Chapter 6 - Isabella’s SecretWilliam survived surgery.
Ethan sat inside what looked like an abandoned train carriage, clutching his knees.
A digital clock beside him read 11:28.
Richard's message followed.
MIDNIGHT. NO EXCUSES.
Detective Kane enlarged the picture.
“Look at the window.”
William leaned closer.
There was a reflection.
Not a station.
Water.
“Harbor,” I said.
Kane nodded.
“Hawthorne Station is landlocked.”
The photograph was fake.
Or rather, the location Richard claimed was fake.
“He wants you at the station while Ethan is somewhere else,” I said.
William stared at the screen.
“Then where?”
I remembered the address.
Harbor Street.
Anna's hiding place.
Richard knew she was alive.
Maybe he'd known all along.
Anna walked toward the image.
“The old Sterling shipping terminal.”
William looked at her.
“My grandfather sold that.”
“To a shell corporation.”
Of course.
Everything seemed to belong to shell corporations.
Kane dispatched tactical units toward the waterfront.
William insisted on going.
So did I.
Kane objected to both of us.
William ignored her.
I didn't have billionaire authority, but I went anyway.
Maybe because Ethan had trusted me.
Maybe because I had spent most of my life walking away from trouble because trouble belonged to richer, stronger, more important people.
For once, I wanted to walk toward it.
The old terminal stretched along the river like a skeleton.
Rusting warehouses.
Broken cranes.
Abandoned rail cars.
Police held back several blocks away so Richard's people wouldn't see them.
William wore a hidden microphone.
Anna stayed with Kane.
I was supposed to stay too.
Then William looked at me.
“If Ethan sees you, he might stay calm.”
Kane swore under her breath.
That was how I ended up inside William's car.
We approached Warehouse 9 alone.
A door opened.
Richard stood inside.
Blue ring gleaming beneath a hanging light.
“William.”
“Where's Ethan?”
Richard smiled.
“You always were impatient.”
“And you always mistook cruelty for intelligence.”
Richard's smile disappeared.
“Records.”
William lifted a duffel bag.
Copies.
The originals remained with police.
Richard didn't know that.
“Inside.”
We entered.
Three armed men stood near the walls.
Ethan sat in a chair twenty yards away.
His wrists weren't tied.
They didn't need to be.
He was surrounded.
“Grace!” he cried.
Richard's eyes snapped toward me.
“I said alone.”
William didn't blink.
“You said bring the records. I brought them.”
Richard looked at me.
“The waitress.”
“My name is Grace.”
“I know your name.”
Something about that answer bothered me.
“How?”
He ignored me.
William threw the duffel bag onto a table.
“Let him go.”
Richard opened it.
Files filled the bag.
He smiled.
“Burn barrel.”
One of his men carried the bag toward a metal drum.
William's jaw tightened.
Richard struck a match.
“Thirty years,” he said. “Do you know how many powerful people are connected to these records?”
“You trafficked children.”
“I provided solutions.”
“You sold children.”
“I moved unwanted children into wealthy homes.”
“By stealing identities.”
Richard shrugged.
“Morality is often a luxury purchased by people who don't understand logistics.”
I wanted to hit him.
Instead I watched Ethan.
He watched me too.
I slowly raised one hand.
Five fingers.
Then four.
Then three.
His eyes widened.
He understood.
At two, the warehouse lights went out.
Again.
Only this time Richard wasn't controlling them.
Detective Kane was.
William moved instantly.
I ran toward Ethan.
Gunshots erupted in the darkness.
I dropped behind crates.
“Grace!”
“Ethan!”
Emergency lights flashed red.
I saw him crawling beneath the chair.
One of Richard's men grabbed for him.
I threw myself forward and swung a loose piece of wood at the man's arm.
He cursed.
Ethan ran.
I caught him.
“Hold on to me!”
Police flooded the building.
“DROP YOUR WEAPONS!”
William tackled Richard against a shipping container.
The blue sapphire ring flew from Richard's hand.
Richard punched William.
William hit him back.
Years of grief seemed to pour through every strike until Kane dragged William away.
“Enough!”
Officers cuffed Richard.
Ethan buried his face against me.
“Is Daddy okay?”
“Yes.”
William heard him and came running.
He lifted Ethan into his arms.
For a brief moment, I believed it was finished.
Richard caught.
Ethan rescued.
Evidence preserved.
Then a gunshot exploded.
William jerked.
Anna screamed from outside.
William collapsed.
Blood spread across his shirt.
The shooter was one of Richard's men lying behind a crate.
Police fired.
The man dropped his weapon.
I pressed both hands against William's wound.
“Stay with me.”
His face had gone gray.
“Ethan?”
“He's safe.”
“Don't let him see.”
Too late.
Ethan was screaming.
“Daddy!”
Paramedics rushed inside.
They pulled me away.
William's blood covered my hands.
Anna held Ethan while medics carried William toward the ambulance.
Richard watched everything from the ground.
And he smiled.
I walked toward him.
“You think this is funny?”
His eyes lifted.
“This doesn't end with me.”
“What does that mean?”
“William thinks Isabella was working for me.”
“She locked Ethan inside a wall.”
“Yes.”
His smile widened.
“But she wasn't trying to punish him.”
I froze.
“What?”
“She was hiding him.”
“From you.”
Richard chuckled.
“No, Grace.”
May you like
Then he looked toward the ambulance carrying William away.
“From the person who just shot his father.”
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