Chapter 14 - Adrian Chooses a Side
Adrian entered his father’s private office in La Jolla with a crowbar.
The door lasted less than thirty seconds.
Claire watched through a secure video call as Ethan directed him toward the hidden wall safe.
“Left panel.”
Adrian tore away the wood.
A keypad appeared.
“What’s the code?”
Ethan looked at Claire.
Claire remembered something from Eleanor’s letter.
November 3.
“1103.”
The safe opened.
Inside were passports.
Cash.
Property deeds.
And a satellite phone.
Adrian picked it up.
The call history showed one active number.
Virginia.
Adrian forwarded it to investigators.
Then he found another folder.
NOAH.
His hands began shaking.
The folder contained photographs of his son.
School schedules.
Medical records.
Custody research.
Even a document proposing temporary guardianship by Malcolm and Evelyn if Adrian and Claire were deemed “unfit.”
Adrian lowered himself into a chair.
“They were planning to take him.”
Claire said nothing.
He opened another file.
CLAIRE.
There were years of private notes.
Emotional reactions.
Arguments.
Medical appointments.
Financial restrictions Adrian had imposed.
One entry read:
Continue dependency strategy.
Adrian stared at it.
His father had been documenting Claire’s isolation.
And Adrian had unknowingly carried out half the plan.
Claire watched his face change.
“You did the work for him.”
Adrian looked at the screen.
“What?”
“He didn’t have to control me directly.”
Her voice was quiet.
“He taught you how.”
Adrian could not answer.
The Virginia property was raided forty minutes later.
Empty.
But agents found evidence Noah had been there.
A child’s juice box.
A blanket from the Georgetown townhouse.
Fresh tire tracks.
They had moved him.
The twelve-hour deadline dropped below six.
Then Savannah called.
“I found something.”
She had spent the morning reviewing Adrian’s old conversations.
Months earlier, while bragging about family properties, he had mentioned a private airstrip belonging to a Vale charitable foundation.
Maryland.
Claire looked at Adrian.
“Do you know it?”
His eyes widened.
“My father’s foundation owns a farm near Easton.”
Agents changed direction.
Adrian grabbed his coat.
Rebecca stopped him.
“Where are you going?”
“To Maryland.”
“You’re suspended from the company and part of an active investigation.”
“That’s my son.”
Claire looked at him through the screen.
For six years Adrian had treated fatherhood like something that existed when convenient.
Now terror covered his face.
Claire made a decision.
“Let him go.”
Rebecca frowned.
“Claire.”
“He knows Malcolm.”
Adrian looked at her.
Claire’s voice became ice.
“You bring Noah back.”
“If I do?”
“It changes nothing between us.”
Adrian swallowed.
May you like
“I know.”
Three hours remained.
