Chapter 6 - The Mother Who Came Back From the DeadDaniel killed the lights.
Everyone dropped.
A third bullet struck the farmhouse wall.
“Back room!” he shouted.
Adrian pulled Eleanor away from the door while Celeste dragged a heavy table across the entrance.
Victor crouched beside the window.
“Martin.”
Daniel glanced over.
“You saw him?”
“No. I recognize his theatrics.”
Another shot cracked through the glass.
Eleanor remained strangely composed.
“That isn’t Martin.”
Victor looked at her.
“You know who it is?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Eleanor’s eyes stayed on the dark tree line.
“Thomas Cross.”
Celeste stopped breathing.
“My father?”
Eleanor looked at her.
“Yes.”
Celeste’s face emptied.
All the anger disappeared.
For one vulnerable second, she looked less like the elegant woman who had manipulated her way toward a billionaire’s altar and more like the abandoned girl she had once been.
“He’s alive?”
Victor muttered, “Apparently death has become optional in this family.”
Eleanor glared at him.
“You aren’t funny.”
“I’ve had twelve lonely years to practice.”
“You earned them.”
Adrian almost shouted.
“Could everyone who secretly survived their death please stop arguing?”
Silence.
Hannah made a sound that was dangerously close to laughter.
Adrian pointed toward Eleanor.
“Mom. Thomas Cross is outside?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He wants the master ledger.”
“Do you have it?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I’m not telling you.”
Adrian stared at her.
“You disappeared for decades. Armed men are shooting at us. This is not the moment for parental authority.”
Eleanor almost smiled.
“You sound like your father.”
“Please never say that again.”
Victor looked offended.
Daniel crawled toward the rear window.
“Two vehicles. Maybe five or six people.”
“Police?” Adrian asked.
“Twenty minutes minimum.”
Victor scoffed.
“Too long.”
Daniel looked at him.
“If you have a better plan—”
“I do.”
“That concerns me.”
Victor pointed toward the basement.
“Old houses like this usually have exterior cellar doors.”
Eleanor nodded.
“North side.”
Daniel turned.
“You knew?”
“I was waiting to see whether you were worth what Victor paid you.”
“I don’t work for Victor.”
“Everyone worked for Victor eventually.”
Adrian looked between them.
“Can we save the unresolved trust issues until nobody is shooting?”
They moved toward the basement.
Celeste stayed close to Eleanor.
“My father,” she whispered. “You’re certain?”
Eleanor looked at her gently.
“I knew Thomas well.”
“Did he know where I was?”
Eleanor hesitated.
Celeste understood before she answered.
“He knew.”
“Yes.”
All color left Celeste’s face.
“He let Jonathan raise me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Thomas believed anyone close to him would become leverage.”
Celeste laughed bitterly.
“So he abandoned me for my protection.”
Eleanor said nothing.
Celeste looked at Adrian.
“Apparently that’s popular.”
He could not argue.
They reached the basement.
Daniel opened the cellar doors slowly.
No movement.
“Go.”
Hannah and Lucy had remained in Manhattan with Emma; Hannah had insisted on Vermont, but Adrian had convinced her that Lucy needed her.
Now Adrian was absurdly grateful she wasn’t here.
One less person to lose.
They crossed twenty yards toward a detached barn.
A flashlight beam snapped on.
“Stop!”
Daniel fired toward the light.
Someone shouted.
The group ran.
Inside the barn stood an old Land Rover.
Eleanor tossed Adrian the keys.
“You drive.”
Victor objected.
“He drives too fast.”
Adrian stared at him.
“I cannot express how little I value your parenting advice.”
The engine roared.
They smashed through the barn doors.
Gunfire followed.
Celeste ducked.
Daniel fired through the rear window.
Adrian drove down a snow-lined service road.
A black SUV appeared behind them.
“Faster,” Victor said.
“You just complained.”
“I revised my opinion.”
Adrian accelerated.
The road curved along the lake.
Another vehicle appeared ahead.
Trap.
Daniel shouted, “Left!”
“There is no left!”
“There’s a logging road!”
Adrian saw it at the final second.
The Land Rover skidded onto mud.
Branches scraped both sides.
The pursuing SUV followed.
Then Eleanor said, “Stop.”
Adrian nearly laughed.
“Mom—”
“Stop the vehicle.”
Something in her voice made him obey.
The Rover slid sideways.
Everyone stared at her.
“What are you doing?” Victor demanded.
Eleanor opened the door.
“Ending this.”
She stepped into the road.
“Mom!”
Adrian jumped out.
The pursuing SUV stopped fifty feet away.
Its headlights blinded them.
A man emerged.
Tall.
Gray hair.
Long coat.
Celeste whispered, “Thomas?”
The man stepped into the headlights.
His face resembled Jonathan Cross enough that doubt became impossible.
Celeste walked forward.
Adrian grabbed her arm.
She pulled away.
Thomas stared at his daughter for several seconds.
“Evelyn.”
Celeste’s chin trembled.
“You know my name.”
“Of course.”
“You knew where I was.”
“Yes.”
“And you never came.”
