Chapter 10 - The Founder Who Came Back From the Dead
They escaped Meridian Station six minutes before fire consumed the underground laboratories.
Federal agents arrested Dr. Vale, Victoria, and twenty-three employees. Genevieve was treated for a broken wrist. Gabriel carried the wounded Julian through the final tunnel despite years of hatred between them.
Eleanor held Maya the entire way.
When they emerged into the rain, a helicopter waited. Marcus stood beside it, his face grim.
“Your father activated the silent alarm at Blackwood House,” he said. “Then communications stopped.”
“Who is Sebastian?” Maya asked.
Eleanor kissed her forehead. “Someone Grandpa knew a long time ago.”
Maya was placed with Claire and a protective team at a separate secure location. She protested until Eleanor promised to return.
“You always come back,” Maya said.
The words gave Eleanor courage and guilt in equal measure.
She flew to Blackwood House with Marcus and Gabriel. Julian was transported to a guarded hospital. Before the ambulance doors closed, he caught Eleanor’s eye.
“Sebastian wants the third case,” he said.
“What is in it?”
“I never saw it. Mother said it could erase the trust.”
At Blackwood House, the north wing burned.
Fire crews fought flames while security officers searched the grounds. The winter-room door stood open. Two guards had been killed. The third case was gone.
Alistair was missing.
On the library desk, Eleanor found a chessboard arranged in the middle of a game. Her father’s king lay on its side. A black rook stood in the center.
Gabriel picked up a card beside it.
ONE FOUNDER FOR ONE HEIR.
MIDNIGHT. ROOK ISLAND.
“Rook Island does not exist,” Marcus said.
“It does,” Gabriel replied. “It was removed from modern maps after a chemical spill. Sebastian bought it through a trust.”
The island lay forty miles offshore. Storm warnings had closed the harbor, but Blackwood Global owned an emergency vessel.
Eleanor refused to remain behind.
“You just recovered Maya,” Marcus said. “She needs you.”
“My father came for her. Now Sebastian has him because of us.”
“Rescue teams can handle it.”
“Sebastian has spent forty years preparing for Blackwood security. He will expect every official move. He may not expect me.”
Gabriel agreed to guide the vessel. Genevieve, her arm in a sling, appeared at the dock before departure.
“You are not coming,” Eleanor said.
“I know a code Julian used when speaking to Sebastian. It may open the island communications.”
“Why help?”
“Because I hit Maya. Because I believed cruelty made me powerful. Because I cannot undo it, but I can stop running from what I did.”
Eleanor studied her.
“You will testify.”
“Yes.”
“You will accept whatever sentence comes.”
“Yes.”
“You will never approach Maya without my permission.”
Genevieve swallowed. “Yes.”
Eleanor allowed her aboard.
The voyage took two hours through violent waves. Rook Island appeared as a black ridge beneath lightning. An abandoned research complex occupied the eastern shore. No lights were visible except one in a tower.
Genevieve entered Julian’s code into the radio.
A man answered.
“Bring Eleanor to the tower. Gabriel stays on the dock.”
Eleanor recognized neither the voice nor the age behind it.
She climbed the hill alone while Marcus’s team approached through drainage tunnels. Wind tore at her cream pantsuit, still stained from the gala and Meridian Station. She had not changed because the clothing had become armor, evidence of every line crossed in one endless night.
The tower door opened before she touched it.
Inside, candles illuminated a circular room.
Alistair sat in a chair, wrists bound but otherwise unharmed.
Behind him stood an old man with white hair and a black signet ring.
Sebastian Rook.
He looked at Eleanor with tears in his eyes.
“You have Evelyn’s courage,” he said.
“Release my father.”
“Your father buried my family.”
Alistair raised his head. “I buried your crimes.”
Sebastian’s cane struck the floor. “You buried the agreement that made us equals.”
“You sold your share.”
“Under threat from your father.”
Eleanor stepped between them. “I did not come to retry a war that began before I was born.”
“But you inherited its weapons.”
He placed the third case on a table.
Inside lay a single sealed document and a small reel of film.
“The document dissolves the joint trust,” Sebastian said. “The film proves Alistair’s father ordered the removal of my first son.”
“Nathan,” Gabriel said from the doorway.
He had disobeyed the order to remain on the dock.
Sebastian stared at him.
“My son.”
“I am Gabriel.”
“You should have stayed away.”
“Where is Nathan?”
Sebastian looked toward the dark window.
“Alive.”
Gabriel moved forward. “Where?”
Before Sebastian could answer, a shot shattered the glass.
Alistair’s chair tipped over.
Eleanor dropped beside him.
Blood spread across his shirt.
A second shot struck Sebastian in the shoulder.
Marcus’s team returned fire toward a ridge outside, but the shooter had vanished.
Sebastian gripped Eleanor’s wrist.
“That was not mine,” he gasped.
“Whose?”
May you like
He looked at the black rook on the chess table.
“The first son.”
