Chapter 9
I screamed until my throat hurt.
Hale grabbed the phone from my hand.
Police units raced toward the safe location.
Eight minutes.
It felt like eight years.
No one answered Rachel's phone.
No movement.
No voices.
Just the empty line.
Then the call disconnected.
I turned on Daniel when he arrived in the hallway.
“This is your family!”
His face was white.
“I didn't know.”
“She has Sophie!”
“We don't know that.”
“Your mother just broke into a protected house!”
Hale snapped, “Enough.”
I stared at him.
He looked grim.
“We have officers arriving now.”
His radio crackled.
“Entry team inside.”
My knees almost failed.
Seconds passed.
Then—
“One adult female located.”
Rachel.
I grabbed Hale's sleeve.
“Condition?”
He listened.
“Alive.”
I cried.
“And Sophie?”
Another pause.
“Searching.”
“Where is my daughter?”
Nobody answered.
The radio crackled again.
“Second floor clear.”
Then:
“Basement clear.”
Then:
“No child located.”
I stopped breathing.
Patricia had her.
Hale ordered roadblocks.
Airports.
Train stations.
Border alerts.
Every available unit.
I called Robert.
He answered instantly.
“She took Sophie.”
He made a sound I had never heard from a grown man.
“I'll sign.”
“No.”
“Claire—”
“No.”
“I'll give Patricia everything.”
“She may hurt Sophie anyway.”
“She won't.”
“You don't know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
His voice became strangely firm.
“Patricia wants to win.”
That was true.
“She won't destroy the thing she's using to win.”
I hated the logic.
But he knew his wife.
“Call her,” he said.
“I don't have a number.”
“She'll call.”
She did.
Three minutes later.
Video call.
I answered.
Patricia's face filled the screen.
Then the camera turned.
Sophie sat in the back seat.
Crying.
Alive.
My heart broke open.
“Mom!”
“Sweetheart.”
I forced my voice calm.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
Patricia turned the camera back.
“She is perfectly safe.”
“You broke into a police location.”
“You forced me.”
“You shot at my sister.”
“I didn't shoot anyone.”
“Who did?”
She smiled.
“Lauren has always been impulsive.”
So Lauren was there.
“Put Sophie somewhere safe.”
“She is safe.”
“Patricia.”
“Robert signs the trust transfer. Daniel accepts responsibility for the company crimes. You withdraw every claim against the Bennett estate.”
I stared.
“You want us all to lie.”
“I want my family restored.”
I almost laughed.
“You kidnapped your granddaughter.”
“Temporary family relocation.”
Even now.
Even now she renamed reality.
“Let Sophie go.”
“Midnight.”
The call ended.
Hale had traced it.
Burner phone.
Moving vehicle.
Heading north.
Agents spread across highways.
Daniel stood against the wall.
“She wants me to confess.”
“Yes.”
“I will.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“If it gets Sophie back.”
“Don't.”
He laughed bitterly.
“Why? I did enough.”
“Because lying won't save her.”
He stared at me.
“You think I don't deserve prison?”
“I think you probably do.”
He flinched.
“But not for Emily's death. Not for Patricia's crimes.”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because truth matters.”
He looked at me for a long time.
Then nodded.
Maybe that was the first lesson he'd learned too late.
Rachel was transported to the hospital.
The fake officer had fired at her.
A bullet grazed her shoulder.
She had fired back with a weapon Hale had given her.
That gunfire probably delayed the kidnappers enough for Sophie to hide briefly.
But Lauren found her.
Rachel apologized over and over.
I held her hand.
“You kept her alive.”
“I lost her.”
“No.”
I looked at Hale.
“We get her back.”
At 6 p.m., Robert received instructions.
He was to meet Patricia at a law office outside the city.
Alone.
Bring signed trust papers.
Castillo created controlled documents.
Tracking device hidden inside.
Robert wore a wire.
At 8 p.m., he entered the building.
Empty lobby.
One light on upstairs.
We listened from a surveillance van two blocks away.
Robert climbed the stairs.
“Patricia?”
Her voice came through his microphone.
“Put the papers down.”
I closed my eyes.
She sounded normal.
That was the worst thing about her.
Normal.
Robert said, “Where is Sophie?”
“Safe.”
“I want to see her.”
“Sign first.”
“I signed.”
“Everything?”
“Yes.”
“Daniel?”
“He'll confess.”
“Claire?”
“She'll withdraw the estate claim.”
I looked at Castillo.
We had agreed to the script.
Patricia said, “Good.”
Robert's voice changed.
“Why, Patricia?”
“Don't start.”
“Forty-five years.”
Silence.
“Forty-five years married.”
“You were weak for most of them.”
Robert inhaled sharply.
“You stole from my father.”
“I protected his money from you.”
“He trusted me.”
“He pitied you.”
I watched Robert's face on a tiny surveillance screen.
Pain.
Then anger.
“What did you do to Emily Carter?”
Patricia paused.
“Nothing.”
“Did you order Lauren to kill her?”
“No.”
“Did you cover it up?”
“Yes.”
The agents looked at one another.
There.
Admission.
“Why?”
“Because scandal would have destroyed everything.”
“Everything you stole.”
“Everything I built.”
“You built nothing.”
Patricia's voice sharpened.
“I built this family.”
Robert laughed bitterly.
“You poisoned it.”
A door opened somewhere.
Footsteps.
Lauren's voice.
“Enough.”
I leaned toward the monitor.
