Chapter 14 - Clara’s Price
Clara collapsed when she saw the photograph.
“My baby.”
Her voice was not the voice of the woman who had kissed my fiancé.
It was the voice of a mother.
Raw.
Animal.
Terrified.
She grabbed my phone.
“Where?”
“No location yet.”
“I have to go.”
Nolan blocked the door.
“No.”
“That is my daughter!”
“And Richard expects you to react emotionally.”
“I don’t care!”
“You should.”
She slapped him.
Hard.
The room went silent.
Nolan did not move.
Clara stared at her own hand.
Then began sobbing.
“I’m sorry.”
“No need.”
“Yes, there is.”
She covered her face.
“He’ll hurt her.”
I looked at Nolan.
“Will he?”
“I don’t know.”
Clara lowered her hands.
“He won’t.”
We both looked at her.
“What?”
“He won’t hurt Sophie.”
“How can you know?”
“Because she’s the only person he thinks belongs to him.”
The wording chilled me.
“He loves her?”
Clara laughed bitterly.
“No.”
“He owns people.”
“He thinks that is love.”
I sat beside her.
“When did Richard recruit you?”
“Before you.”
“How?”
“I worked at a hotel.”
“He was staying there.”
“You had an affair.”
Her face twisted.
“For six months.”
“Did you know he was married?”
“Eventually.”
“And Sophie?”
“He wanted me to terminate the pregnancy.”
She looked at me.
“I didn’t.”
“So he helped you?”
“At first.”
Her laugh was empty.
“He bought an apartment.”
“Paid medical bills.”
“Made me believe he cared.”
“Then?”
“He took control.”
“Every account.”
“Every job.”
“When Sophie was three, he threatened to take her if I stopped doing what he asked.”
“And then he sent you to me.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you agree?”
“Because I was afraid.”
She met my eyes.
“That doesn’t excuse it.”
“No.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
Tears rolled down her face.
“But somewhere along the way, you became my real friend.”
I looked away.
“Don’t ask me to believe that yet.”
“I’m not.”
“Derek?”
“I loved him.”
“Love him.”
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
That still hurt.
Less than before.
But it hurt.
Nolan’s phone rang.
Location.
An abandoned Meridian warehouse near the river.
Midnight.
Northstar access device required.
Clara whispered.
“He’ll kill us.”
Nolan replied.
“Not if he needs the archive.”
“He needs the key.”
“We control the key.”
Richard assumed Northstar was stored on a physical drive.
It wasn’t.
Nolan created one.
A fake encrypted device containing enough genuine-looking data to convince Richard temporarily.
Police wanted to intervene.
Nolan negotiated a covert operation.
Technically, Richard had kidnapped a child.
That changed everything.
At 11:52 p.m., Clara and I arrived at the warehouse.
Nolan was furious I insisted on coming.
Richard had demanded Clara.
Not me.
But I knew Richard’s obsession was not really with Clara.
It was with my family.
I wanted him looking at me.
Inside, industrial lights flickered.
Sophie sat in a chair thirty feet away.
Hands free.
No visible injuries.
Richard stood beside her.
He held a pistol.
Thomas Voss stood near the loading door.
So did two armed men.
Richard smiled when he saw me.
“The daughter.”
I stopped twenty feet away.
“Let Sophie go.”
“Northstar.”
“Child first.”
“You are in no position to negotiate.”
“I’m the only person who can unlock the archive.”
His eyes sharpened.
“Your brother?”
“Doesn’t have my biometric authorization.”
A lie.
But plausible.
Richard studied me.
“You look like James when you lie.”
The mention of Dad made my blood heat.
“You remember him?”
“I remember arrogance.”
“You mean the man who caught you stealing.”
Richard smiled.
“History belongs to whoever survives long enough to write it.”
“Funny.”
I lifted the fake drive.
“Northstar already wrote yours.”
His smile vanished.
“Give it to Thomas.”
“No.”
“Emily.”
“No.”
I looked toward Sophie.
“She walks to Clara.”
“Then you get this.”
Richard raised the gun.
Clara trembled beside me.
“Richard, please.”
He looked at her.
For a moment, something almost paternal crossed his face.
Then disappeared.
“You disappoint me.”
Clara whispered.
“I know.”
“You could have had everything.”
“I had a daughter.”
“That was everything.”
Richard’s expression darkened.
“You took her from me.”
“No.”
Clara stepped forward.
“You never had her.”
Sophie stood suddenly.
“Mom!”
Clara broke.
Richard grabbed Sophie’s shoulder.
That was his mistake.
She bit his hand.
Hard.
He shouted.
Sophie ran.
Clara sprinted toward her.
One of Richard’s men raised his weapon.
Gunfire erupted from the catwalk.
Police.
Nolan’s team.
Lights shattered.
Thomas ran.
Richard fired toward me.
I dropped behind a steel crate.
Someone tackled Richard.
More shots.
Then silence.
When I looked up, Sophie was in Clara’s arms.
Thomas lay facedown with police restraining him.
Richard had escaped through a service door.
Again.
Nolan ran to me.
“You hit?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He pulled me against him.
I let him.
Across the warehouse, Clara held Sophie.
Mother and daughter crying together.
For a moment, everyone forgot Derek.
Then Clara looked at me.
“Richard has another copy.”
“Of what?”
“Northstar?”
“No.”
Her face went pale.
“Your father’s death file.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why does that matter?”
“Because it contains a confession.”
“From Richard?”
Clara shook her head.
May you like
“From Nolan.”
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