Chapter 6 - The Woman He Refused to Lose
Rafe moved June and Tessa before sunrise.
Neither woman was told the destination until the armored SUV had been driving for forty minutes.
“This is ridiculous,” Tessa said.
Rafe sat opposite her.
“It’s temporary.”
“You kidnapped us.”
June looked up from her phone.
“He does this.”
“I did not kidnap anyone.”
Tessa raised an eyebrow.
“You put us in a vehicle without telling us where we were going.”
“You both entered voluntarily.”
“Because Malcolm said there was coffee.”
Malcolm spoke from the front seat.
“There was coffee.”
“That does not improve your defense.”
June smiled for the first time all night.
Rafe looked exhausted.
They arrived at a secluded estate outside the city.
The property had once belonged to Rafe’s mother.
Large trees surrounded an old stone house overlooking a lake.
Tessa stepped out.
“This is yours?”
“Ours,” June said.
Rafe looked toward the house.
“Technically.”
For two days, they waited.
Malcolm’s team traced Samuel Pike.
The former attorney finally agreed to speak after being moved to a protected location.
Rafe wanted to go personally.
Tessa objected.
“You’re still healing.”
“I’m fine.”
“You say that every time you’re not.”
“I’m going.”
“Then I’m coming.”
“No.”
Tessa stared.
Rafe stared back.
June sighed.
“I’m going inside before this becomes another negotiation.”
Twenty minutes later, Tessa was in the car beside Rafe.
“Happy?” he asked.
“Very.”
“You shouldn’t be.”
“I know.”
Samuel Pike looked nothing like the man Tessa remembered from childhood.
He had aged badly.
Thin white hair.
Nervous hands.
Eyes that kept searching windows.
When Tessa entered the room, he started crying.
“Evelyn’s girl.”
Tessa stopped.
“You knew me.”
“Yes.”
“You identified my mother’s body.”
Samuel looked at Rafe.
Rafe remained near the door.
Tessa leaned forward.
“Look at me.”
Samuel did.
“Was she dead?”
His lips trembled.
“No.”
Tessa closed her eyes.
The answer hurt more than expected.
“Why?”
Samuel began crying harder.
“Silas found the records.”
“What records?”
“Proof he had stolen money from Vincent for years.”
Rafe’s expression hardened.
Samuel continued.
“Adrian Vale discovered it first. Evelyn helped him.”
“My father.”
Samuel nodded.
“Adrian refused to run.”
“What happened?”
Samuel looked ashamed.
“Silas threatened you.”
Tessa’s stomach twisted.
“I was a child.”
“That was the point.”
Rafe stepped forward.
“Where was Vincent?”
“Trying to protect everyone without admitting the truth publicly.”
“So he blamed Adrian?”
“No.”
Samuel shook his head.
“Silas framed Adrian before Vincent understood what was happening.”
“What happened to Adrian?”
Samuel looked at Tessa.
“I don’t know.”
She didn’t believe him.
Rafe noticed.
“Samuel.”
The older man flinched.
Rafe’s voice remained quiet.
“Do not lie to her.”
Samuel lowered his head.
“He was taken.”
“By Silas?”
“Yes.”
“Killed?”
“I never saw a body.”
Tessa swallowed.
“And my mother?”
“Vincent arranged her disappearance.”
“Why didn’t she take me?”
“She tried.”
Samuel began sobbing.
“But Silas knew. Vincent convinced her that if she disappeared alone, Silas would believe you were irrelevant.”
Tessa stood.
“She abandoned me.”
“To keep you alive.”
“She let me believe she was dead.”
“Yes.”
“For fifteen years?”
Samuel said nothing.
Tessa turned away.
Her chest felt too tight.
Rafe moved closer.
She held up a hand.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
Not offended.
Just there.
Samuel whispered, “She wanted to come back.”
Tessa turned.
“Then why didn’t she?”
“Silas found her six years ago.”
Rafe’s expression darkened.
“Where is she?”
Samuel looked toward him.
“Vane Estate.”
Tessa froze.
“Alive?”
“I believe so.”
Rafe immediately reached for his phone.
