Chapter 4 - THE BROTHER WHO NEVER LEFTClara didn't remember the drive back to Manhattan.
She remembered pieces.
Nathan on the phone.
Marcus arguing with federal agents.
Blue lights reflected on wet streets.
And four words repeating inside her head.
Daniel is alive.
For eleven months she'd imagined every possibility except hope.
Hope, Clara discovered, was more frightening than grief.
Because grief eventually became familiar.
Hope could destroy you all over again.
They met federal agents in a secure office beneath the Ashford building.
Marcus finally admitted he'd been working quietly with an investigator named Sarah Coleman for almost two years.
Daniel had been Sarah's confidential source.
"Why didn't she contact me?" Clara demanded.
Sarah was in her early forties, with tired eyes and the posture of someone who had stopped sleeping properly years ago.
"Because Daniel insisted."
Clara laughed bitterly.
"Of course he did."
Sarah pushed a photograph across the table.
Taken six weeks earlier.
Daniel leaving a warehouse.
Clara touched the picture.
He looked thinner.
Beard longer.
Alive.
"Where is he?"
"We don't know."
"What do you mean?"
"He went dark shortly after this photo."
"Victoria says she has him."
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"It could be a trap."
Clara stood.
"I don't care."
Nathan stood too.
"I do."
She turned sharply.
"You don't get to."
Nathan's expression remained calm.
"I know."
"Then stop acting like you can tell me what to do."
"I'm not."
"You're going to tell me not to go."
"Absolutely."
She stared.
Nathan added, "And you're going anyway."
"Yes."
"So we're making sure you survive."
Sarah slid a phone toward Clara.
"We answer Victoria."
They sent one sentence.
Proof first.
Three minutes later, a video arrived.
Daniel sat tied to a chair.
Bruised.
Blood at his temple.
But alive.
"Clara," he said.
Her breath broke.
"I'm sorry."
A hand grabbed his hair.
Victoria stepped into frame.
She was no longer wearing the silver engagement gown.
Black pants.
Black coat.
No jewelry.
No glamorous smile.
"If Clara wants him alive, Pier 19. Four-thirty. No police."
Video ended.
Clara looked at Sarah.
"I'm going."
Sarah nodded.
"We expected that."
They placed a tracking device inside Clara's coat.
A tiny microphone behind one button.
Nathan argued until Sarah threatened to have him detained.
He eventually agreed to remain three blocks away.
Or pretended to agree.
Pier 19 was almost abandoned at that hour.
Fog hovered over the river.
Clara entered the warehouse alone.
"Daniel?"
A light switched on.
Her brother sat exactly as he had in the video.
Clara ran to him.
"Don't!" Daniel shouted.
She stopped.
A red laser dot appeared on her chest.
Victoria emerged above them on a metal walkway.
"Touch him and someone shoots."
Clara looked up.
"You don't need him anymore."
Victoria smiled.
"True."
"Then let him go."
"I need you."
"Why?"
"Locker 317."
Clara's stomach tightened.
Victoria knew.
"You've got Daniel. Ask him."
"He won't give me the password."
Daniel laughed weakly.
"I told her it's Go To Hell."
Clara nearly cried hearing his humor.
Victoria's smile vanished.
"Your brother has become exhausting."
Clara looked around.
"Where's Charles?"
"My father is recovering."
"You shot him."
Victoria's expression changed.
"Did I?"
Clara realized.
"You didn't."
"No."
"Who did?"
Victoria looked toward the darkness.
Clara heard footsteps.
Richard Ashford appeared.
Her stomach dropped.
"Mr. Ashford?"
Richard looked exhausted.
"Clara."
Daniel shouted, "Don't trust him!"
Victoria laughed.
"Family reunions are always complicated."
Clara stared at Richard.
"Why are you here?"
"To get you out."
Victoria held up a gun.
"Try."
Richard stopped.
Clara asked, "Did you know my mother?"
Richard's face changed.
"Yes."
"How?"
Victoria rolled her eyes.
"Please don't turn this into a soap opera."
Richard ignored her.
"Anna Morgan worked for Ashford Development."
"My mother cleaned offices."
"Later."
"What did she do before that?"
Richard looked ashamed.
"Accounting."
Clara felt her world tilt.
"She never told us."
"She couldn't."
Richard continued.
"Your mother discovered Charles Sterling had been stealing from joint projects we operated in Chicago. Not thousands. Millions."
Daniel said, "Tell her the rest."
Richard closed his eyes briefly.
"Charles threatened your family."
Clara whispered, "My father died in a car accident."
Richard didn't answer.
The silence was enough.
"No."
"Clara—"
"No."
"Your father's accident wasn't an accident."
Clara staggered.
Daniel looked at her helplessly.
"Mom found out afterward," he said. "Richard helped us disappear."
Clara remembered moving suddenly when she was ten.
Her mother's fear.
Changing schools.
Never talking about Chicago.
Richard said, "I promised Anna I'd keep you safe."
"You hired me."
"No."
"You expect me to believe I accidentally became a maid in your house?"
"I didn't know until after you started. Your background check flagged your mother's name."
"Then you kept me."
"Yes."
Clara's eyes filled.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Your mother made me promise."
Victoria clapped slowly.
"Touching."
Clara looked up.
"What do you actually want?"
Victoria's eyes hardened.
"The evidence your mother collected."
Daniel shook his head.
"She thinks Mom's evidence is in the locker."
"It is."
Clara looked at him.
Daniel's face fell.
"Clara."
"You told me the password."
"No. I told you the clue."
Victoria smiled.
"Exactly."
Clara understood.
Victoria didn't know the place their father proposed.
She only knew there was a password.
Clara looked at Daniel.
He gave the tiniest nod.
Play along.
She faced Victoria.
"Fine."
"Password?"
"ConeyIsland1987."
Victoria typed into her phone.
Daniel burst out laughing.
Victoria looked up.
"What?"
"He proposed in 1991."
Clara smiled.
Victoria raised the gun.
A shot rang out.
Clara screamed.
But Victoria hadn't fired.
One of her guards fell from the walkway.
Marcus appeared above them.
Federal agents flooded the warehouse.
Chaos exploded.
Richard tackled Clara behind a crate.
Victoria fired twice.
Nathan appeared from a side entrance.
Clara's rage replaced fear.
"You were supposed to stay back!"
"Not the time!"
Daniel's chair overturned as he tried to move.
Clara crawled toward him.
Victoria saw her.
"Clara!"
She aimed.
Nathan stepped between them.
The gun fired.
Nathan jerked.
Clara screamed his name.
He fell.
Agents swarmed Victoria.
Marcus kicked the gun away.
Clara reached Nathan.
Blood stained his shirt near his side.
His eyes opened.
"You're okay?" he whispered.
She stared at him.
"You got shot and you're asking me that?"
"Seemed polite."
She almost laughed and sobbed at once.
Paramedics rushed in.
Daniel was freed.
As they loaded Nathan onto a stretcher, he caught Clara's hand.
"Locker."
"What?"
"Whatever Daniel hid there... don't let anyone get it first."
Daniel heard.
His expression darkened.
"The locker isn't evidence."
Clara turned.
"What is it?"
Daniel looked toward Richard.
"The evidence is only part of it."
"What else?"
May you like
Daniel answered quietly.
"Our mother's confession."
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