Chapter 10 - The Woman Who Refused to Remain Helpless
Lucian survived.
Miriam treated him before the poison stopped his heart.
He remained unconscious under armed guard.
Alexander read the message again.
His expression had not changed for several minutes.
Emily stood beside him.
“You should not assume it is true.”
“Lucian believed it.”
“Lucian also lied to you for three years.”
Alexander folded the note.
“That does not make every lie false.”
Luca entered the study.
“We found a tracker inside Eleanor’s shawl.”
“Is it active?” Alexander asked.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“An abandoned rehabilitation hospital near Joliet.”
Emily looked at the map.
“That is where Victoria met Dr. Cole.”
Mara Voss joined them through a secure call.
“The clinic closed five years ago.”
“The Harrington Foundation purchased it six months before the attack.”
“Who owns it now?”
Mara hesitated.
“A shell company controlled by Renato Moretti.”
Renato was being held in a guarded guest room.
He denied knowledge of the clinic.
Alexander did not release him.
Luca prepared two vehicles.
Emily changed into dry clothes.
Alexander found her near the entrance.
“You are staying here.”
“No.”
“It was not a request.”
“That approach has failed twice.”
Alexander stepped closer.
“They want the ledger.”
“I have it.”
“That is why you are staying.”
“My father died because he tried to expose them.”
“And you intend to honor him by repeating his mistakes?”
Emily’s eyes flashed.
“His mistake was trusting your family.”
Alexander absorbed the words.
Then he handed her a protective vest.
“Stay beside me.”
The abandoned clinic stood behind a chain-link fence.
Its windows were boarded.
Grass pushed through the cracked parking lot.
No vehicles were visible.
Luca’s team entered through three points.
Alexander and Emily went through the rear entrance.
The corridor smelled of mold and disinfectant.
Old wheelchairs lined one wall.
Patient files covered the floor.
A distant voice echoed through the building.
Eleanor’s voice.
“Alexander.”
He ran.
Emily followed.
They entered a therapy room.
Eleanor sat in the center.
Her hands were tied to the wheelchair.
A camera faced her.
A speaker hung from the ceiling.
Alexander cut the restraints.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Who took you?”
“I did not see their faces.”
Emily examined Eleanor’s wrists.
“You were not dragged.”
Eleanor looked at her.
“What?”
“There are no marks on the chair.”
“No mud on your shoes.”
“No bruises from restraints.”
Alexander slowly stood.
“Mother.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“I am sorry.”
Alexander stepped backward.
“You arranged this?”
“No.”
“I allowed it.”
Emily stared.
“Why?”
Eleanor gripped the wheelchair arms.
“Because someone inside our home has been watching me.”
“We knew about the transmitter,” Alexander said.
“I knew before tonight.”
Alexander’s face hardened.
“For how long?”
“Six months.”
“You said nothing.”
“I needed them to believe I was frightened.”
“You let me believe you were helpless.”
“I am not helpless.”
Eleanor placed both hands on the chair.
Then she stood.
Her legs trembled.
Her body swayed.
But she stood.
Alexander stared at her.
Emily’s mouth opened.
Eleanor took one painful step.
Then another.
She sat again.
“Dr. Shaw has helped me privately for eight months.”
Alexander looked betrayed.
“Why hide it from me?”
“Because someone wanted to keep me in this chair.”
“I needed them to believe they had succeeded.”
“You lied to me.”
“I protected you.”
Alexander laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“Every person who lies to me says that.”
Eleanor’s eyes filled.
“I remembered more than I told you.”
“What did you remember?”
“The man on the bridge wore a Moretti ring.”
“Renato?”
“I never saw his face.”
Emily opened the ledger.
“What about my father?”
“He gave me something before the second car came.”
“What?”
“A key.”
“The locker key?”
“No.”
“A small silver key.”
Eleanor touched Emily’s pendant.
“He told me his daughter would understand.”
Emily pressed the letter C.
Nothing happened.
Noah’s pendant had opened from the front.
Emily twisted hers sideways.
A tiny metal blade slid from the bottom.
Eleanor nodded.
“That is the key.”
“To what?”
Before she could answer, the speaker above them activated.
Victoria’s voice filled the room.
“To the grave of Marco Moretti.”
Steel shutters dropped over the windows.
The doors locked.
A low mechanical hum began beneath the floor.
Luca spoke through Alexander’s earpiece.
“Gas.”
Alexander grabbed Emily.
“Cover your mouth.”
White vapor entered through the vents.
Eleanor removed the shawl from her shoulders.
She covered her face.
Alexander kicked the door.
It did not move.
Emily searched the walls.
The silver key fit a narrow slot beside the therapy mirror.
She turned it.
The mirror opened.
A hidden passage appeared.
They entered seconds before the room filled with gas.
The passage led to an underground garage.
A black van waited near the exit.
Its doors opened.
Masked men rushed toward them.
Luca’s team attacked from the other side.
Shouts echoed through the garage.
Emily pushed Eleanor behind a concrete column.
Alexander fought one of the masked men.
Luca pulled another away from the van.
A woman emerged from the driver’s side.
Victoria Harrington.
She wore a white coat.
Her diamonds were gone.
Her smile remained.
She grabbed Eleanor’s wheelchair.
Emily seized the opposite handle.
Victoria slapped Emily across the face.
This time, the slap landed.
“You should have stayed a waitress.”
Emily shoved the chair away from her.
“You should have learned the first time.”
Victoria reached inside her coat.
Alexander moved toward them.
A loud alarm sounded.
The garage lights shut off.
When emergency lighting returned, Victoria was gone.
A side gate stood open.
Something lay on the ground where she had been standing.
A photograph of Marco Moretti’s grave.
May you like
A message had been written across it.
DIG HIM UP BEFORE RENATO MOVES HIM AGAIN.
