Chapter 11 - The Man Everyone Trusted
Lachlan wanted to go alone.
Thea refused before he finished the sentence.
“The note says—”
“I can read.”
“They'll hurt Sophie.”
“They'll hurt her whether or not you walk into a trap unprepared.”
Marcus agreed.
Lachlan ignored him.
Thea stepped directly in front of her husband.
“Look at me.”
He did.
“Your entire life has been shaped by people making decisions alone because they thought secrecy protected someone.”
His face tightened.
“Elena investigated alone.”
Silence.
“Astrid hid threats.”
Silence.
“Your grandfather covered up your father's death.”
Lachlan looked away.
Thea touched his face and turned him back.
“You do not get to repeat the same mistake.”
For one second they were as close as they had been in the bridal suite.
Except now there was no confusion between them.
Only terror.
“Sophie needs us,” Thea said.
Not you.
Us.
Lachlan heard it.
He nodded.
Marcus traced the kidnapper's instructions to an abandoned textile factory forty miles outside the city.
Federal agents prepared surveillance.
Thea stayed in the mobile command vehicle.
She hated it.
But this was one argument Lachlan won.
“If they see you,” he said, “they may use you too.”
“They already have.”
“Please.”
It was the first time he'd said the word to her.
So she stayed.
Lachlan entered the factory carrying a replica ledger.
No gun.
Wire beneath his shirt.
Cameras followed him from a drone positioned beyond the roofline.
Thea watched every step.
The huge factory was dark.
Broken windows.
Rusting machinery.
Then a light turned on.
Sophie sat in a chair.
Untied.
Crying.
Beside her stood Emil.
Thea stopped breathing.
Lachlan did too.
“Emil.”
The older man looked exhausted.
“I'm sorry, sir.”
Thea felt betrayal like something physical.
Lachlan's voice became deadly quiet.
“Step away from her.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
Emil looked toward the shadows.
“Because they have my son.”
Thea blinked.
Marcus leaned toward the monitor.
“Emil has a son?”
“Estranged,” an agent answered. “Michael Hart. Forty-two. Lives in Denver.”
Lachlan seemed to understand.
“They forced you.”
“Some of it.”
The answer wasn't good enough.
“How much?”
Emil's eyes filled.
“I found Elena's investigation before she died.”
Lachlan went still.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“You were in the letter.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Elena suspected me.”
“Was she right?”
Emil looked at Sophie.
“No.”
A man stepped from the darkness.
Graham Vale.
Thea gripped the edge of the desk.
Vale held a pistol.
“Touching reunion.”
Lachlan turned.
“Let Sophie go.”
“Ledger.”
“Girl first.”
Vale smiled.
“You still negotiate like a CEO.”
“You still hide behind children.”
The smile vanished.
“Ledger.”
Lachlan raised the bag.
“Proof Sophie leaves.”
Vale pointed toward the side door.
“Emil.”
Emil took Sophie's hand.
The child resisted.
“Uncle!”
Lachlan's face broke.
“It's okay.”
“No!”
“Sophie, look at me.”
She did.
“I am coming for you.”
Thea's throat tightened.
Emil led her toward the door.
Vale stopped him.
“Not yet.”
Lachlan's eyes hardened.
“You said—”
“I lie.”
Thea whispered, “Move.”
Federal agents prepared.
Marcus held up a hand.
Not yet.
Vale approached Lachlan.
“You really can see.”
“Yes.”
“Remarkable.”
“Disappointed?”
“Curious.”
“Why?”
“I paid for the device that was supposed to ensure you couldn't.”
“So Adrian told me.”
Vale's face changed.
“He's alive?”
“Yes.”
That pleased Lachlan more than it should have.
Vale cursed.
“Ledger.”
“You killed Elena.”
“No.”
The answer sounded genuine.
Thea leaned toward the monitor.
Lachlan heard it too.
“Who did?”
Vale laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
“Explain.”
“I cleaned money.”
“For whom?”
Vale looked toward Emil.
“Your family.”
“Which member?”
“Several.”
Thea felt cold.
Vale continued.
