Chapter 13 - The Fifth Trustee
Austin used every resource he had.
Police.
Private security.
Corporate intelligence analysts.
Cell tower records.
Traffic cameras.
Within ninety minutes, Grant located the vehicle used to abduct Carla.
An ambulance stolen from a private clinic.
The clinic belonged to Bellwether Health Systems.
One of the hidden Harrow companies.
The ambulance traveled north.
Its last camera appearance was eleven miles from Harrow House.
They returned to the estate.
This time with a tactical police team.
The hidden nursery was empty.
No Carla.
No Margaret.
But the floor beneath the crib had been disturbed.
Grant moved it.
A trapdoor appeared.
Below was an underground corridor.
Irene stared into the darkness.
“This place never ends.”
Austin took her hand.
“You stay upstairs.”
“No.”
“Irene.”
“No.”
Quinn intervened.
“She stays behind the tactical unit.”
Austin hated it.
But they moved.
The corridor descended into a concrete facility older than the house above.
Medical rooms.
Storage vaults.
A small operating theater.
Dust covered most surfaces.
Not all.
Recent footprints crossed the floor.
They found Margaret in a locked examination room.
Alive.
A graze wound marked her upper arm.
Austin opened the door.
She looked at him.
Then at Irene.
Something like shame appeared.
Irene stayed back.
“Where’s Carla?”
Margaret pointed down the corridor.
“They took her.”
“Who?”
“The fifth trustee.”
“Name.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“Eleanor Vale.”
Irene stiffened.
“Vale?”
“Leonard Vale’s wife.”
Quinn looked surprised.
“Public records say she died in 2001.”
Margaret laughed.
“So did Charles.”
Austin ignored that.
“Why would Vale’s wife control this?”
“Because Leonard wasn’t the architect.”
“Eleanor was?”
“She was Evelyn’s closest friend.”
Irene’s expression changed.
“My mother trusted her.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Eleanor believed Evelyn had become weak.”
“Because she wanted to save the children?”
“Because she wanted to destroy the Harrow system.”
Margaret’s voice shook.
“Eleanor believed the trust needed stronger bloodline control, not less.”
Austin looked toward the corridor.
“And Carla?”
“She needs Carla alive.”
“Why?”
Margaret looked at Irene’s stomach.
“To force you to surrender the pregnancy claim.”
Irene’s face hardened.
“How?”
“By threatening Austin’s sister.”
Austin crouched before his mother.
“You paid someone before the Mercer fire.”
Margaret looked away.
“Vale told us.”
“He survived?”
“Yes.”
Margaret looked almost relieved.
“I paid a private investigator.”
“To find Irene?”
“To confirm she was alive.”
“Then what happened?”
“Eleanor intercepted the report.”
Irene stepped closer.
“Did you order my parents killed?”
Margaret’s eyes filled.
“No.”
“Did you know someone might hurt them?”
Margaret did not answer quickly enough.
Irene nodded.
“You knew.”
“I thought they would be frightened into leaving.”
“My parents burned alive.”
“I know.”
“You spent fifteen years knowing.”
Margaret began to cry.
Irene did not soften.
“Why did you hate me?”
Margaret looked at Austin.
“Because Charles chose you before he ever met you.”
Austin frowned.
“He risked everything to hide you. Later, when Austin brought you home, Charles looked at you like the world had handed him another chance to fix his sins.”
Margaret’s voice became bitter.
“My entire marriage was a competition with ghosts. Evelyn. The Harrows. Children I never agreed to raise.”
Austin stood.
“You mean me.”
Margaret’s face collapsed.
He finally understood.
She had carried him.
Raised him.
Loved him in her own damaged way.
But every time she looked at him she also saw Evelyn.
“You knew I wasn’t genetically yours.”
“Yes.”
“And Carla?”
Margaret looked toward the floor.
Austin’s heart tightened.
“What about Carla?”
“She is mine.”
“Charles?”
“Yes.”
For the first time, Austin almost felt relieved.
Then Margaret added, “But that’s why Eleanor chose her.”
A scream echoed from deeper inside the facility.
May you like
Carla.
Austin ran.