“I couldn’t.”
She slapped him.
Adrian almost admired how frequently members of these families communicated through open-handed violence.
Thomas accepted it.
“I deserved that.”
“You deserve worse.”
“Yes.”
Eleanor stepped between them.
“You don’t get the ledger.”
Thomas looked at her.
“Then Martin wins.”
Victor appeared beside Adrian.
“You’re working with Martin.”
“No,” Thomas said. “I’m hunting him.”
Victor laughed.
“You shot at the house.”
“Warning shots.”
Daniel inspected the bullet hole in his coat sleeve.
“You have an interesting definition of warning.”
Thomas ignored him.
“Martin has spent twenty years rebuilding Alder Crest. He has judges, bankers, executives, law firms.”
Adrian said, “And you?”
“I have evidence.”
“The ledger.”
“Part of it.”
Eleanor looked at him sharply.
“You found the Zurich pages?”
Thomas nodded.
Victor swore.
Adrian turned.
“What Zurich pages?”
Thomas answered.
“The ledger was divided after Jonathan Cross’s arrest.”
“Why?”
“Because no single person trusted another with the whole thing.”
“How many pieces?”
“Three.”
Eleanor possessed one.
Thomas possessed another.
The final section had been hidden by Victor.
Everyone looked at him.
Victor sighed.
“Must we always assume I’m the villain?”
“Yes,” four people answered simultaneously.
Victor rubbed his forehead.
“My section is in Zurich.”
“The key,” Adrian said.
Daniel nodded.
Adrian finally understood.
The brass key was not merely insurance.
It was part of the ledger.
Thomas said, “Martin knows we’re assembling the pieces.”
“And the wedding?” Adrian asked.
Thomas’s face darkened.
“Martin needed your marriage to happen because the trust restructuring would grant Celeste temporary access to an old Cross family holding.”
Celeste frowned.
“I don’t have any holdings.”
“You do.”
Thomas looked at her.
“Jonathan left you his Alder Crest shares.”
Celeste stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“They were hidden under the identity Celeste Marlowe.”
Suddenly her fake identity made a terrible kind of sense.
Adrian looked at her.
“You didn’t choose the name?”
She slowly shook her head.
“Jonathan did.”
Thomas continued.
“When you assumed that identity, you unknowingly activated your inheritance.”
Celeste stepped backward.
“So somebody wanted me to marry Adrian because—”
“Your marriage would combine your inherited voting position with Adrian’s controlling interest.”
Victor finished the thought.
“And after Adrian’s presumed death, someone holding Celeste’s proxy could seize both.”
Adrian’s stomach turned.
“Martin.”
“Yes.”
Celeste looked sick.
“He didn’t need me to kill Adrian.”
“No,” Thomas said. “He needed you to survive him.”
A phone rang.
Thomas checked his coat.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Martin Wexler’s voice came through the speaker.
“Excellent. Everyone finally understands.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Martin.”
“Good morning, Adrian.”
“You tried to poison yourself.”
Martin chuckled.
“I swallowed something that looked frightening. Hospitals are wonderfully easy places from which to disappear.”
“What do you want?”
“What everyone wants.”
“Money?”
“Legacy.”
Victor muttered, “Pretentious bastard.”
Martin heard him.
“Victor. Still incapable of admitting you created me.”
Victor’s face hardened.
Martin continued.
“You all have something belonging to Alder Crest. Eleanor has one section. Thomas has another. Daniel has the key to Victor’s.”
Daniel reached inside his coat.
Empty.
His expression changed.
“The key.”
Adrian stared.
“Where is it?”
Daniel checked every pocket.
Gone.
Victor looked toward Celeste.
She shook her head.
Then headlights appeared behind them.
A motorcycle shot from the trees.
The rider snatched Celeste around the waist.
She screamed.
Adrian lunged.
Too late.
The motorcycle accelerated.
Thomas fired but missed.
Celeste disappeared down the logging road.
Adrian’s phone buzzed.
A video arrived.
Celeste sat bound inside a moving vehicle.
Martin appeared beside her.
“If you want your bride back, come to Zurich.”
Adrian’s jaw clenched.
“She isn’t my bride.”
Martin smiled.
“Then perhaps you won’t mind watching her die.”
Celeste looked into the camera.
“Adrian, don’t—”
The video cut.
Victor turned toward him.
“It’s a trap.”
Adrian looked at his father.
“I know.”
“You’re still going.”
“Yes.”
Eleanor stepped forward.
“So am I.”
Thomas nodded.
Victor rolled his eyes.
“Apparently we’re making this a family vacation.”
Adrian looked at Daniel.
The key had been stolen.
Celeste had been taken.
Martin had the advantage.
But Martin had made one mistake.
He believed Adrian still cared most about preserving his fortune.
That might once have been true.
It wasn’t anymore.
“Call the airport,” Adrian said.
Daniel raised an eyebrow.
“What airport?”
Adrian stared toward the road where Celeste had vanished.
“Not mine.”
May you like
He had finally understood the first rule of his father’s world.
Never follow the route your enemy prepares for you.
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