Tessa grabbed his arm.
“No.”
He looked down.
“What?”
“You’re thinking exactly what I think you’re thinking.”
“I doubt that.”
“You’re going after her.”
“Yes.”
“With how many men?”
“Enough.”
“No.”
His eyes hardened.
“Tessa.”
“If Silas has kept her alive for six years, he wants something.”
Rafe said nothing.
“He wants the records,” Tessa continued.
Samuel nodded.
“Evelyn memorized where they were hidden.”
“Where?”
Samuel looked at Tessa.
“She never told me.”
Rafe turned toward him.
“What did she tell you?”
Samuel hesitated.
“That only her daughter could find them.”
Tessa stared.
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Then memory struck.
The cookbook.
The photograph.
The four words.
If anything happens, trust June.
Tessa looked at Rafe.
“I know.”
“What?”
“The photograph my mother burned.”
June was the key.
They returned to the lake house.
June listened as Tessa explained.
Then she disappeared upstairs.
Five minutes later, she returned carrying an old music box.
“This belonged to your mother,” June said.
Tessa stared.
“How?”
“Dad gave it to me after Evelyn disappeared.”
June turned the box over.
A small brass plate had been fixed to the bottom.
Tessa read the inscription.
For Tessa, when she is ready.
Rafe looked at June.
“You never saw that?”
“It was covered by felt.”
Tessa pulled at the edge.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a tiny key.
And a bank deposit number.
Malcolm checked it.
The box belonged to a private vault opened sixteen years earlier under Evelyn Ward’s name.
The contents were delivered that afternoon.
Financial ledgers.
Photographs.
Recorded conversations.
Documents proving decades of theft.
And one letter.
Addressed to Tessa.
Her hands shook as she opened it.
My darling girl,
If you are reading this, then the lies have finally reached you.
Tessa stopped.
She could not continue.
Rafe sat beside her.
“You don’t have to.”
“Yes.”
She read silently.
When she finished, tears covered her face.
Rafe did not ask what it said.
He simply held out his hand.
Tessa took it.
“My mother says Vincent wanted to acknowledge me.”
Rafe listened.
“She refused.”
“Why?”
“Because she didn’t want me raised as a Calder.”
Rafe almost smiled.
“Smart woman.”
Tessa laughed through tears.
Then her face changed.
“She also says Adrian survived.”
Rafe leaned forward.
“What?”
“She helped him escape.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Tessa turned the page.
A line had been underlined.
If Adrian ever returns, tell him I kept our promise.
Before they could discuss it, Malcolm rushed in.
“Rafe.”
Something in his face made everyone stand.
“What?”
“Silas knows we opened the vault.”
“How?”
“We had a leak.”
“Who?”
“We’re tracing it.”
Rafe’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Calder.”
A man’s voice came through.
Smooth.
Old.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
Rafe’s face became stone.
“Silas.”
June went pale.
Silas laughed.
“I see the family reunion has been touching.”
Rafe’s hand tightened around the phone.
“What do you want?”
“The records.”
“No.”
“Then perhaps you should ask Nurse Ward whether she wants to see her mother alive.”
Tessa stopped breathing.
Rafe’s eyes found hers.
Silas continued.
“Midnight tomorrow.”
“Where?”
“You’ll receive instructions.”
The line clicked off.
Tessa spoke immediately.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
“Rafe.”
“No.”
“My mother is alive.”
“Maybe.”
“You heard him.”
“I heard a man trying to control you.”
“I’m going.”
Rafe stepped closer.
“I just found out I have another sister.”
His voice cracked slightly.
“I am not losing her forty-eight hours later.”
Tessa stared at him.
There it was.
Not the feared man.
Not the boss.
Her brother.
She touched his arm.
“We’re not choosing between me and her.”
“Then what are we doing?”
Tessa looked toward the ledgers.
“We give Silas exactly what he thinks he wants.”
Rafe followed her gaze.
Then slowly understood.
And for the first time since the nightmare began, Tessa smiled.
Because Silas Vane believed the Calders were coming to negotiate.
May you like
He had no idea they were bringing enough evidence to destroy everything he had built.
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