Robert said, “Where is Sophie?”
Lauren replied, “Not here.”
My stomach dropped.
Patricia snapped, “Why would we bring her here?”
Castillo cursed.
It was another trap.
Lauren checked the papers.
Then said, “There's a tracker.”
Everything exploded.
“Move!” Hale shouted.
Agents rushed the building.
Through the wire, we heard Patricia scream.
Lauren fired.
Robert dropped.
I ran out of the van before anyone could stop me.
Hale shouted after me.
I didn't care.
By the time I reached the building, agents had entered.
Glass shattered upstairs.
Someone yelled.
Then a woman burst through a side door.
Lauren.
She saw me.
Stopped.
Raised her gun.
I froze.
“Claire.”
Her face was wild now.
No perfect makeup.
No smooth smile.
Just desperation.
“You ruin everything.”
I stared at the gun.
“You ruined yourself.”
“Shut up.”
She moved closer.
Police shouted from inside.
“Drop it!”
Lauren grabbed me.
Gun against my neck.
She dragged me backward.
“Tell them to stay back!”
Hale emerged.
Weapon raised.
“Lauren, let her go.”
“Stay back!”
I could feel her shaking.
She whispered into my ear.
“Daniel said you were boring.”
I almost laughed.
Even now, she wanted to hurt me as a woman.
Not as a hostage.
Not as an enemy.
As the wife whose husband she stole.
I said quietly, “Daniel never loved you.”
Her grip tightened.
“You don't know anything.”
“Patricia hired you.”
“Shut up.”
“You were paid to control him.”
“Shut up!”
“He destroyed his family for someone who was using him.”
She screamed and swung the gun.
That was enough.
I dropped.
Gunfire cracked.
Lauren fell.
The weapon slid across the pavement.
Hale grabbed me and pulled me away.
Lauren lay bleeding from the leg.
Alive.
Screaming.
Agents handcuffed her.
Inside, Patricia had been arrested.
Robert was unhurt.
She had tried to escape through another office.
For one second, hope surged.
“Where is Sophie?”
Patricia smiled from handcuffs.
I wanted to tear the answer from her.
“Where is she?”
“You think this is over?”
Hale stepped between us.
“Where is the child?”
Patricia looked at me.
“Ask Daniel.”
My heart stopped.
“No.”
She smiled.
“He knows the place.”
I turned.
Daniel stood behind the police line.
His face had gone white.
“What place?”
He stared at his mother.
She laughed.
“The lake house.”
My stomach dropped.
The house Daniel had forged my signature to transfer.
Daniel looked at me.
“No.”
“What?”
“Claire, the gas system.”
I didn't understand.
Then he ran toward Hale.
“The lake house has a propane leak.”
“What?”
“I shut it down months ago.”
Patricia smiled.
Daniel stared at her.
“You took Sophie there?”
“She needed somewhere quiet.”
“You crazy—”
Hale grabbed him.
Daniel shouted, “That house isn't safe!”
My body turned to ice.
“How unsafe?”
He looked at me.
“If someone turned the heat on, gas could be filling the entire house.”
The lake house was forty minutes away.
Patricia's smile disappeared when she realized what she'd done.
For the first time all night, she looked afraid.
I walked toward her.
“Is Sophie alone?”
She didn't answer.
I screamed.
“IS MY DAUGHTER ALONE?”
Patricia whispered, “Charles was supposed to stay with her.”
Weller was in the hospital.
The house was empty.
Except for my daughter.
We raced north.
Police cars cleared the highway.
Fire crews followed.
I called Sophie's phone.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
Daniel sat beside me in Hale's SUV.
He kept whispering, “Come on, bug.”
Finally—
The call connected.
No voice.
I nearly screamed.
“Sophie?”
A small cough.
“Mom?”
I cried.
“Sweetheart, listen to me very carefully.”
“It's cold.”
“Don't turn anything on.”
“Grandma told me to turn the heater on.”
Daniel shut his eyes.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
Everyone froze.
“How long ago?”
“I don't know.”
“Sweetheart, open a window.”
“I'm sleepy.”
My heart stopped.
Gas.
“Do not go to sleep.”
“Mom…”
“Sophie, get up.”
“I can't.”
Daniel grabbed the phone.
“Bug, it's Dad.”
“Daddy?”
“Yes. Remember our race to the dock?”
A tiny pause.
“Yes.”
“I need you to beat me there.”
“What?”
“Get up and run to the dock.”
“I'm tired.”
“You'll win.”
“I always win.”
“I know.”
His voice broke.
“So prove it.”
We turned onto the lake road.
Sirens screaming.
“Sophie?”
No answer.
Daniel shouted into the phone.
“Sophie!”
Then we heard movement.
A door.
Footsteps.
A cough.
Cold air.
She whispered, “I'm outside.”
I started sobbing.
“Stay outside.”
Headlights hit the lake house.
A tiny figure stood near the driveway wearing pajamas and no shoes.
I was out of the SUV before it stopped.
“SOPHIE!”
She ran toward me.
I dropped to my knees and caught her.
Everything inside me broke.
She was alive.
Cold.
Confused.
But alive.
Behind us, firefighters entered the house.
One shouted almost immediately.
“High gas reading!”
Daniel knelt beside us.
Sophie reached for him.
He hugged her.
For one strange moment, the three of us held each other like the family we used to pretend we were.
Then Sophie looked at me.
“Mom?”
May you like
“Yes?”
“Why did Grandma say you were never supposed to find me?”
