Chapter 8 - The Yacht
The Coast Guard found the yacht seventy miles offshore.
By then, it was already burning.
Black smoke rose against the morning sky as helicopters circled overhead.
Ethan watched live footage from the estate.
Sarah stood beside him holding Leo.
No one spoke.
A rescue vessel approached.
Two people jumped into the water.
One was a crewman.
The other was Caleb.
They pulled him aboard.
Victoria and Martin Vale were not seen.
For nearly an hour, everyone believed they had died in the fire.
Then the Coast Guard discovered the yacht’s emergency tender missing.
Victoria had planned the fire.
She had escaped before rescuers arrived.
Caleb survived with burns to one arm, dehydration and a head wound.
Federal agents placed him under guard at a Charleston hospital.
Ethan flew there that afternoon.
Sarah wanted to go.
Ethan refused.
“Stay with Leo.”
“You say that like staying here is safe.”
“It’s safer than following me into a hospital where my brother may still have people looking for him.”
“He may also know how to stop Victoria.”
Ethan looked at Leo.
“That’s why I’m going.”
Before leaving, he handed Sarah a small panic device.
“One button contacts the protection team.”
Sarah took it.
“You know I’m a grown woman.”
“Yes.”
“You keep handing me things like I’m going into battle.”
“You are.”
She couldn’t argue.
Caleb looked older when Ethan entered the hospital room.
Not five years older.
Twenty.
His face was bruised.
His left wrist was cuffed to the bed rail.
Two federal agents stood outside.
Caleb looked toward Ethan.
“You came.”
“Rebecca can’t.”
Caleb closed his eyes.
“I deserve that.”
“You deserve much worse.”
“I know.”
Ethan sat.
For several seconds, neither brother spoke.
Finally Caleb whispered, “I didn’t know she would die.”
“You disabled her protection.”
“Graham did.”
“You paid Graham.”
“Yes.”
“You gave Victoria access.”
“Yes.”
“You knew she was switching medication.”
“No.”
Ethan leaned forward.
“Don’t lie to me again.”
“I swear.”
Caleb’s eyes filled.
“I knew Victoria wanted Rebecca frightened. I knew she was gathering information. I thought she was going to force you to sell your shares.”
“By threatening my pregnant wife?”
“Yes.”
“And that seemed acceptable?”
Caleb looked away.
“No.”
“But you did it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
The answer came out like something rotten.
“Because Dad chose you.”
Ethan stared.
Caleb continued.
“He always chose you.”
“That’s your excuse?”
“No.”
He swallowed.
“It’s the reason I gave myself.”
Ethan stood.
“This was never about Dad.”
“I know that now.”
“You hated me enough to gamble with my wife’s life.”
“I hated you enough to want you to lose.”
Caleb’s voice cracked.
“I didn’t understand what losing actually meant.”
Ethan’s face remained cold.
“Tell me about Victoria.”
Caleb nodded weakly.
“I met her through Martin.”
“Martin Vale?”
“Yes.”
“Dad’s attorney.”
“Martin told me he could restructure the trust if we created a liquidity event.”
“Speak English.”
“He wanted you to sell the controlling shares.”
“I refused.”
“I knew you would.”
“So?”
“So Victoria was supposed to create pressure.”
“How?”
“Marriage problems. Scandal. Anything.”
“Rebecca?”
“She wasn’t supposed to die.”
Ethan slammed his hand on the bed rail.
“Stop saying that like it helps.”
Caleb flinched.
Ethan lowered his voice.
“What did Martin want?”
“Control of the trust assets.”
“Why?”
“Because he stole from it.”
Ethan froze.
“How much?”
“More than sixty million over fifteen years.”
Ethan stared.
“Our father knew?”
“Eventually.”
“What did he do?”
Caleb laughed bitterly.
“Nothing.”
“Why?”
“Martin had evidence Dad used company money to settle an old criminal investigation.”
Ethan felt the floor shift beneath him.
“What investigation?”
“A factory accident.”
Ethan remembered.
Twenty-two years earlier.
Three workers had died after an explosion at a Cole manufacturing site.
Official cause: equipment failure.
Caleb continued.
“Dad knew the safety reports had been falsified.”
“By Martin?”
“By Dad.”
Ethan looked away.
Every generation of the family suddenly seemed poisoned by secrets.
“Rebecca found out?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She followed Victoria.”
Caleb’s eyes closed.
“She discovered Martin meeting her.”
“Then?”
“Rebecca started digging into Martin’s accounts. That’s when she found everything.”
“The blue ledger.”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“Victoria took it.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were on the yacht.”
“She kept it in a waterproof case.”
“With her?”
Caleb nodded.
“And the plan for Leo?”
Caleb looked frightened.
Ethan moved closer.
“What plan?”
