Chapter 7: Blackwater Lake
Adrian refused to bring Sophie.
Ethan called one hour later.
“You do not understand the arrangement,” he said.
Adrian recorded the conversation.
“I understand that you kidnapped an unconscious man.”
“Gideon is not innocent.”
“Neither are you.”
“He paid me to disappear before Sophie was born.”
“And you accepted.”
“I was twenty-nine and drowning in debt.”
“You sold your daughter before seeing her face.”
Ethan’s breathing changed.
“I did not know Nora was pregnant.”
“You knew before Sophie was born.”
Silence.
Adrian continued.
“Nora kept records.”
“She had no right to hide my child.”
“You threatened her.”
“Victor told me she planned to give Sophie the Vale inheritance and erase me completely.”
“You believed Victor because he offered money.”
“He offered the life Nora stole from me.”
Adrian looked toward the window.
Sophie sat with June in the garden under guard.
“She is not a life you can reclaim like property.”
“Bring her to Blackwater Chapel.”
“And Gideon?”
“You get the old man. I get my daughter.”
The call ended.
Police advised Adrian not to participate.
He ignored them.
Gideon possessed information no one else had.
More importantly, Ethan might know where the stolen pearls were hidden.
Adrian assembled a security team.
Sophie discovered the plan.
“You’re going to the lake.”
“Yes.”
“My grandmother hid something there.”
“I know.”
“You need me.”
“No.”
“She told me how to find the chapel door.”
Adrian stared at her.
“What did she say?”
“When the moon disappears, follow the stone angel’s shadow.”
June shook her head.
“She is not going.”
Sophie’s eyes filled with anger.
“Everyone keeps hiding things from me because I’m little.”
“This is dangerous,” Adrian said.
“My mom died because she looked for the truth. Grandma hid for thirty years because of the truth. That man says he’s my dad because of the truth.”
Her voice trembled.
“It belongs to me too.”
Adrian understood the courage beneath the fear.
But courage did not make bullets less deadly.
“You will remain at the command location with June and armed officers.”
Sophie folded her arms.
“That’s not the same as staying at Rosemere.”
“No.”
“Then I’ll agree.”
Blackwater Lake lay forty miles west of Providence.
The original Vale chapel stood on private land surrounded by forest.
The cottage where Eleanor had lived with Nora had burned to its foundation.
The chapel survived, but years of neglect had left the roof sagging and the stained-glass windows broken.
Adrian entered alone, as Ethan demanded.
Gideon sat tied to a chair before the altar.
His face was pale from the poison but his eyes were open.
Ethan stood behind him holding a gun.
“You came.”
“Release him.”
“Where is Sophie?”
“Safe.”
Ethan smiled without humor.
“You think you can keep her from me.”
“I think you stopped being her father when you helped Victor use her.”
“I want legal custody.”
“You want access to the trust.”
“I want what Nora denied me.”
“Nora denied you the chance to sell your daughter twice.”
Ethan struck Gideon across the face.
The old man coughed.
“I have the pearls,” Ethan said. “Victor paid me to take them.”
“Where are they?”
“Somewhere you will never find without Sophie.”
Adrian looked toward Gideon.
“Tell me what happened thirty years ago.”
Gideon laughed weakly.
“You still believe answers will make your family clean?”
“No. I believe answers will identify who needs to pay.”
Gideon looked at Ethan.
“This man thinks Victor will make him wealthy. Victor plans to kill him as soon as the trust recognizes Sophie.”
Ethan’s gun shifted.
“You’re lying.”
“I wrote the guardianship strategy. You were never meant to survive the first court hearing.”
Ethan’s confidence cracked.
Adrian stepped forward.
“Give me the weapon.”
“Stop.”
“You are expendable to Victor.”
“So is Sophie.”
The words escaped Ethan before he could stop them.
Adrian’s expression changed.
Ethan corrected himself.
“I didn’t mean—”
“You did.”
A gunshot shattered a chapel window.
Ethan cried out and dropped the weapon.
A bullet had struck his shoulder.
Victor’s men opened fire from the forest.
They had followed Adrian to eliminate everyone.
Adrian pulled Gideon behind the stone altar.
Ethan crawled toward his gun.
Another bullet struck the floor.
Outside, Adrian’s security team returned fire.
June’s command vehicle was attacked.
Sophie heard officers shouting.
She remembered her grandmother’s clue.
When the moon disappears, follow the stone angel’s shadow.
The chapel’s crescent window had been covered during the firefight.
Its light disappeared.
A carved angel beside the command vehicle cast a shadow toward a stone drainage tunnel.
Sophie pulled June’s sleeve.
“That’s the way inside.”
They entered the tunnel with two officers.
It led beneath the chapel altar.
Sophie emerged as Adrian tried to untie Gideon.
“What are you doing here?”
“There’s another way out!”
An explosion shook the chapel entrance.
Victor’s men had set the building on fire.
Adrian pulled Gideon toward the tunnel.
Ethan remained on the floor.
“Help me!”
Adrian looked at him.
Ethan had betrayed Nora, stolen the pearls, and tried to seize Sophie.
But leaving him to burn would make Adrian resemble the men who had destroyed Eleanor.
He lifted Ethan and dragged him toward the tunnel.
They escaped as flames consumed the chapel.
Police captured two attackers.
The others vanished.
Gideon was transported to a secure hospital.
Ethan survived surgery under armed guard.
Inside the drainage tunnel, Sophie found a small iron door.
Her brass key opened it.
Beyond was an underground chamber.
At its center stood a stone box.
Inside lay the original Vale trust amendment.
Beneath it rested a film reel and a letter addressed to Adrian.
But the stolen pearls were not there.
Someone had reached the chamber first.
Carved into the stone box were two fresh initials.
May you like
V.V.
Victor Vale had known about the chapel long before Sophie arrived.
