Chapter 11 - The Child Behind the Wall
Sophie hid inside a narrow space behind the estate library.
The hidden room had been built during Prohibition.
Eleanor had shown it to her after the boathouse kidnapping.
“If anyone enters the house without Luca, hide here.”
Sophie had remembered.
Malcolm’s men searched the library.
One of them opened the cabinet beside the hidden panel.
Sophie covered her mouth.
Her phone battery showed nine percent.
Claire remained on the line without speaking.
Every sound from the estate entered the car through Sophie’s phone.
Footsteps.
Doors opening.
Furniture moving.
A man cursed.
“The girl is not here.”
Another voice answered.
“Graves said she cannot leave the property.”
Sophie whispered against the phone.
“I can see shoes.”
Claire sat in Luca’s moving vehicle.
Adrian drove behind them.
“Do not make a sound,” Claire whispered.
A shadow stopped outside the wall.
The hidden panel moved slightly.
Sophie closed her eyes.
Then a loud crash came from the hallway.
The men ran.
Eleanor’s nurse had thrown a lamp through a window before being captured.
The distraction gave Sophie time.
She crawled through a narrow tunnel leading to the old wine cellar.
Claire followed the estate plans on Luca’s tablet.
“Turn left at the second opening.”
“It is dark.”
“Use the rabbit’s eye.”
The stuffed rabbit contained a small flashlight.
Sophie turned it on.
She moved through the passage.
A rat ran across the floor.
She almost screamed.
Claire heard her breathing change.
“You are doing perfectly.”
“I’m scared.”
“I know.”
“Are you scared?”
Claire looked toward the road.
“Yes.”
“What do you do?”
“I keep moving while I am scared.”
Sophie crawled forward.
She reached the wine cellar.
A service door led outside.
Two men stood beyond it.
Claire’s heart pounded.
“Stay inside.”
Luca’s team approached through the woods.
A silent red light appeared through the cellar window.
Sophie recognized Luca’s signal.
She opened the door and ran.
One man grabbed her dress.
The pink fabric tore.
Sophie bit his hand.
He shouted.
Luca struck him from behind.
The second man reached for Sophie.
A security officer tackled him.
Sophie ran into Luca’s arms.
Claire’s vehicle reached the estate four minutes later.
She nearly fell while climbing out.
Sophie ran toward her.
Claire lifted her.
The child wrapped both arms around her neck.
“I kept moving.”
“You did.”
“I bit him.”
“I heard.”
“Am I in trouble?”
Claire kissed her face.
“No.”
Adrian entered the damaged mansion.
The security control room had been emptied.
Eleanor’s nurse was found unconscious but alive.
Every file concerning Catherine had been taken.
A message had been painted across the library wall.
THE FIRSTBORN ALWAYS PAYS.
Catherine stared at it.
“My father used to say that.”
Claire looked toward her.
“Charles Ashford?”
“Yes.”
“He believed the firstborn child carried the family’s honor.”
“And the family’s punishment.”
Adrian examined the paint.
“Malcolm is using Crown language.”
Catherine shook her head.
“Malcolm did not write this.”
“How do you know?”
“The phrase was private.”
“Only my father, Victoria, and I heard it.”
“Victoria is in federal custody.”
Adrian turned toward Rebecca.
“Is she?”
Rebecca called the detention center.
Her face changed.
Victoria had been transferred at dawn under a sealed federal order.
The order was forged.
The transport van had never reached its destination.
Victoria was missing.
Claire looked at the wall.
“She took Eleanor.”
Catherine nodded.
“Malcolm took the company.”
“Victoria took our mother.”
“They are no longer working together.”
Adrian looked toward the broken windows.
“They are competing for the Crown.”
Sophie tugged Claire’s sleeve.
“Grandma Eleanor gave me something.”
She opened her stuffed rabbit.
Inside was a small flash drive.
Eleanor had hidden it before being taken.
Adrian connected it to a secure computer.
A video appeared.
Eleanor sat inside her study.
The recording had been made the previous night.
“If you are watching this, Victoria has finally stopped pretending.”
“I know where she will take me.”
“She believes the Crown belongs to the surviving daughter of Charles Ashford.”
“She will go to the old family courthouse.”
Catherine frowned.
“The private arbitration hall.”
Eleanor continued.
