-three minutes.”
Richard closed his eyes.
The recorded video had been made quickly.
Daniel was already near the airfield.
The helicopter landed behind an old hangar.
Police vehicles approached without sirens.
Maya handed Richard a protective vest.
“You stay behind us.”
He put it on without answering.
Inside the hangar, an engine started.
A white private jet rolled toward the runway.
Sophie sat in a vehicle near the aircraft.
Her hands were tied.
A man with a serpent tattoo stood beside her.
Richard recognized him as another Vale contractor.
Police shouted commands.
The man lifted Sophie and placed a gun near her head.
“Back away!”
Richard stepped from behind the police line.
Maya cursed under her breath.
The kidnapper dragged Sophie toward the jet.
Richard raised his empty hands.
“Take me instead.”
The man laughed.
“Mr. Sterling wants to trade places.”
“You need access codes. Trust documents. Company authorization. Sophie has none of those.”
“Daniel said you would say that.”
“I can give you ten million dollars right now.”
The man hesitated.
Richard continued.
“Twenty million. A plane. A clean route out.”
“Daddy, don’t!”
Richard looked at Sophie.
Her face was wet with tears, but her eyes were alert.
She moved one hand slightly.
The ropes were loose.
She had been working them open.
Richard kept talking.
“The money can be transferred in five minutes.”
The kidnapper shifted his grip.
Sophie dropped suddenly.
She slipped beneath his arm and ran.
The man aimed at her.
Richard charged.
A shot exploded.
Pain tore through Richard’s side.
He hit the ground but grabbed the kidnapper’s leg.
Maya fired.
The man fell.
Sophie screamed and ran back toward Richard.
He tried to tell her to stay away.
No sound came out.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Sophie dropped beside him.
“Daddy!”
Richard touched her cheek.
“You were brave.”
“Don’t go to sleep.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
The hangar lights blurred.
Paramedics surrounded him.
Sophie held his hand until they pulled him into the ambulance.
At the hospital, surgeons removed the bullet.
It had missed his liver by less than an inch.
When Richard woke, Eleanor sat beside his bed.
Her face was bruised.
Her right arm rested in a sling.
“Where is Sophie?”
“With Nora and six officers.”
“I want to see her.”
“You just left surgery.”
“I want my daughter.”
Eleanor opened the door.
Sophie rushed in.
She climbed carefully beside him.
“I thought you died.”
Richard kissed her hair.
“I promised I would always come.”
“You got hurt because of me.”
“No.”
He made her look at him.
“I got hurt because bad people made bad choices. None of this is your fault.”
Sophie nodded, but he could tell she did not believe him yet.
“Did they catch Vanessa?”
“No.”
“And Uncle Daniel?”
Richard glanced at Eleanor.
“Who told you he was your uncle?”
“The man in the car.”
Sophie pulled something from her pocket.
It was a photograph.
Emily stood beside Daniel.
On the back, someone had written:
Ask your father why he stole you.
Richard tore the photograph in half.
“He did not tell you the truth.”
“Was Mommy his friend?”
“She knew him before she knew me.”
“Does that mean he could be my daddy?”
Richard’s heart tightened.
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“We have a test.”
“What if the test is another lie?”
The question sounded too old for a six-year-old.
Daniel had planted doubt because he knew it could poison every safe place Sophie had left.
Richard reached for her hand.
“Being your father is not only something written in blood. I was there when you were born. I changed your diapers. I stayed awake when you were sick. I taught you how to ride your bicycle.”
“You let go.”
“You told me to.”
“You still ran behind me.”
“I always will.”
Sophie leaned against him.
“You’re my daddy.”
“Yes.”
A nurse entered with Maya.
The detective carried a sealed evidence bag.
Inside was Daniel’s tablet.
“We recovered messages,” she said. “Daniel has a second location.”
“Where?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Maya placed photographs on the table.
They showed forged passports for Daniel, Vanessa, Graham, and Sophie.
“They planned to leave the country tonight.”
Richard examined Sophie’s false passport.
Her last name had been changed to Mercer.
Daniel’s alias.
“Did Graham help them?”
“Yes. We found him hiding in a cargo office.”
“Is he talking?”
“He wants protection.”
“Give it to him after he testifies.”
Maya hesitated.
“There’s more.”
She showed Richard a message Vanessa had sent to Graham.
Once Daniel has Sophie, eliminate him. The girl and the company will belong to us.
Richard read it again.
Vanessa planned to betray her own husband.
“Does Daniel know?”
“Not yet.”
“Tell him.”
Eleanor looked at Richard.
“You want to turn them against each other.”
“They deserve each other.”
Maya took the message to Daniel’s secure account.
Minutes later, a response appeared.
Vanessa is lying. Richard created this.
Then another message came.
But the second was not from Daniel.
It was from Vanessa.
Meet me at Emily’s grave at midnight. Come alone if you want the truth about your wife.
Richard checked the clock.
It was eleven fifteen.
“You are not leaving this bed,” Eleanor said.
Richard pushed back the blanket.
“Try to stop me.”
At midnight, Maya hid officers throughout the cemetery.
Richard stood beside Emily’s grave.
Rain darkened the bandage beneath his shirt.
Vanessa emerged from between the trees.
She carried no visible weapon.
“You look terrible,” she said.
“You always preferred me vulnerable.”
“I preferred you blind.”
“Why did Emily’s car leave the road?”
Vanessa looked at the grave.
“Daniel forced her toward the edge. I was in the second car.”
“Then you killed her.”
“No. I tried to stop him.”
“You helped cover it up.”
“I was afraid.”
“You tortured Sophie.”
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“Sophie was supposed to make you surrender. Instead, she kept fighting me.”
“She is stronger than you.”
“She is Emily’s daughter.”
Richard stepped closer.
“What do you want?”
“Protection from Daniel.”
“In exchange for what?”
“The original recording from Emily’s car.”
“We already have evidence.”
“Not enough to prove who gave Daniel the order.”
Richard’s stomach tightened.
“Someone ordered him?”
Vanessa smiled.
“Your brother did not plan Emily’s death.”
“Who did?”
Vanessa looked beyond him.
A red laser appeared on her chest.
Her eyes widened.
Richard pulled her down as a gunshot tore through the stone angel above Emily’s grave.
Officers opened fire toward the trees.
A vehicle roared away.
Maya ran to Richard.
Vanessa clutched his sleeve.
“That was not Daniel.”
“Then who?”
May you like
Vanessa looked toward Eleanor’s car at the cemetery gate.
“Ask your mother.”
