Chapter 10 - Through the Fire)
Claire ran back into the smoke.
Margaret was gone. Ethan had overturned the chair and was dragging himself toward the door. Claire cut his wrists with a shard of glass. A burning beam fell between them and the exit.
They escaped by diving through the opening where Vale had fallen. The lake was glacial. Beneath the surface, Claire felt a hand close around her ankle. She kicked free, surfaced, and found Ethan beside her.
Vale did not reappear.
Ruiz’s officers reached the shore as the roof collapsed. Claire gave them the locket. Inside was not a password but a tiny memory card.
By dawn, federal agents were searching Blackwood House. The underground clinic had been scrubbed, yet traces of blood and medication remained. The copied drive and memory card together unlocked decades of records.
Margaret vanished.
Her confession on Claire’s wire had transmitted until the necklace was crushed. The recording included her admission about Charles, the research, and the coercion, but not enough context to reveal every buyer in the network.
Ethan surrendered and was released pending investigation after Claire, Anna, and Ruiz challenged Margaret’s story. Dr. Vale was presumed dead, though no body was recovered.
Noah was removed from boarding school before Anna could reach him. Security footage showed a woman in a gray coat signing him out under a court order bearing Margaret’s forged seal.
Claire blamed herself for returning to the fire instead of chasing Margaret. Anna answered quietly, “You saved Ethan. I would have made the same choice.”
It was the first kindness between them.
Ethan wanted Claire to leave Blackwood House and never return. Claire agreed to leave, but not to disappear. The house, the foundation, and the trust were now legally theirs. She would use them to find Noah and every other stolen child.
As they packed, Claire discovered that the mysterious photograph from the laundry room had changed. The six threatening words on the back were fading.
They had been written in heat-sensitive ink.
May you like
Beneath them emerged a second message:
ASK ETHAN WHAT HE REMEMBERED BEFORE THE WEDDING.
