Chapter 11 - A Father's Choice
The police released Elena when the locket was traced to a storage drawer in Celeste's office. It was the same locket supposedly found in Elena's bag three years earlier, cleaned and reintroduced as fresh evidence. The detective apologized, but Elena only nodded. An apology could not return three years of lost work, lost sleep, and missed birthdays.
Adrian waited outside the station. He had removed his tie and rolled up his sleeves. For once, he looked less like a billionaire and more like a man who had no idea how to repair what he had broken.
He swallowed. "I don't expect you to forgive me."
"Good," Elena replied. "Because I haven't. But Theo needs us to work together."
They returned to the penthouse and found Mason waiting with the security footage from the building. The kidnapper had entered wearing a delivery uniform and left through the fire stairwell. A camera caught a glimpse of the van outside. Grace traced it to a garage rented by one of Celeste's shell companies.
Elena picked up the blue truck. A small paper star had been taped beneath it. Theo used to make those stars when he was little, folding scrap paper into tight points. This one had a message written inside: The water is loud. There are three doors. I am not alone.
"He is telling us where he is," Elena said. "He can hear water, and he counted three doors. The boathouse has three exits."
"Theo made that star," Elena insisted. "I taught him how. The fold is wrong on the last point because he always rushes it."
Adrian looked at the note as if it were a lifeline. "Then we go to the boathouse."
Grace called the detective and arranged a quiet response team. Adrian agreed to stay back until the police had secured the area, but when the time came, he refused to remain in the car.
"I won't make Theo watch another adult turn away from a locked door," he said.
They approached from the tree line. The lake slapped against the pilings, loud enough to cover footsteps. Through a narrow window, Elena saw Theo sitting on a chair beside a stack of life jackets. His hands were free, but a man stood near the door.
Celeste appeared behind him, holding a phone to her ear.
May you like
"Bring Adrian inside," she said. "Then we'll finish this."
This time, she would not be forced to leave anyone behind.
