Chapter 8 - THE WOMAN IN THE VIDEO
Nobody moved.
Lucas stared at Nathan.
Nathan stared back.
Vincent smiled.
Sarah struggled against the ropes.
“Lucas…”
Lucas raised his hand.
Silence.
He looked at Harold.
“Where is my mother?”
Harold shook his head.
“I don't know.”
“You just said she was alive.”
“I know she's alive.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Lucas grabbed him.
“You've had seven years!”
Harold didn't resist.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“By lying to me?”
“Yes.”
Lucas pushed him away.
Nathan stepped forward.
“Lucas.”
“Don't.”
Nathan stopped.
“You heard what she said.”
“Yes.”
“She could be under control.”
Lucas looked at him.
“Or you're lying.”
Nathan's jaw tightened.
“I expected you to say that.”
Vincent laughed.
“This is beautiful.”
Lucas turned toward him.
“Shut up.”
Vincent's smile faded.
Lucas stepped closer.
“You wanted us fighting each other.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the truth destroys families.”
Lucas stared.
Vincent continued.
“Your father believed blood made people loyal.”
He smiled.
“He was wrong.”
Suddenly, the cemetery lights went out.
Gunfire erupted.
Lucas grabbed Sarah and pulled her behind the stone wall.
Nathan fired toward the entrance.
Daniel covered Emma's absence—
Then Lucas realized.
Emma wasn't there.
His heart stopped.
“WHERE IS EMMA?”
Sarah's face went white.
“She was with Daniel.”
Lucas looked around.
Daniel was gone.
Nathan's expression changed.
“That's the trap.”
Lucas ran outside.
A black SUV was speeding away.
Inside—
Daniel sat beside Emma.
Lucas raised his weapon but the vehicle disappeared into the rain.
His phone rang.
Daniel.
Lucas answered.
“Where is she?”
Daniel's voice was shaking.
“I didn't take her.”
Lucas stopped.
“What?”
“I was knocked unconscious.”
Lucas's blood ran cold.
“Then who has her?”
A child's voice came through.
“Mr. Blackwood?”
“Emma!”
“I'm scared.”
Lucas's heart broke.
“Where are you?”
“I don't know.”
A man's voice replaced hers.
“Hello, Lucas.”
Lucas recognized it.
Vincent.
“You took my daughter.”
“No.”
Vincent laughed.
“She isn't your daughter.”
Lucas's expression hardened.
“She is under my protection.”
“You're beginning to sound like your father.”
“What do you want?”
“The Blackwood ledger.”
Lucas frowned.
“What ledger?”
Vincent laughed.
“The one your father hid.”
Lucas looked at Nathan.
Nathan whispered:
“It's real.”
Vincent continued.
“Bring it to the old Blackwood factory.”
“What happens if I don't?”
A pause.
Then Emma screamed.
Lucas closed his eyes.
“Touch her and I will bury you.”
Vincent laughed.
“Bring the ledger.”
The call ended.
Lucas looked at Nathan.
“Where is it?”
Nathan shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Harold whispered:
“I do.”
Everyone turned.
Harold reached inside his coat.
He pulled out a small brass key.
“Your father gave this to me the night he died.”
Lucas stared.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because he told me never to.”
Lucas took the key.
“What does it open?”
Harold looked toward the cemetery.
“The room beneath your childhood home.”
Lucas froze.
He suddenly remembered something.
A locked door in the basement.
A door his father had never allowed him to approach.
A door Vincent had told him was simply an old wine cellar.
Lucas looked at Nathan.
“We're going home.”
Nathan nodded.
Lucas turned toward the mansion.
May you like
Because somewhere beneath the house where he had grown up was a secret his father had died protecting.
And now Emma's life depended on finding it before Vincent did.