“Victoria said Leo was the last obstacle.”
Ethan’s voice became ice.
“To what?”
“Control of your shares.”
“How?”
“If you died first, Leo inherited. If Leo died…”
“The family trust.”
“Martin controls the paperwork. I controlled the trust.”
“Until you became inconvenient.”
Caleb looked at his cuff.
“Yes.”
“Why write ‘Leo is next’?”
“Because I heard them talking.”
“What exactly?”
Caleb swallowed.
“Martin said they couldn’t touch you while police were watching.”
Ethan’s skin went cold.
“But a household accident involving a baby…”
He couldn’t finish.
Caleb did.
“Would destroy you.”
Ethan grabbed his brother’s hospital gown.
“What accident?”
“I don’t know!”
“Think!”
“I heard Victoria say, ‘Heat didn’t work.’”
Ethan released him.
The iron.
The steam.
That had not been a spontaneous act of cruelty.
It had been an attempted “accident.”
Caleb continued.
“Then Martin said they needed something cleaner.”
Ethan immediately called Sarah.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
His heart began hammering.
The estate protection team answered.
“Cole residence.”
“This is Ethan. Put Sarah on.”
A pause.
“Sir, she left twenty minutes ago.”
“What?”
“She said you requested she bring Leo to the private pediatric clinic.”
Ethan stopped breathing.
“I never requested that.”
The guard went silent.
“What vehicle?”
“Estate SUV Three.”
“Who drove?”
“Mr. Blake.”
Ethan frowned.
“I don’t employ anyone named Blake.”
The guard’s voice changed.
“Oh, God.”
Ethan shouted, “Track the vehicle!”
He called Sarah again.
This time she answered.
“Ethan?”
“Where are you?”
“In the car.”
“Get out.”
“What?”
“Sarah, listen to me. I did not ask you to take Leo anywhere.”
Silence.
Sarah slowly looked toward the driver.
The man’s eyes met hers in the rearview mirror.
Then he locked the doors.
Sarah’s heart stopped.
“Ethan.”
“I’m here.”
“The doors just locked.”
The driver accelerated.
Sarah pressed the panic button.
Nothing happened.
The driver smiled at her reflection.
“That won’t work out here.”
Sarah held Leo tightly.
“Who are you?”
“No one important.”
Ethan heard every word through the phone.
“Sarah, where are you?”
She looked outside.
Country road.
Trees.
A faded water tower.
“North road. Near the old Fairmont mill.”
Ethan relayed it to agents.
The driver suddenly reached back.
“Give me the phone.”
Sarah pulled away.
He swerved.
Leo screamed.
“Stop the car!”
The driver laughed.
“You really are devoted to that kid.”
Sarah looked around desperately.
Door locked.
Windows controlled from the driver panel.
A fire extinguisher beneath the opposite seat.
She shifted Leo into one arm.
“Sarah,” Ethan said through the phone. “Don’t do anything reckless.”
She almost laughed.
“You picked the wrong employee for that.”
She dropped the phone.
The driver glanced down.
Sarah reached across the seat.
Grabbed the fire extinguisher.
And slammed it into the side of his head.
The SUV swerved violently.
The driver shouted.
Sarah hit him again.
The vehicle tore off the road.
Branches whipped across the windshield.
Leo screamed.
The SUV struck a ditch.
Airbags exploded.
Everything stopped.
For one terrifying second, Sarah heard nothing.
Then Leo cried.
She nearly sobbed with relief.
The driver groaned.
Sarah kicked the rear door.
Locked.
She climbed over the seat, reached the front panel, unlocked it and stumbled outside with Leo.
“Run,” she whispered to herself.
Behind her, the driver moved.
Sarah ran toward the trees.
Sirens sounded somewhere in the distance.
Then a gunshot cracked through the air.
Bark exploded from a tree beside her.
Sarah dropped behind a fallen log, covering Leo with her body.
The driver staggered toward them with a pistol.
“You should have stayed invisible.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
Then another voice shouted from the road.
“Federal agents! Drop the weapon!”
The man turned.
Gunfire erupted.
Sarah covered Leo’s ears.
Seconds later, silence.
Agents rushed toward her.
Sarah looked down.
Leo was crying.
Alive.
She kissed his face over and over.
“You’re okay.”
Then one of the agents froze.
“Ma’am.”
Sarah looked up.
The wounded driver lay near the SUV.
His jacket had fallen open.
Around his neck hung an identification badge.
Not fake.
A real security credential.
From Ethan’s corporation.
Sarah stared at the name.
MICHAEL VALE.
Martin Vale’s son.
And in the wrecked SUV, agents found a sealed envelope addressed to Ethan.
Inside was a single photograph of Rebecca.
May you like
Across her face, Victoria had written:
You saved the first baby. You won’t save him twice.
