Chapter 8 - The Riverside MillThe Riverside Mill had been empty for fourteen years.
For nearly thirty seconds, every rational thought disappeared.
Emily was alive.
He could save her.
All he had to do was surrender Eli.
Then Nathan looked across the motel parking lot.
Eli sat inside a police SUV wrapped in a blanket.
Eleven years old.
No mother.
No home.
And now criminals were demanding him as if he were property.
Nathan deleted the idea from his mind.
“No.”
Rachel looked at him.
“No what?”
“I’m not trading a child for my sister.”
Rachel nodded.
“Good.”
“But we’re getting Emily back.”
The FBI officially joined the investigation that afternoon.
Agents traced the message to a smuggled phone Vanessa had somehow obtained through someone connected to her legal team.
Vanessa denied sending anything.
Nathan visited her in the county detention center.
She entered the interview room wearing gray prison clothes instead of silk.
For the first time since Nathan met her, she looked ordinary.
He sat across from her.
“Where is Emily?”
Vanessa smiled faintly.
“You finally came.”
“Where is my sister?”
“You used to ask how my day was first.”
Nathan stared at her.
“Did you poison Sarah Carter?”
The smile vanished.
“I had nothing to do with her death.”
“Did you give her supplements?”
“Sometimes.”
“What was in them?”
“I don’t know.”
“Peter knew.”
Vanessa looked away.
Nathan understood.
“You knew Peter was involved.”
“He handled Mark’s problems.”
“Was Sarah one of Mark’s problems?”
Vanessa didn’t answer.
Nathan leaned forward.
“What happened to you?”
Her eyes flashed.
“Nothing happened to me.”
“The woman I married wouldn’t have done this.”
“You never knew the woman you married.”
The statement hurt because Nathan believed it.
Vanessa continued.
“You married what looked good beside you.”
Nathan flinched.
“We were happy.”
“You were.”
“What did Mark give you that I didn’t?”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“Attention.”
Nathan stared.
“He noticed when I entered a room.”
“So you tried to murder me?”
“I didn’t want you dead.”
“The poison was on my plate.”
“I was supposed to use enough to make you sick.”
Nathan’s breath stopped.
“What?”
Vanessa looked down.
“Mark said it would trigger an episode. You’d miss the board meeting. I’d use the medical proxy. The merger would pass.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“But the amount found could have killed me.”
Vanessa’s face changed.
“I didn’t know.”
“Then Mark wanted me dead.”
Silence.
Nathan understood more.
Vanessa had betrayed him.
But Mark had betrayed Vanessa too.
“He expected me to die.”
She whispered, “Maybe.”
“And then you would inherit my shares.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
Nathan felt no sympathy.
“Where is Emily?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who has her?”
“Peter.”
“Where?”
Vanessa hesitated.
Nathan leaned forward.
“Mark already tried to make you a murderer. When this ends, do you think he’s protecting you?”
Vanessa stared at him.
“He’ll erase you like he tried to erase Sarah.”
Her hands began trembling.
“There’s a warehouse.”
Nathan waited.
“South industrial district.”
“Address?”
“I don’t know the exact number.”
“Try.”
She closed her eyes.
“Near the old Morrison rail yard. Peter used it.”
Nathan stood.
Vanessa whispered, “Nathan.”
He stopped.
“I loved you once.”
Nathan turned.
“Maybe.”
His expression remained calm.
“But love doesn’t survive what you did.”
He left.
FBI teams searched the rail yard.
Twenty-three warehouses.
Most abandoned.
At Warehouse 14, they found recent tire tracks.
Inside were ropes.
Food containers.
Blood.
Emily had been there.
But she was gone.
An agent found a burned document pile.
One page survived partially.
It contained a flight number.
Departure: Chicago.
Destination: Montreal.
Next morning.
They were moving Emily out of the country.
Then Nathan received a video.
Emily appeared on screen.
A bruise covered her cheek.
Peter stood behind her.
“Hello, Nathan.”
Nathan’s fists tightened.
Peter smiled.
“You always believed loyalty could be purchased.”
“Let her go.”
“I will.”
“When?”
“When you bring Eli.”
Eli was standing beside Rachel.
His face drained.
Peter continued.
“The boy knows where Sarah hid something else.”
Nathan looked at Eli.
“What?”
Eli shook his head.
“I don’t.”
Peter laughed through the video.
“Yes, he does. He just doesn’t understand it.”
The camera moved closer to Emily.
“You have until midnight.”
Nathan forced himself to remain calm.
“What are you looking for?”
Peter smiled.
“A notebook.”
Eli inhaled sharply.
Nathan turned.
“You know about it.”
Eli whispered, “My mom’s blue book.”
“Where?”
“I lost it.”
Peter heard him.
“No, you didn’t.”
His smile disappeared.
“Sarah stitched the final account numbers into the cover.”
Nathan understood.
The notebook contained proof of where the missing money went.
Perhaps hundreds of millions.
Peter continued.
“Bring me the boy and the notebook.”
“You get neither.”
Peter grabbed Emily’s hair.
She gasped.
Nathan stepped toward the screen.
“DON’T TOUCH HER!”
Eli shouted, “Stop!”
Everyone turned.
The boy was crying.
“I’ll go.”
Nathan stared.
“No.”
“If I go, she comes back.”
“No.”
“She’s your sister.”
“And you’re a child.”
Eli wiped his face.
“Nobody needs me.”
Nathan froze.
Eli looked at him.
“Your sister has you.”
Nathan walked over.
He crouched.
“You’re wrong.”
“About what?”
“You said nobody needs you.”
Nathan’s voice broke.
“I do.”
Eli stared at him.
Nathan placed both hands on his shoulders.
“You saved my life. You brought me the truth. And somewhere along the way, you became someone I care about.”
Eli began crying.
“I am not handing you to people who hurt your mother.”
Peter’s voice crackled from the phone.
“How touching.”
Then another voice sounded behind him.
A man stepped into view.
Mark Reynolds.
Nathan stared.
Mark smiled.
“Midnight, partner.”
Then Mark said something only Nathan could understand.
“Come to the place where we made our first million.”
The video ended.
Nathan knew exactly where they were going.
The abandoned Riverside Mill.
May you like
Where Cole-Reynolds Development had completed its first major project eighteen years ago.
And Nathan had no intention of waiting until midnight.
Related Stories
