Chapter 12 - The Man Who Needed Michael Dead
Maria had seen Elena leave with the boys.
That mattered.
No forced entry.
No struggle.
Elena had received a call on one of the temporary phones Rebecca brought.
She went pale.
Then told Luca and Nico they needed to leave.
“Why didn’t anyone stop her?” I demanded.
“She said you sent her.”
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
The children trusted their mother.
The guards trusted my sister.
Raymond understood the difference between breaking security and using trust.
Michael stood beside me.
“Clara?”
“Still there.”
His shoulders relaxed slightly.
Daniel reviewed the temporary phone.
The call had come through an internet relay.
No easy trace.
But Elena left something.
A note beneath my office keyboard.
Don’t follow until he calls. If I don’t go, he’ll take them another way. I can keep them safe longer if I cooperate.
I crushed the note in my fist.
“She went willingly.”
Michael shook his head.
“Not willingly.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Raymond must have threatened them.”
Daniel entered.
“Call coming in.”
My desk phone rang.
Nobody had given Raymond that number.
Another reminder of how long he had watched us.
I answered.
“Vincent.”
The voice was older than I remembered.
Smooth.
Calm.
Raymond Sloane.
“It’s been a long time.”
“Where are they?”
“Good evening to you too.”
“Where are my sister and nephews?”
“Safe.”
“If you hurt them—”
“I have no interest in hurting children.”
“You built a false identity to take Clara.”
“That was protection.”
“For who?”
“Her.”
Michael stepped closer.
I put the call on speaker.
Raymond heard movement.
“Michael.”
My brother’s face hardened.
“Raymond.”
A pause.
“I always wondered what your voice would sound like after all these years.”
“Disappointed?”
“Impressed.”
“Where is Elena?”
“She’s correcting an old mistake.”
I looked at the ledger.
“The initials.”
Raymond laughed softly.
“You found it.”
“You used her name.”
“Your father was sentimental. He believed family records deserved family signatures.”
“She was sixteen.”
“Which is why nobody would suspect it was real.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Exactly.”
Raymond had forged Elena’s authorization.
The ledger itself proved fraud, but also created confusion.
Enough confusion to protect him if discovered.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“The original ledger.”
“No.”
“Then Elena and the boys may remain my guests longer than anyone would enjoy.”
Michael’s hands tightened.
“You said you don’t hurt children.”
“I don’t. But frightened children are unpleasant company.”
I wanted to reach through the phone.
Instead, I kept my voice calm.
“Trade.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Raymond gave an address.
The old family lake house north of Chicago.
Abandoned since our father died.
Of course.
One more piece of our history.
“One hour.”
“Two.”
“One.”
Raymond sighed.
“You were always impatient.”
The call ended.
Daniel immediately began planning.
I stopped him.
“No large team.”
“That’s what Raymond wants.”
“Exactly.”
Michael looked at me.
“He’ll have surveillance.”
“Yes.”
“He’ll know if we bring police.”
“Yes.”
“So what’s the plan?”
I looked at him.
“The same thing Luca and Nico did.”
He understood.
“Go where the cameras don’t look.”
The lake house had been built by our grandfather.
I knew every path around it.
More importantly, Michael knew something Raymond might not.
An old boathouse tunnel.
When we were children, we used it to sneak from the basement to the lake.
Our father eventually sealed the interior door.
Or claimed he had.
Michael smiled faintly.
“When the lights go out…”
“We find each other.”
Daniel frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“It means you take the road.”
Michael and I would approach from the lake.
Rebecca contacted law enforcement officials outside the local chain Raymond might influence.
They would stay back unless called.
This time, we weren’t trying to win a fight.
We needed evidence.
Elena.
The children.
And Raymond talking.
Anthony offered to help.
“No,” I said.
“I know him.”
“That’s why you stay.”
“He trusts me.”
“He owns you.”
Anthony flinched.
I softened slightly.
“You’ve done enough tonight.”
He nodded.
Before leaving, I went upstairs.
Clara was awake.
She sat on my bed with her rabbit.
“Dad is going somewhere.”
Children noticed everything.
“Yes.”
“You too?”
“Yes.”
“Luca and Nico?”
I hesitated.
She knew.
“They’re with a man we need to talk to.”
“Bad man?”
Michael appeared in the doorway.
“Complicated man.”
Clara looked at him.
“That means bad.”
I almost smiled.
Michael sat beside her.
“We’re bringing them back.”
She looked at me.
“You promised you’d bring Dad back before.”
“I did.”
“And you did.”
“So now?”
“So now I expect you to do it again.”
Michael kissed her forehead.
“Bossy.”
“She gets it from you,” I said.
He looked at me.
“Absolutely not.”
For one brief moment, we were a family joking in a bedroom.
Then Michael stood.
It was time.
We drove north separately.
Daniel took the main road.
Michael and I left our vehicle two miles away and crossed through woods toward the lake.
The moon was bright enough to see the water.
Our old boathouse remained where memory left it.
Smaller.
Leaning.
But standing.
Michael found the trapdoor beneath a stack of rotting boards.
“You remember?”
“I remember everything about this place.”
“That sounds unhealthy.”
“You disappeared for fifteen years. Don’t diagnose me.”
He laughed softly.
We entered the tunnel.
At the far end, a rusted ladder led beneath the house.
Voices carried through floorboards.
Elena.
Raymond.
I heard Nico crying.
Every instinct told me to move faster.
Michael caught my shoulder.
“Wait.”
I hated waiting.
Then Raymond said something above us that made both of us freeze.
“You still haven’t told Vincent the whole truth, Elena.”
Silence.
Raymond continued.
“Does he know why Michael survived?”
My sister answered quietly.
“No.”
“Does Michael?”
“No.”
Michael looked at me.
Raymond laughed.
“That family really does love its secrets.”
I felt Michael tense beside me.
Then Raymond said:
“Someone warned Michael before I got to the warehouse fifteen years ago.”
I looked at my brother.
Michael whispered, “Elias.”
But Raymond continued.
“It wasn’t Elias.”
Silence.
“It was Elena.”
Michael stared upward.
That was impossible.
She had been sixteen.
Raymond said:
“Your little sister saved your life before either of you ever knew she had.”
May you like
And suddenly the girl we had spent years protecting had become the person who might have protected all of us first.
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