“Your grandfather built a system long before I became CFO. Political payments. Foreign accounts. Protection funds. When Harrison tried to dismantle it, he became inconvenient.”
“My grandfather killed his own son?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Vale smiled.
“Ask Julian.”
Lachlan moved slightly.
Vale raised the gun.
“Don't.”
Thea whispered to Marcus, “He wants Lachlan to blame Julian.”
“Maybe.”
“Or he's telling the truth.”
Onscreen, Lachlan said, “Julian was sixteen when my father died.”
“Not Julian.”
Vale smiled.
“His father.”
Conrad Voss.
Lachlan's uncle.
The man supposedly in Singapore when Elena died.
Lachlan froze.
“My uncle?”
“Conrad believed Voss Meridian belonged to him. Harrison stood between him and succession.”
“But Grandfather chose me.”
“Eventually.”
“Why cover up Harrison's murder?”
“Because scandals destroy companies.”
Thea thought of Astrid.
Money builds walls around consequences.
Vale continued.
“When August discovered what Conrad had done, he faced a choice: send one son to prison after burying another, or protect the company.”
“He chose the company.”
“He always chose the company.”
“And Elena?”
“She discovered the old payments.”
“Conrad killed her.”
Vale's smile disappeared.
“That wasn't supposed to happen.”
“Meaning?”
“I told him she was investigating.”
There.
The confession.
Federal agents recorded every word.
“I thought he'd scare her.”
“You knew what he'd done to my father.”
“Yes.”
“And you told him about Elena.”
“Yes.”
Lachlan stepped closer.
“In my book, that makes you responsible.”
Vale raised the gun.
“Your book doesn't matter.”
“What about Julian?”
“Julian discovered pieces.”
“Did he help?”
“He took money to keep quiet.”
Thea closed her eyes.
Betrayal.
Not murder.
Still betrayal.
Lachlan asked, “Where is Conrad?”
Vale laughed.
“Closer than you think.”
A gunshot exploded.
Thea screamed.
The screen shook.
Vale fell.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
Behind him stood Emil.
Smoke rose from a pistol.
“Run!” Emil shouted.
Sophie broke free.
Lachlan ran toward her.
Then another man stepped from the darkness.
Older.
Tall.
Silver at the temples.
Conrad Voss.
He grabbed Sophie.
Gun against her side.
“Enough.”
Thea had seen Conrad only in photographs.
Now she understood the signet ring.
It gleamed on his hand.
The same ring captured near Elena's crash.
Lachlan stopped.
“Let her go.”
Conrad smiled.
“Put the ledger down.”
Lachlan obeyed.
Federal agents moved.
Marcus stopped them.
One wrong shot.
Sophie could die.
Conrad backed toward another exit.
“You were always August's favorite,” he said.
“Is that why you killed my father?”
Conrad's expression hardened.
“Harrison was going to destroy everything.”
“And Elena?”
“She should have stopped digging.”
Sophie whimpered.
Lachlan's hands shook.
Thea had never seen that.
“She's your grandniece.”
“She's evidence.”
Thea's stomach turned.
Conrad moved toward the door.
Then Sophie did something nobody expected.
She bit him.
Hard.
Conrad shouted.
His gun moved away.
Lachlan lunged.
Gunfire erupted.
Thea couldn't breathe.
The monitor filled with bodies moving.
Federal agents rushed.
Someone screamed.
Then silence.
“Lachlan?”
No answer.
“Lachlan!”
The camera steadied.
Conrad was on the floor.
Agents cuffing him.
Vale alive.
Emil holding his bleeding arm.
Sophie—
Thea searched.
Then she saw her.
In Lachlan's arms.
Safe.
He was on his knees holding her so tightly she disappeared against his chest.
“Uncle,” Sophie cried.
“I've got you.”
“Don't leave.”
“I won't.”
Thea closed her eyes.
Tears came.
Marcus exhaled beside her.
“It is over.”
But it wasn't.
Because as agents searched Conrad, they found a second phone.
On it was a message received less than an hour earlier.
DO NOT LET VALE TALK. TAKE THE CHILD IF NECESSARY.
Sender unidentified.
Conrad had not been acting alone.
May you like
And whoever sent that message was still free.
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