Chapter 10 - SILVER PINES
I could not speak.
The voice on the phone trembled.
“My name is Claire.”
“They said my baby died.”
Behind her, Vanessa shouted for someone to take the phone away.
Claire cried out.
The call ended.
Reyes traced the signal to the coastal warehouse.
We drove through heavy rain with police units behind us.
Daniel sat beside me in the SUV.
Neither of us tried to pretend we were calm.
“She remembered your name,” he said.
“After all these years, she remembered.”
The warehouse stood above the ocean like a black shape against the storm.
Its main doors were chained.
A van waited near the loading dock.
The engine was running.
Police surrounded the building while Reyes entered through a side door with her team.
Daniel and I were ordered to stay back.
Then we heard Claire scream.
I ran before anyone could stop me.
Inside, rows of empty shelves created a maze.
Medical boxes from Silver Pines were stacked beside the van.
I found Vanessa dragging a silver-haired woman toward the tunnel entrance.
Claire looked fragile, but her eyes were the same gray as mine.
Vanessa held my mother by the arm.
“Stay back,” she warned.
“You already ruined everything.”
“You ruined it yourself,” I said.
“You could have walked away when the camera exposed you.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“You think this began with a necklace?”
“My father promised me the company.”
“I spent my whole life preparing to own it.”
“Then you showed up carrying a dead woman's face.”
Claire stared at me.
She lifted one shaking hand.
“Emily.”
That one word crossed twenty-four years.
I stepped closer.
Vanessa pulled Claire toward the tunnel.
Daniel appeared behind me.
“Let her go.”
Victor emerged from the shadows holding a metal case filled with passports and cash.
He told Vanessa to leave Claire and get to the boat.
Vanessa refused.
“She is the only leverage we have.”
Victor looked at his daughter with cold disgust.
“You were supposed to plant the necklace and keep quiet.”
“Instead, you slapped her in front of a camera.”
Vanessa's face crumpled.
For the first time, she realized her father had never planned to protect her.
Police lights flashed through the windows.
Victor shoved Vanessa aside and pulled Claire into the tunnel himself.
Daniel tackled him before he reached the stairs.
The metal case flew open.
Cash scattered across the wet floor.
Claire collapsed into my arms.
Then an explosion shook the warehouse.
May you like
Flames rose behind the shelves.
Victor had rigged the building to burn.
