Chapter 10 - The Road to Haven
Tyler insisted on driving Rachel himself.
Detective Reed allowed it because three unmarked police vehicles would follow at a distance and a tracking device had been placed beneath Tyler’s SUV.
Diane was ordered to remain at the hospital.
She refused until Rachel pulled her aside.
“Find Noah.”
“I’m not leaving you with him.”
“You’re the only person he hasn’t completely planned for.”
Diane looked toward Tyler, who waited near the elevator holding a leather folder.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Talk to Mrs. Alvarez across the street. Her cameras saw everything at the house. Tyler only removed our system.”
Rachel pressed the spare study key into Diane’s palm.
“It also opens my father’s storage unit. Samuel has the address.”
“What’s in it?”
“I don’t know.”
Diane closed her fingers around the key.
Rachel hugged her.
Into her ear, she whispered, “If I don’t come back, make sure Noah knows I never left him.”
Diane gripped her harder.
“You’re coming back.”
Tyler watched them with visible impatience.
Rachel entered the SUV and fastened her seat belt.
For the first twenty minutes, Tyler said nothing.
They left the city, passed commercial blocks, and turned onto a two-lane road bordered by pines. The Haven Maternal Wellness Center sat north of town, but Tyler drove west.
Rachel looked at the navigation screen.
“This isn’t the way to Haven.”
“Construction.”
“There’s no construction.”
Tyler smiled.
“You always hated not being in control.”
Rachel looked in the side mirror.
A gray sedan remained three cars behind.
Reed.
“I know about the trust provision,” she said.
Tyler’s hand tightened on the steering wheel.
It was a risk, but she needed to know whether Samuel’s letter had changed his plan.
“What provision?”
“If I’m declared incapable, you don’t get Cole Aeronautics.”
He laughed.
“You really are confused.”
“Who is the fiduciary?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
His denial was convincing, but the pulse in his neck betrayed him.
Rachel pressed harder.
“Did Vanessa find the letter?”
Tyler looked at her.
That was answer enough.
The SUV accelerated.
Behind them, the gray sedan disappeared around a curve.
Tyler turned sharply onto a dirt access road.
Rachel reached for the door handle.
The locks clicked.
“Where is Noah?”
“Safe.”
“With Vanessa?”
“Safer than he was with you.”
Rachel took out the small emergency phone Reed had taped beneath her hospital gown.
No signal.
Tyler saw the movement and struck her wrist. The phone fell between the seats.
He picked it up and tossed it through the open window.
“You should have signed when I asked.”
“You forged it anyway.”
“The signature was never the important part.”
“What was?”
“The hearing.”
The road narrowed between trees.
Rachel’s incision throbbed with every bump.
Tyler continued, almost conversationally.
“Your father’s trust was clever. Incapacity does not give me the company. But a criminal finding does something else. If you are convicted of endangering your own child, the board can suspend your control under the morality clause.”
Rachel stared at him.
“You created a criminal case.”
“You created it. We only documented it.”
“And Noah is evidence.”
“Noah is my son.”
The possessiveness in his voice had nothing to do with love.
Rachel looked through the trees. Ahead, a low concrete building appeared behind a rusted gate. No sign identified it as Haven.
“This isn’t the clinic.”
“It used to be one.”
The gate opened remotely.
The SUV drove underground.
The last daylight vanished behind them.
Tyler parked in a concrete bay beside Vanessa’s white car.
Rachel’s heart pounded.
Vanessa stepped from a metal doorway.
She was not holding Noah.
Dr. Rusk followed her.
And behind them stood Grant Holloway, Tyler’s attorney.
Three people Rachel had expected.
The fourth she had not.
May you like
Samuel Cole walked into the light carrying her father’s sealed letter.
“Rachel,” he said, “you should have stayed confused.”