“The original Ashford charter is stored beneath the judge’s bench.”
“It names Catherine as firstborn.”
“It also contains a clause Victoria has spent her life hiding.”
The screen flickered.
Eleanor leaned closer.
“No person convicted of violence against an Ashford descendant may inherit or control the trust.”
“Victoria cannot win legally.”
“She needs Catherine to renounce the claim.”
“Or she needs Catherine dead.”
Claire reached for her mother.
Catherine remained still.
Eleanor’s voice continued.
“Claire, do not trade yourself for me.”
“Catherine, do not surrender.”
“Adrian, your father was not weak.”
“He spent the final year of his life gathering evidence against Victoria.”
“I found his files after you left the house.”
“They are hidden inside the courthouse organ.”
Adrian’s eyes filled.
Eleanor looked directly into the camera.
“And Sophie.”
The little girl moved closer.
“You once asked why rich people are so afraid.”
“They are afraid because money can buy silence.”
“It cannot buy innocence.”
The video ended.
A location appeared on the screen.
The old Ashford courthouse stood on private land near the Wisconsin border.
Claire looked toward Adrian.
“We go tonight.”
“No.”
Catherine stood.
“I go.”
Claire turned.
“Mom.”
“Victoria wants me.”
“She will hurt Eleanor until I arrive.”
“You barely survived the hospital.”
“I survived thirty-two years because I wanted to see you again.”
“I will not let her use my mother to take that away.”
Adrian opened the courthouse plans.
“There are three entrances.”
“Malcolm’s company controls the security system.”
Catherine looked at him.
“Then do not use the doors.”
She pointed toward a narrow line beneath the building.
“A river tunnel.”
“My sister and I used it as children.”
Sophie looked up.
“I’m coming.”
Everyone answered at once.
“No.”
Sophie folded her arms.
“She keeps taking grandmas.”
“That is why you are staying with Luca’s backup team.”
Sophie looked at Claire.
“You promised you would not disappear.”
Claire knelt.
“I am not disappearing.”
“I am going to bring Eleanor home.”
“And if Victoria catches you?”
Claire touched Sophie’s cheek.
“Then she will learn what everyone in that ballroom learned.”
“What?”
Claire looked toward Catherine.
“A mother does not stop moving when her child cries.”
Hours later, they reached the courthouse.
Snow covered the stone steps.
No lights were visible.
Catherine opened the river tunnel.
Claire, Adrian, Luca, and Rebecca followed.
They reached the basement beneath the arbitration hall.
A woman’s voice echoed through the floor.
Victoria.
“Sign the renunciation, Catherine.”
Eleanor answered weakly.
“She will never sign.”
A sharp sound followed.
Claire froze.
Victoria had struck Eleanor.
Catherine gripped her arm.
“Wait.”
Claire’s eyes burned.
“That is my grandmother.”
“And Victoria wants you angry.”
Adrian looked toward the staircase.
“We need proof.”
Claire activated her phone recorder.
They entered the courtroom through a hidden panel.
Victoria stood beside the judge’s bench.
Eleanor was tied to a chair.
Malcolm Graves stood near the far door.
Everyone froze.
Victoria stared at Malcolm.
“You were not invited.”
He smiled.
“I own the security company.”
Catherine looked between them.
“You are turning on each other.”
Malcolm raised his gun.
“There can only be one Crown.”
Victoria smiled.
“Then you should not have brought an unloaded weapon.”
Malcolm pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
Victoria’s guard struck him from behind.
He fell.
Victoria looked toward Catherine.
“Sign.”
Catherine stepped into the courtroom.
“No.”
Victoria pressed a knife against Eleanor’s throat.
Claire moved from the shadows.
“Let her go.”
Victoria’s smile returned.
“There she is.”
Malcolm lifted his head from the floor.
Blood covered his forehead.
He looked at Claire.
Then at the old organ above the courtroom.
Adrian’s father’s files remained hidden inside it.
Malcolm whispered one word.
“Fire.”
Smoke began pouring from the organ pipes.
Victoria looked up.
Malcolm laughed.
“If I cannot have the Crown, nobody will have the evidence.”
Flames rose behind the judge’s bench.
The courthouse doors locked automatically.
May you like
Eleanor remained tied beneath the burning ceiling.
And the only key was hanging around Victoria’s neck.
