Chapter 16 - The Man Who Wore No Watch
The lead boat fired a warning shot across the trawler’s bow. Camille swung the wheel hard, sending the vessel into the wake of a cargo ship. Adam grabbed the railing as water crashed over the deck.
“That was not a warning,” he said.
“Then stop criticizing my driving.”
The voice across the water repeated Martin’s claim. Lucy was his granddaughter. The words made no sense unless Martin had known about Olivia’s child before anyone else.
Lenore emerged from the cabin with a flare gun. “The boat is not Martin’s.”
“Who is it?”
“His son.”
Adam stared at her. “I’m his son.”
“Your half brother.”
Another boat cut across their path. A man stood at its bow, tall and broad, with Martin’s pale eyes. He wore a captain’s coat and no watch.
“Elias Vale,” Lenore said.
Elias raised a loudspeaker. “You have something that belongs to my family.”
Adam shouted back, “Your family stole enough.”
“My father built the system that kept this city alive.”
“Your father built a criminal network.”
“And your mother benefited from it.”
Adam looked at Lenore.
“Martin had another son,” she said. “Elias was born after your mother left.”
“Why didn’t I know?”
“Because Martin wanted one heir in the light and one in the dark.”
Elias’s boat rammed the trawler. The deck lurched. Camille fell against the rail. Adam caught her, but the packet slipped from her coat and landed near the stern.
Elias’s men boarded.
Adam fought the first man with the brutal efficiency of someone who had stopped believing in fair fights. Camille struck another with the boat hook. Lenore fired the flare gun into the air, showering sparks across the deck.
Below, Lucy screamed.
Camille ran toward the cabin. Elias blocked the doorway.
“Where is Olivia?” he asked.
“You tell me.”
“She has the final account.”
“She has nothing you deserve.”
“Neither do you.”
He reached for her. Camille drove her knee into his thigh and ducked past. Inside the cabin, Lucy crouched beneath the table while one of Elias’s men searched the bunks.
Camille grabbed a fire extinguisher and swung it. The man collapsed.
“Come on!”
Lucy crawled after her.
On deck, Adam had been forced to his knees. Elias held a gun to his head. The packet lay at Elias’s feet.
“Give me the girl,” Elias said.
“You’re going to have to kill me,” Adam replied.
“That has never stopped this family before.”
Olivia stepped from the cabin.
“Elias.”
He turned. For a moment, he looked young.
“Aunt Olivia.”
Camille understood. Elias was not Martin’s son through another woman. He was Olivia’s son, born before Daniel met her. Her half brother was also Lucy’s biological uncle.
Olivia held a small black case. “Take me and leave the children.”
“You always choose them.”
“They are innocent.”
“So was I.”
“No,” Olivia said. “You were angry. There is a difference.”
Elias’s face twisted.
Adam used the distraction to head-butt him. The gun fired into the sky. Camille seized the packet while Lenore cut the boarding line.
The two boats separated. Elias staggered back to his vessel.
“You think this ends here?” he called.
“No,” Adam shouted. “But it ends with you arrested.”
Elias laughed. “Ask Olivia what happened in the delivery room.”
The boats vanished into the dark.
Camille turned to Olivia. “What happened?”
Olivia looked at Lucy, then at Adam. “Elias was the first child I gave away.”
“You gave him away?”
“Martin took him. He said a boy belonged in the family business.”
“And Lucy?”
“I arranged for Julia to carry her because I knew Martin would never look for a daughter.”
Adam gripped the wheel. “You knew Lucy was mine?”
“I knew she was yours to raise.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“The donor was anonymous.”
“Was it you?”
Olivia’s silence answered.
Lucy looked up. “Does that make you my mother?”
Olivia knelt before her. “It makes me the person who gave you life. Your mother is the person who loved you every day.”
Lucy glanced at Adam. “Dad loves me.”
“Yes,” Olivia said. “He does.”
The trawler reached the Vermont shore before dawn. In the distance, headlights moved along the mountain road toward the nursing home.
Adam looked at Camille. “We have one chance to find the archive.”
May you like
She held his gaze. “Then we take it together.”
Behind them, the river carried away the last echo of Martin’s voice.
