Chapter 15 - The Daughter of the Dead
Sophie Calloway was twenty-three years old, though she looked younger beneath the exhaustion and fear. She clutched the tower railing as Graham crossed the courtyard toward her.
“Uncle Graham?”
He stopped several feet away, as if afraid touching her would make the moment disappear.
“I thought you were safe.”
“Victor said you knew where I was.”
Graham’s face turned white.
“I didn’t.”
Victor stepped from behind the case. “You never asked enough questions.”
“You told me she was in Maine,” Graham said.
“And you believed me because believing me was easier than admitting Claire left you a problem.”
Sophie looked between them. “My mother didn’t leave me. You took me.”
Victor’s expression remained calm. “Your mother was unstable.”
“She was investigating you.”
“She was going to destroy the only protection keeping your family alive.”
Graham moved toward Victor.
“Don’t,” I warned through the radio.
He stopped, but his hands shook.
Victor looked toward the water. “The Coast Guard is close. If they board the island, people will panic. A few shots in the wrong direction, and no one will know who started it.”
Reed’s voice came through our channel. “We’re moving in.”
I saw the incoming boats spread around the fort. Men stepped onto the docks carrying rifles.
Sophie pressed one hand to her stomach.
“They’ll kill her,” she said.
“Who?”
“The man in the red cap. He told me if Victor lost control, he’d make sure I never reached the mainland.”
I scanned the fort and found him near the western wall.
“Reed, red cap, west wall.”
“Confirmed.”
The agents began boarding from the eastern side. Their movement was fast and quiet, but the men on the docks spotted them almost immediately.
Shouts erupted.
Victor grabbed Sophie by the arm.
Graham crossed the space between them in three strides.
“Let her go.”
“You will hand me the original ledger.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Elena does.”
“She never had it.”
Victor looked at me through the darkness, directly toward the Coast Guard vessel.
He knew exactly where I stood.
“Bring her here,” he called.
I stepped to the edge of the deck.
Reed grabbed my arm. “No.”
“He’ll use Sophie.”
“That is what he wants.”
“Then we give him what he wants.”
Graham saw me. His head snapped toward the water.
“Elena, stay aboard.”
“You told me to choose.”
“Choose life.”
“I’m choosing not to let him control the ending.”
I climbed down to the small inspection boat tethered to the vessel. Reed cursed and followed me.
We crossed the narrow channel while the fort erupted into chaos. Officers shouted commands. Men dropped weapons and raised their hands. Others ran toward the western dock.
Victor dragged Sophie toward the lighthouse stairs.
Graham blocked him.
“You want Elena? Take me instead.”
“You’re worth nothing without the company.”
“Then why are you afraid of losing me?”
Victor’s composure cracked.
He pulled a pistol from his coat.
Graham raised both hands.
“You don’t need that.”
“You always thought you were better than your father.”
“I became worse.”
“You became sentimental.”
“Maybe.”
Graham’s eyes stayed on Sophie. “But she is not yours.”
Victor fired.
Graham shoved Sophie behind the tower wall. The shot struck stone. Agents tackled Victor before he could fire again.
Dorian ran toward the western dock, but Reed’s team caught him at the gate.
The man in the red cap raised his weapon toward Sophie. I grabbed a fallen lantern and threw it at his wrist. The gun clattered across the stones, and he fled into the shadows.
An agent caught him before he reached the water.
When the shouting stopped, Graham remained crouched beside Sophie.
She touched his face.
“You really didn’t know?”
“No.”
“My mother said you would come.”
His eyes filled.
“I should have come sooner.”
“She said you were afraid.”
“She was right.”
Sophie looked past him toward me.
“Are you Elena?”
“Yes.”
“My mother wrote about you.”
I knelt beside her. “What did she say?”
Sophie pulled a folded paper from inside her jacket.
The handwriting was Claire’s.
Elena,
If Graham ever brings you into this, remind him that love is not proven by what a person will destroy. It is proven by what he is willing to surrender.
Graham read the message over my shoulder.
May you like
Far below, sirens approached across the water.
He looked at me, and I knew the next surrender would cost him everything.
