Chapter 12 - Under Harbor Point
I didn’t go alone.
I just let my father think I did.
Daniel coordinated with law enforcement.
Adrian’s security team tracked my phone.
Connor provided access codes to the construction site.
Fiona insisted on coming.
“No.”
“She’s my mother too.”
“You’re wearing a wedding dress.”
She looked down at the torn white gown.
“Not exactly how I pictured the reception either.”
For the first time all night, I almost smiled.
Then we reached Harbor Point.
Fog rolled off the water.
Construction cranes stood against the night sky like skeletons.
I wore Adrian’s jacket over my ruined gown.
Fiona had changed into jeans and one of the hotel staff’s sweatshirts.
Adrian caught my hand.
“Mabel.”
“I know.”
“If anything feels wrong—”
“It already feels wrong.”
His mouth tightened.
“I love you.”
I looked at him.
“Then trust me.”
That landed.
He nodded.
“I do.”
I entered the underground access tunnel alone.
At least visibly.
My footsteps echoed against concrete.
Water dripped from rusted pipes.
I followed the location Dad had sent.
One hundred yards.
Then two hundred.
Finally, light.
Dad stood in a wide underground chamber.
Victor Sterling was beside him.
Two men stood near the walls.
Mom was tied to a chair.
She looked terrified but conscious.
“Mabel,” she whispered.
Dad smiled.
“My brave daughter.”
“Let her go.”
Victor chuckled.
He was in his sixties, silver-haired, polished, dressed as if kidnappings happened between cocktail meetings.
“You look remarkably calm.”
“I’ve had a long evening.”
He smiled.
“I heard.”
Dad gestured to my dress.
“Still dramatic.”
I ignored him.
“Why my identity?”
Victor answered.
“Because you were perfect.”
My stomach tightened.
“How?”
“Clean credit. No business debt. No criminal history. Financial credentials. Multiple security clearances.”
My father had known more about my career than he pretended.
“You researched me.”
Dad laughed.
“I’m your father.”
“No. You studied me like an asset.”
His smile faded.
Victor continued.
“Your credentials made transactions less suspicious.”
“Until tonight.”
“Until tonight.”
I looked at Mom.
“Untie her.”
Dad shook his head.
“First, you sign something.”
He held out a folder.
Of course.
“What?”
“A statement confirming you authorized MBC transactions.”
I laughed.
“You dragged me into a tunnel to ask me to confess to ninety-two million dollars in fraud?”
“You’ll survive.”
“In prison?”
“Adrian’s lawyers will get you out.”
There it was.
Even now, he expected me to absorb the damage.
“What happens if I say no?”
Dad looked at Mom.
She started crying.
“Mabel, don’t—”
One of Victor’s men moved behind her.
I raised my hands.
“Okay.”
Dad smiled.
I stepped toward the table.
“Give me the pen.”
He handed it over.
I opened the document.
Three pages.
I read the first line.
Then the second.
Then I laughed.
Victor frowned.
“What?”
“You made a mistake.”
Dad’s face tightened.
“What mistake?”
“You used the wrong middle initial.”
He looked down automatically.
That was all I needed.
I drove the pen into the back of his hand.
He screamed.
I grabbed the folder and slammed it into Victor’s face.
At the same second, the tunnel exploded with movement.
“POLICE!”
Officers poured through both entrances.
Adrian’s security team followed behind.
Victor’s men reached for weapons.
They never got them out.
Dad grabbed me around the throat.
“Mabel!”
I drove my heel down on his foot.
He cursed.
Then Fiona came out of nowhere.
My sister swung a metal flashlight directly into Dad’s forearm.
He released me.
Adrian pulled me backward.
Police slammed Dad against the wall.
Mom sobbed.
Fiona ran to her.
Victor Sterling was handcuffed beside the table.
For one second, I thought it was over.
Then Dad started laughing.
A horrible, breathless laugh.
I looked at him.
“What?”
He lifted his injured hand.
“You still don’t get it.”
An officer tightened the cuffs.
Dad winced.
Then smiled at me.
“MBC was never the real company.”
My chest tightened.
“What are you talking about?”
He looked toward Adrian.
“Ask your husband about Vale Meridian.”
Adrian went still.
I turned.
“What is Vale Meridian?”
May you like
His face told me everything.
There was still another secret.
