Chapter 4 - HARBOR ROAD
Marcus looked like someone had punched through his chest.
“What did you say?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I shouldn’t have said anything.”
He grabbed the edge of the desk.
“You will tell me everything.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“He’ll kill me.”
“He has my son!”
Vanessa covered her face.
Clara stepped forward.
“You knew Leo was in danger.”
Vanessa dropped her hands.
“I knew Julian wanted the ring. I didn’t know he would take the boy.”
“And you tried to steal it for him.”
Vanessa’s silence answered.
Marcus stared at the woman he had planned to marry.
“How long?”
“Marcus—”
“How long have you been working with him?”
“Three years.”
Marcus almost laughed.
Three years.
His wife had been dead for four.
Clara saw the calculation hit him.
“You were around before Elena died.”
Vanessa started crying.
“It wasn’t like that.”
“You told me you met her twice.”
“I lied.”
“Obviously.”
Vanessa’s shoulders shook.
“Julian paid me to get close to you after she died.”
Marcus turned away.
He looked toward a framed photograph on the wall.
Elena.
Leo.
Him.
A family that no longer existed.
“What’s at Harbor Road?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I never went inside.”
“But you know about it.”
“Julian was obsessed with that place. Elena hid something there.”
“The ring is the key?”
“I think so.”
Marcus looked at Clara.
“Give it to me.”
Clara handed him the ring.
He examined the inner groove.
Hidden inside the band was a tiny symbol.
A lighthouse.
Marcus whispered, “Harbor Road.”
Twenty minutes later, he and Clara were inside his SUV, racing through heavy rain.
Police were headed toward Derek Shaw’s last known addresses.
Marcus ignored their orders to stay home.
“You don’t have to do this,” he told Clara.
“Neither do you.”
“He’s my son.”
“And he asked for me on the phone.”
Marcus gripped the wheel.
“I should have seen what Vanessa was.”
“People like her make a living out of not being seen.”
“You don’t know her.”
“I know bullies.”
Marcus glanced at her.
Something in her tone suggested history.
But before he could ask, Clara pointed ahead.
“That house?”
An abandoned coastal home stood behind dead trees.
Marcus nodded.
“My father bought it before I was born.”
They entered through the side door.
Dust covered everything.
Marcus found the study.
In the wall was an old brass cabinet.
At its center was a circular slot.
The ring fit perfectly.
Click.
The cabinet opened.
Inside was a flash drive.
A ledger.
And an envelope.
FOR MARCUS.
His hands shook as he opened it.
Elena’s handwriting filled three pages.
Marcus read fast.
His face tightened line by line.
“What is it?” Clara asked.
He handed her the final page.
Elena had discovered that Julian Cross was stealing millions from Blackwood Hotels through fake construction companies.
When she confronted him, he threatened her.
Then she discovered something worse.
Julian had been paying a doctor.
Dr. Stephen Grant.
Her doctor.
Elena wrote:
I don’t know what they’re giving me, Marcus, but I am getting sicker too quickly.
Clara’s stomach turned.
“She thought they were poisoning her.”
Marcus looked broken.
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
They froze.
Marcus whispered, “We’re not alone.”
A shadow crossed the hallway.
Then a gunshot exploded.
Marcus shoved Clara down.
Wood splintered above them.
A man rushed from the stairs.
Marcus tackled him.
They crashed into a table.
Clara saw the gun slide beneath a chair.
She dove for it.
The attacker kicked Marcus in the ribs.
Clara grabbed the weapon.
“STOP!”
The man turned.
Clara aimed with shaking hands.
Then she recognized him from the security video.
Derek Shaw.
“Where is Leo?”
Derek smiled.
“Wrong question.”
Marcus got to his feet.
“What’s the right one?”
Derek wiped blood from his mouth.
“You should be asking why Julian wanted you to find this place tonight.”
Marcus’s eyes narrowed.
Then Derek looked at the open cabinet.
And smiled wider.
“Because while you’re here…”
His phone buzzed.
May you like
“…he’s at your house.”
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