Chapter 10 - CLAIRE’S LAST MOVE
Claire woke in the back of a moving van.
Her wrists were bound.
The ledger was gone.
Julian sat across from her.
“You’re difficult to kill.”
Claire looked at him.
“That sounded disappointed.”
Julian smiled.
“Eleanor pushed harder than I expected.”
“You told her to?”
“No.”
“That was entirely her.”
Claire shifted painfully.
Her ribs screamed.
“Then why keep cleaning up after her?”
“I’m not.”
“Eleanor became a liability years ago.”
“You’re the one who keeps assuming this is about family.”
“What is it about?”
“Ownership.”
Julian leaned forward.
“Blackwood Holdings is worth eleven billion dollars.”
“The foundation controlled influence.”
“The trusts controlled voting shares.”
“And Richard controlled all of it.”
“So you stole money.”
“At first.”
“Then stealing became inefficient.”
Claire understood.
“You wanted the company.”
“Yes.”
“And Harold?”
“He wanted recognition.”
“He spent his entire life helping Richard build an empire he believed should have partly belonged to him.”
“Because Ethan was his son?”
“Because Harold is vain.”
Julian laughed.
“The son simply made it personal.”
The van slowed.
Claire looked toward the covered windows.
“Where are we going?”
“To correct an old mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“Leaving Richard alive.”
Claire felt cold.
Ethan’s phone rang again.
This time Claire’s voice came through.
“Ethan.”
He grabbed the phone.
“Claire.”
“I’m okay.”
Julian stood beside her.
“Tell him the conditions.”
Claire remained silent.
Julian pressed a gun against the side of the van.
Not her head.
Just enough for Ethan to hear the metallic click.
Claire spoke.
“He wants Richard.”
Richard stepped closer.
“I’m here.”
Julian heard him.
“Good.”
“Old steel mill.”
“One hour.”
“Bring Richard.”
“No police.”
Ethan answered.
“You know that’s not happening.”
“Then Claire disappears the way your father did.”
The call ended.
Richard looked at Ethan.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
“He took her because of me.”
“He took her because he knows I’ll come after him.”
Richard looked at his son.
“That too.”
Mara spread a map across the table.
“There are three abandoned mills outside the city.”
Harold spoke from the chair where officers had restrained him.
“Not those.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Julian owns one through a holding company.”
“South river district.”
Mara wrote the address.
“Why help us?”
Harold looked at Ethan.
“Because he’s my son.”
Ethan’s face hardened.
“You don’t get to use that now.”
Harold looked away.
Mara sent teams toward the mill.
Richard insisted on coming.
Ethan insisted harder.
At the mill, Julian waited with Claire on an overhead platform.
The ledger sat beside him.
Richard entered alone.
Or appeared to.
Ethan and Mara moved through a lower maintenance tunnel.
Claire saw Richard.
“Don’t.”
Richard looked up.
“Hello, Julian.”
Julian smiled.
“You look terrible.”
“Captivity does that.”
“I kept you alive.”
“You imprisoned me.”
“Details.”
Richard stopped below the platform.
“Let Claire go.”
“The ledger first.”
“You already have it.”
Julian looked at Claire.
“She swapped it.”
Richard almost smiled.
Claire had switched the leather ledger with an old maintenance log during the kidnapping.
Julian had discovered it only after leaving the farmhouse.
“Where is the real one?”
Claire looked at him.
“You’ll never find it.”
Julian grabbed her arm.
Richard shouted.
“Enough!”
Julian released her.
Then he looked down at Richard.
“You always preferred her.”
Richard frowned.
“What?”
“Claire.”
“To Eleanor.”
“To Harold.”
“To me.”
“You trusted an outsider more than your own blood.”
Richard’s expression became sad.
“Claire earned trust.”
“You demanded it.”
The words hit Julian hard.
Footsteps sounded below.
Julian heard them.
His expression changed.
“You brought police.”
Richard smiled faintly.
“I learned from Claire.”
Julian dragged Claire toward a steel ladder.
Ethan appeared on the opposite platform.
“Let her go.”
Julian stopped.
Claire looked at Ethan.
For one second, neither moved.
Then Julian laughed.
“The loyal husband.”
“You weren’t so loyal three years ago.”
Ethan’s face tightened.
“Claire already knows exactly how badly I failed her.”
“So do I.”
Julian looked at Claire.
“That’s why she’ll never really trust you.”
Claire answered.
“Maybe.”
Ethan looked at her.
She continued.
“But that’s my decision.”
“Not yours.”
Julian’s smile disappeared.
Police flooded the lower level.
He dragged Claire toward the edge.
Ethan took one step.
Julian raised the weapon.
“Stop.”
Ethan stopped.
Richard shouted from below.
“Julian.”
Julian looked down.
Richard held the real ledger.
Claire stared.
Richard had taken it from her coat before she was kidnapped.
“Let her go.”
“And it’s yours.”
Julian’s eyes changed.
Greed defeated caution.
For one second.
That was enough.
Claire drove her elbow backward.
Julian lost his grip.
Ethan lunged.
Claire fell toward him.
He caught her.
Julian reached for the ledger.
Mara climbed the opposite stairs.
“Drop the weapon!”
Julian turned.
Richard threw the ledger over the railing.
Everyone stared.
It fell toward the river below.
Julian reacted instinctively.
He jumped after it.
Not over the railing.
Onto the lower catwalk.
The metal gave way.
Julian crashed through rusted steel into the water beneath the mill.
Mara ran to the edge.
“Divers!”
Ethan held Claire against him.
“You okay?”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“But I’m alive.”
Richard stared down at the river.
The ledger floated near a support column.
Police retrieved it.
Julian did not surface.
Again.
Mara looked furious.
“He cannot keep doing this.”
Claire almost laughed.
Then Ethan noticed something inside the ledger.
A folded photograph.
He pulled it out.
Harold.
Julian.
Eleanor.
And a fourth person.
A young man Ethan recognized immediately.
Marcus Reed.
His own general counsel.
Claire stared.
“The attorney from the board meeting.”
Richard looked shocked.
“I didn’t put that photograph there.”
Mara examined it.
On the back was a date.
Two days after Richard disappeared.
And four handwritten words.
PHASE TWO BEGINS MONDAY.
May you like
Claire checked the calendar.
Monday was tomorrow.
