Chapter 12 - The Man Who Came Back
Claire stood perfectly still.
Mia called from outside.
“Mom?”
Adrian lowered the weapon immediately.
“Keep her outside.”
Claire turned.
He looked exactly as he had on the underground screen, except now she could see the exhaustion beneath his eyes and dried blood along his collar.
Daniel moved into the doorway.
Adrian aimed again.
“Who followed you?”
“No one,” Daniel said.
“Someone always follows an Ashcroft.”
Mrs. Finch emerged from the trees.
“Adrian, lower it.”
He did.
Claire crossed the room and slapped him.
The sound echoed through the cottage.
Adrian accepted it without moving.
Claire struck him again.
“For twelve years.”
“I know.”
“No, you do not.”
“I watched you from a distance.”
“That is worse.”
“I had men watching every place you lived. Every time I tried to approach, Eleanor’s people appeared.”
“You should have called.”
“I did, once.”
“When?”
“The night Mia was born.”
Claire remembered an unanswered call from a blocked number. Eleanor had been in the hospital room. She took Claire’s phone while Claire slept.
“You could have tried again.”
“I believed Evelyn would be killed if I revealed myself.”
“You chose one daughter over another.”
His face collapsed.
“I chose the daughter whose enemies knew she was alive.”
Mia stepped inside.
Adrian looked at her and could no longer speak.
She approached cautiously.
“Are you really my dad?”
“Yes.”
“Why were you pointing a gun at Mom?”
He set the weapon on the table.
“Because I made a mistake.”
“Grandma makes mistakes too.”
Claire looked at her daughter.
Mia frowned.
“But Grandma never says sorry.”
Adrian knelt.
“I am sorry.”
“For the gun?”
“For much more than that.”
Mia studied him.
“Did you bring my sister?”
“No. Someone took her before I reached the cottage.”
“Who?”
“A woman named Rose.”
Claire looked around.
“We thought Rose protected her.”
“She did. But Rose no longer trusts anyone connected to the Ashcrofts.”
“Evelyn called herself a prisoner.”
“Rose believes she is protecting her.”
“By preventing her from speaking to me?”
“Rose thinks you will choose Mia’s safety over Evelyn’s freedom.”
Claire stepped closer.
“Wouldn’t I?”
Adrian did not answer.
The silence hurt because it contained truth.
Claire loved a daughter she had just learned was alive, but Mia stood before her, vulnerable and terrified.
Any choice involving them could become impossible.
“Where did Rose take her?”
“To Saint Aurelia.”
“The institution burned down.”
“The upper buildings did. The tunnels and chapel remain.”
Mrs. Finch entered fully.
“Rose would never return there.”
“She left Evelyn’s blue sweater and the lake message. She wants Claire to follow.”
“Or someone wants us to believe that.”
Adrian looked at the archive chip in Claire’s hand.
“You opened Eight.”
“I transferred it.”
“Then they can no longer access the protocol remotely.”
“Who are they?”
He looked at Daniel.
“You should ask your brother.”
Daniel raised both hands.
“I am here because I am trying to help.”
“Richard controls the company’s security division.”
“Richard stayed behind.”
“Exactly.”
Claire shook her head.
“That is not proof.”
Adrian removed a folder from beneath his coat.
Inside were photographs of Richard meeting Victor at airports, hotels, and a private medical facility.
One image showed them with a woman whose face was partly hidden by a scarf.
Eleanor.
Another showed Richard beside Chief Mercer’s former commander.
Daniel stared at the dates.
“Some of these meetings happened while Mother claimed Richard was in Singapore.”
Adrian placed one final image on the table.
Richard stood beside a teenage girl.
Her face was visible.
She had Claire’s eyes and Adrian’s dark hair.
Evelyn.
Claire touched the photograph.
“When was this taken?”
“Three months ago.”
“Richard knew her.”
“He approached Rose and claimed he wanted to reunite the family. Then he tried to obtain Evelyn’s signature on a guardianship document.”
“Why would she sign?”
“He told her you had refused to see her.”
Claire turned away, fighting nausea.
Adrian continued.
“When Rose discovered the fraud, she moved Evelyn. Richard has been searching since.”
Mia stood beside the photograph.
“She looks like me.”
Evelyn’s expression was serious, but the shape of her mouth matched Mia’s.
Adrian pointed toward the mountains.
“Richard’s men will reach Saint Aurelia before noon.”
Claire picked up the gun from the table.
Adrian caught her wrist.
“You are not going alone.”
“You have spent twelve years acting alone. How did that work?”
His hand loosened.
Claire removed the magazine, checked it, and placed the weapon inside her coat.
Daniel stared at her.
“When did you learn to do that?”
“When I stopped believing anyone else would protect us.”
Mia lifted the cassette recorder.
A faint clicking sound came from inside.
Adrian took it and opened the battery compartment.
A tracker blinked beneath the batteries.
Everyone looked toward the road.
May you like
Engines approached through the forest.
Adrian grabbed Mia and pulled her behind the stone wall as the cottage windows exploded inward.
