Chapter 12 - The Kidnapping Order
Bell gave us five minutes before he threatened to break down the door.
I called my attorney.
She answered on the first ring.
“Do not hand Sophie over to Vanessa,” she said.
“Bell has a signed order.”
“I’m looking at it. The order is real, but it’s temporary. We can challenge it this afternoon.”
“Bell is outside now.”
“Then cooperate with the police, but insist Sophie be transferred to county child services, not Vanessa.”
Olivia heard every word.
“No.”
I covered the phone.
“What?”
“If they take Sophie into the system, Lucas will move her before the hearing.”
“You think every cop is bought?”
“I think Bell is.”
Grace stepped between us.
“We need another option.”
Sophie appeared in the hallway, awake and frightened.
“Are they taking me?”
I knelt.
“No.”
Bell shouted from outside.
“Mr. Carter, time’s up.”
Sophie wrapped her arms around my neck.
Olivia crouched beside us.
“Sweetheart, I need you to be brave.”
“I don’t want Vanessa.”
“You’re not going with Vanessa.”
A loud crash came from the back of the house.
Grace spun around.
Bell was still at the front.
Someone else had entered through the kitchen door.
Malcolm appeared with a bloody cut over one eyebrow.
“They grabbed me at the estate,” he said. “Three men. One of them was Lucas’s driver.”
“How did you get here?”
“He let me.”
My stomach dropped.
“Who?”
“Lucas.”
Malcolm handed me a phone.
Lucas was on the line.
“Come home,” he said.
“Go to hell.”
“You think this is about stealing Sophie’s trust?”
“It is.”
“No, Ethan. It’s about keeping you out of prison.”
I laughed bitterly.
“For crimes you committed under my name?”
“Some of them.”
The word hit me.
“Some?”
Lucas continued, “Dad used your identity before I ever did. Harbor Point. The offshore accounts. The payoff contracts. Your name is on everything.”
I looked at Olivia.
She couldn’t meet my eyes.
“You knew?”
She whispered, “Not all of it.”
Lucas said, “If the trust moves, I can refinance the debt, settle the audit, and keep the old files buried. If it doesn’t, federal investigators pull the entire chain.”
“Let them.”
“You’ll be indicted with me.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
“What about Sophie?”
My grip tightened.
“Don’t say her name.”
“You still don’t get it. If you’re charged with financial crimes and Olivia is legally dead, who gets Sophie?”
Vanessa.
That was the plan.
Not just to control the trust.
To use my prosecution to make the guardianship permanent.
Lucas lowered his voice.
“Come home and sign. Or Bell takes her now.”
I looked through the window.
Bell was moving toward the door.
Then Malcolm said, “There’s one thing Lucas doesn’t know.”
“What?”
He pointed to Olivia.
“If she proves she’s alive before the hearing, Vanessa can’t become Sophie’s guardian.”
Olivia shook her head.
“That’s exactly what Lucas wants.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because the minute I legally come back from the dead, they can charge me with kidnapping Sophie from Harbor Ridge.”
My attorney called while Bell was still outside.
“There’s another filing,” she said.
“What now?”
“Lucas is asking the court to freeze Sophie’s trust because you allegedly attempted to move her out of state.”
“I haven’t.”
“I know.”
“Who says I did?”
She hesitated.
“Grace.”
I looked at Grace.
She heard the name and shook her head violently.
“I never signed anything.”
The filing included an electronic affidavit with her digital signature.
Grace stared at the screen.
“That was stolen.”
“How?”
Her face changed.
“Vanessa helped me renew my employment paperwork two months ago.”
So Vanessa had harvested signatures too.
Then my attorney said, “Ethan, the motion lists a destination for the alleged kidnapping.”
“Where?”
“Harbor Ridge.”
Olivia went white.
They were building a story in which I was taking Sophie to the same place Olivia had vanished into.
---
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