Chapter 12 - The Loss We Could Not Prevent
The crying came from a radio hidden beneath the kitchen counter.
Mara had left it playing on a loop, a final cruelty designed to make them believe a child was trapped nearby. Gideon searched every room while Lucian kept Jonah upright against the wall. Maya knelt beside her brother, pressing a cloth to his split lip.
Norah turned off the radio.
“She wants us exhausted,” she said.
Lucian looked at the wooden box in her hands. “What did your mother leave you?”
Norah opened it. The key fit a small compartment beneath the lid. Inside was a memory card and a note with an address on the riverfront.
Gideon read the address. “The old ferry terminal.”
“That’s where Ethan took the ledger,” Maya said.
Jonah grabbed her arm. “No. Ethan called me before they moved me. He said he was going to trade it for Elise.”
“Then he may be alive,” Norah said.
“Or he may be leading us into another trap,” Lucian replied.
Norah faced him. “Every option is a trap now.”
“That does not make every option equal.”
“No. It makes the one where we save my mother and your witnesses worth the risk.”
Lucian stared at her, then nodded. “We go together.”
The ferry terminal was empty except for a single boat rocking against the dock. Rain had begun again, turning the river into black glass. A light burned inside the terminal office.
Ethan stood behind the window with the metal box on the desk. Elise sat in a chair beside him, her hands bound but her back straight.
“Let them go,” Norah called.
Ethan opened the door. “I can’t.”
Lucian’s hand moved toward his weapon. “Why?”
“Because the people outside are not all yours.”
Figures emerged from the rain along the pier. Some wore federal badges. Others wore no insignia at all. At the center stood Celia Rane.
She applauded slowly. “This is touching. The family reunion, the loyal husband, the damaged ex-boyfriend searching for redemption.”
Norah looked at Ethan. “You brought her here.”
“She followed me,” he said.
“You always say that after opening the door.”
His face tightened. “I’m trying to get your mother out.”
“You’re trying to get yourself out.”
The accusation struck him hard. Ethan looked down at the box. “Both can be true.”
Lucian moved toward the terminal. Celia raised her weapon. “One more step, and Norah loses the child before anyone reaches her.”
Norah felt fear rise, then flatten into something colder. “You don’t want me dead.”
“Not yet.”
“You want the witnesses. The ledger is a chain, and I’m the link you cannot erase because my father left the evidence with me.”
Celia’s expression changed.
Norah held up the memory card. “This contains the final testimony.”
“Give it to me.”
“Let Elise go first.”
“You are not in a position to bargain.”
“Then why are you listening?”
For one breath, no one moved.
Mara appeared behind Elise and pressed a blade to her throat. “Enough theater.”
Lucian saw the opening and lunged. Gunfire cracked across the terminal. Gideon pulled Norah down while Maya dragged Jonah behind a stack of crates. Ethan threw himself at Mara, and the blade cut across his shoulder.
Elise screamed. A bullet struck the metal box, scattering papers across the floor.
Norah crawled toward her mother. Lucian reached them first, taking a shot in the side before pushing Elise behind cover.
“Lucian!”
He looked at Norah, one hand pressed against the spreading stain beneath his ribs.
“I’m all right,” he said.
He was not.
The terminal erupted into smoke and shouting. When the air cleared, Celia and Mara were gone. Ethan lay unconscious beside the damaged box. Elise was alive.
Lucian was not moving.
Norah pressed both hands against his wound and heard the river rushing beneath the dock.
“Stay with me,” she whispered.
His eyes opened for one second.
May you like
“Choose yourself,” he breathed.
Then his hand went slack.
