Chapter 6
For several seconds, there was no sound in the room except my breathing.
Then I screamed.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel sounded broken.
“Richard’s men were waiting at Mom’s house. They took Sophie ten minutes before I got there.”
“You told them where she was!”
“I didn’t!”
“You’re the only person who knew!”
“My mother called Richard.”
I froze.
“What?”
“She panicked when she saw police reports about you. Richard told her you stole money and kidnapped a child.”
Of course.
Richard had spent years building trust with everyone around us.
He didn’t need to threaten people when a lie worked faster.
“Put your mother on.”
“She’s gone.”
“Gone where?”
“She drove after them.”
Marcus shook his head sharply.
“Tell him to stop her.”
I relayed it.
Daniel cursed.
“She won’t answer.”
My mind raced.
Noah was alone at the cabin.
Sophie was with Richard.
Emily was hiding somewhere.
We had evidence.
And Vance had police resources.
“Daniel, go back to Noah.”
“I need to find Sophie.”
“Noah is five!”
“I know!”
“Then act like it!”
Silence.
I softened my voice.
“Daniel, Richard wants us scattered. He wants us desperate.”
“I can’t leave my daughter with him.”
“Neither can I.”
My throat tightened.
“But we need Noah safe first. Richard thinks Noah matters because of Emily. If he realizes who Noah’s father was—”
“He already knows.”
Marcus and I stared at each other.
“What?”
Daniel swallowed.
“That’s why he wanted the photograph.”
“You said you found it.”
“I did. Richard called while I was driving. He told me to destroy anything connecting Michael to the boy.”
My stomach dropped.
Richard knew Noah was his nephew.
Why did that matter?
Helen spoke for the first time.
“Inheritance.”
We all looked at her.
“What?”
She turned back to the computer and began searching public records stored on the drive.
“Michael Hale came from money, didn’t he?”
“Family money,” Marcus said. “Their father owned manufacturing companies.”
Helen opened a scanned trust document.
“Oh.”
“What?”
She pointed.
The Hale family trust transferred voting shares to Richard after Michael’s death.
But there was a clause.
If Michael had a biological descendant, his shares passed to that child when the child’s existence was legally established.
Noah.
“What are the shares worth?” I asked.
Helen calculated.
“Current value?”
She looked at me.
“About eighty-two million dollars.”
I stared at her.
Richard wasn’t only hiding financial crimes.
Noah’s existence could cost him control of his family fortune.
Maybe even expose motive for Michael’s death.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Marcus gestured for everyone to stay quiet.
I answered.
“Sarah.”
Richard.
Every muscle in my body tightened.
“Where is my daughter?”
“She’s fine.”
“If you touch her—”
“Save the performance.”
His voice was calm.
“You and I have always understood each other.”
“No. I thought I knew you.”
“That was enough.”
“Let me talk to Sophie.”
A pause.
Then my daughter’s voice.
“Mom?”
I nearly collapsed.
“Sophie!”
“I’m okay.”
She was trying to sound brave.
Exactly like Noah.
“Did anyone hurt you?”
“No.”
“Where are you?”
Richard took the phone.
“That’s enough.”
“Richard, please.”
It was the first time I begged him.
He heard it.
He enjoyed it.
“Bring me the flash drive and Emily’s documents.”
“Where?”
“I’ll tell you when I’m ready.”
“How do I know you’ll let Sophie go?”
“You don’t.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“What about Noah?”
Richard’s tone changed.
“Where is he?”
I realized something.
Daniel had taken Noah, but Richard didn’t know exactly where.
That gave us leverage.
“You don’t know.”
“Sarah.”
“You lost him.”
“Don’t test me.”
“You’re scared of a five-year-old.”
Richard laughed.
“You still don’t understand what’s happening.”
“I understand Noah owns something you stole.”
Silence.
Helen closed her eyes.
Marcus mouthed, Too much.
But I wanted Richard angry.
Angry people made mistakes.
“Michael’s shares,” I continued. “Eighty-two million dollars.”
Richard’s voice became ice.
“Emily told you.”
“She didn’t have to.”
“You think this is about money?”
“Isn’t everything with you?”
“No.”
For the first time, Richard sounded emotional.
“This is about my family surviving Michael’s stupidity.”
“Your brother is dead.”
“Because he decided to become a hero.”
The room froze.
I pressed the phone closer.
“Did you kill him?”
Richard realized his mistake.
He went quiet.
Helen pointed to her computer.
She was recording.
I continued.
“Did you kill Claire too?”
His breathing changed.
“You don’t know what Claire did.”
“She helped Emily.”
“She betrayed me.”
My stomach turned.
“Did you kill your wife?”
“I didn’t touch her.”
That was not the same as saying he had nothing to do with it.
Then another voice sounded faintly behind Richard.
A woman.
Older.
Angry.
Daniel’s mother.
“Where is my granddaughter?”
My heart jumped.
She had found them.
Richard cursed.
The phone shifted.
I heard shouting.
A crash.
Sophie screamed.
“Mom!”
Then the line disconnected.
I stared at the screen.
“No.”
Marcus grabbed his coat.
“We can trace environmental clues from the call.”
Helen was already replaying the recording.
“What clues?”
“Train horn,” she said.
A faint horn sounded behind Richard.
Then bells.
Marcus leaned closer.
“Church?”
Helen replayed it.
Not bells.
Metal chimes.
Daniel called again.
I answered immediately.
“My mother just texted me.”
“What did she say?”
“One word.”
“Where?”
“Riverside.”
Marcus’s eyes sharpened.
“Riverside what?”
“I don’t know.”
Then I remembered Richard owned a private event property near the Des Plaines River.
The Hale Foundation hosted charity dinners there.
Riverside House.
“Richard’s estate.”
Marcus nodded.
“I know it.”
Daniel said, “I’m going.”
“No.”
“He has my daughter.”
“And probably armed men.”
“You expect me to sit here?”
“No. Go to Noah first.”
Daniel slammed something.
“Sarah—”
“Listen to me! If Richard has Sophie, he wants us to bring him something. That means she’s useful alive. Noah is alone and he is the one person Richard may decide he cannot afford to leave alive.”
Daniel went silent.
I hated saying it.
But it was true.
“Go get Noah.”
“I’m twenty minutes away.”
“We’ll work on Sophie.”
Daniel whispered, “I love you.”
I couldn’t say it back.
Not yet.
I ended the call.
Marcus looked at me.
“We can’t storm Richard’s estate.”
“I know.”
“Vance will have police watching it.”
“I know.”
Helen turned her laptop toward us.
“There may be another way.”
She had opened the Hale Foundation property records.
A utility map showed an old service tunnel from the riverbank to the basement.
“It was used when the estate was a prohibition-era club,” Helen said.
Marcus stared at it.
“You’re kidding.”
“No.”
My phone buzzed.
A video arrived from Richard.
Sophie sat in a chair.
She was crying but unharmed.
Behind her stood Richard.
Beside him was Daniel’s mother.
Her lip was bleeding.
Richard looked into the camera.
“You have one hour.”
Then he stepped aside.
Someone else entered the frame.
Deputy Chief Thomas Vance.
He smiled.
May you like
And held up Emily’s photograph.
“Bring us the boy too.”
