Chapter 16 - The Cliff House

Daniel was gone.

His phone sat on the conference table where he'd left it charging.

Security footage showed him entering the underground garage ten minutes before the fire alarm.

He never came back up.

Marcus found blood beside his car.

Vanessa hadn't escaped alone.

At 11:48 p.m., I drove toward my father's old cliff house with a leather folder on the passenger seat.

The transfer papers inside were fake.

Marcus and the police were two miles back, waiting for my signal.

Claire was supposed to stay with Sophie at a secure hotel.

She didn't.

At 11:55, I saw her headlights behind me.

I pulled over hard.

She stopped beside me.

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Yes," she said. "Six years of running does that."

"Sophie needs you."

"Sophie needs both of us to stop Vanessa."

I wanted to argue.

Then I remembered the woman who had survived my father, false death records, years of hiding, and Vanessa's threats.

Claire wasn't someone to protect by locking her out of the truth.

"Stay behind me," I said.

She gave me a flat look.

"Don't ruin the moment."

The cliff house stood dark above the ocean.

Inside, one lamp burned in the living room.

Daniel sat tied to a chair.

Luis stood behind him.

Vanessa faced the windows.

"You brought Claire."

"You threatened my brother."

"And you never follow instructions. That's always been your problem."

I held up the folder.

"Let Daniel go."

She smiled.

"Sign first."

Claire stepped into the light.

"You know the shares won't save you."

Vanessa's face changed.

"You took everything from me."

Claire laughed bitterly. "I was presumed dead while you raised my daughter. Tell me again who took what."

Vanessa pulled a gun from the back of her waistband.

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I wrote Sophie's name once on a blank sheet before leaving for the cliff house and folded it into my wallet. It was irrational, maybe even dramatic, but I needed something on me that belonged to the life I was trying to protect. Claire saw me do it and quietly wrote her name beneath Sophie's.

And pointed it at Claire.