Chapter 9 - THE PRICE OF SABRINA VALE
I did not like Sabrina.
I had no obligation to save her.
She had entered my marriage knowingly.
Taken my necklace.
Helped forge documents.
Manipulated my husband.
But none of that meant I could look at a photograph of a terrified woman tied to a chair and decide she deserved whatever came next.
Damian reacted before anyone else.
“We’re going back.”
Rebecca blocked the door.
“No.”
“He has her.”
“And that is exactly why you don’t run blindly into whatever he wants.”
Damian looked at me.
“Claire.”
I hated what I saw in his face.
Real fear for Sabrina.
Once, he would have looked that afraid for me.
Maybe.
“Rebecca’s right.”
He stared at me.
“You’re telling me to leave her?”
“I’m telling you not to make another stupid decision because someone knows how to pull your emotions.”
His jaw tightened.
“That’s easy for you to say.”
“Yes.”
The words came out colder than intended.
“Because you already chose her once.”
He flinched.
I regretted it.
Not enough to apologize.
Victor wanted Damian back under control.
The ransom was not money.
It was his signature.
A new proxy confirming the October consolidation.
“He already signed one,” I said.
Rebecca examined the demand.
“Victor probably doesn’t trust Nathan’s copy.”
That made sense.
Nathan had played both sides.
Victor wanted direct control.
If Damian signed, Victor could act without Nathan.
Damian paced.
“We give him a fake.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because he’ll verify it.”
“Then what?”
I looked at my mother’s photograph.
“We make him think he won.”
Nathan finally called that evening.
His face appeared on a secure video connection.
Older.
Tanned.
Still infuriatingly handsome.
“Hello, Richard.”
My father did not smile.
“Nathan.”
“Seventeen years and that’s all I get?”
“You let me think you hated me.”
“I do hate you.”
Andrew almost laughed.
Nathan continued.
“I simply hate Victor more.”
I stepped forward.
“You knew Mom was attacked.”
“Yes.”
“And you disappeared.”
“Because Margaret asked me to.”
“Why?”
“Victor needed to believe the family had fractured.”
“You let Dad suspect you.”
Nathan looked at his brother.
“He was always going to suspect me.”
My father said quietly,
“You could have told me.”
“You would have tried to protect everyone.”
“Yes.”
“And ruined the trap.”
Silence.
Nathan looked at me.
“You have your mother’s patience.”
“I’m running out.”
“Good.”
He explained the final stage.
Victor had spent years building interests in shell companies connected to our network.
October consolidation would expose them.
But only if every required party signed.
Elizabeth had.
Nathan had.
Damian’s original signature had been intentionally defective.
Nathan arranged it that way.
“So Victor needs a new one,” I said.
“Yes.”
“Sabrina?”
“Collateral.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can you find her?”
“Probably.”
“Then do it.”
He smiled slightly.
“Definitely Margaret’s daughter.”
Damian interrupted.
“If she dies—”
Nathan’s face hardened.
“You put her near Victor.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t want to know.”
Damian went silent.
Nathan looked almost disgusted.
“Men like Victor survive because men like you confuse ambition with intelligence.”
Damian stepped toward the screen.
“Screw you.”
“Later.”
The call ended.
We devised a plan.
Damian would sign.
Victor would verify.
But embedded in the digital document would be a trace.
Old-fashioned trick.
Modern technology.
Rebecca’s team would follow the transfer path.
At 11:43 p.m., Damian sent the signed proxy.
At 11:47, Victor acknowledged receipt.
At 11:52, Sabrina’s location appeared.
An abandoned Langford wellness center outside Geneva.
Swiss authorities moved.
We watched through secure feeds.
Doors breached.
Rooms cleared.
One guard arrested.
Then another.
They found the chair.
Rope.
Blood.
No Sabrina.
Damian stared.
“Where is she?”
A phone rang inside the empty room.
One of the officers answered on speaker.
Victor.
“Damian.”
Damian leaned toward the screen.
“Where is she?”
“You continue to disappoint me.”
“Where?”
“She chose poorly.”
“Victor—”
“I offered her a future.”
“You threatened her.”
“I educated her.”
His voice remained calm.
“She was supposed to deliver Claire’s incapacity file.”
I froze.
Sabrina had been building the case?
“She refused.”
Damian closed his eyes.
Victor continued.
“Apparently guilt can become inconvenient.”
“Where is she?”
“You’ll see her soon.”
The line went dead.
Ten minutes later, another location came through.
Not from Victor.
From Nathan.
Geneva airport.
Private terminal.
A jet preparing for departure.
Passenger manifest: false names.
One face recognized by facial software.
Martin Shaw.
Another.
Sabrina.
A third passenger appeared moments before the doors closed.
My aunt Elizabeth.
Andrew stared at the screen.
“Why is Liz with them?”
Nobody answered.
Then the aircraft filed its destination.
New York.
They were coming back.
Not running.
And suddenly I knew.
Victor had stopped trying to move pieces overseas.
May you like
October 17 was approaching.
The final battle was going to happen at home.
