Chapter 16 - The Trade

Grace sounded weak, but she was alive. Benjamin gripped the phone so tightly his knuckles whitened.

“Where are you?”

“I don't know. They covered the windows.”

A man took the phone. Ethan's voice was calm, almost cheerful. “Now we can be reasonable.”

“You have no idea what you've done,” Benjamin said.

“I know exactly what you've done. You humiliated me in front of my employees.”

“They're not your employees to threaten.”

“You always had to correct me.”

Benjamin let the silence stretch. “You knew who I was the whole time.”

“Of course I did. I recognized your voice the first day. Watching you clean my floors was the funniest thing I've ever seen.”

There it was. The truth that hurt more than any forged deed: Ethan had known him, remembered their shared history, and chosen cruelty anyway.

Ethan gave him instructions. Bring the original deed and the recovered drives to an unfinished parking structure on the north side at 10 p.m. Come alone.

Benjamin met Ruth's eyes. She was already signaling Price to trace the call and coordinate a rescue. No one suggested Benjamin actually walk into an ambush without a plan.

“I'll come,” Benjamin told Ethan. “But I need to hear Grace again.”

A scuffle crackled over the line. Grace breathed, “Dad, look for the yellow door. Remember the old song.”

Then the call ended.

Grace had slipped him two clues. The parking structure once belonged to Carter Construction, and its basement had a service door painted yellow. Evelyn used to hum “Moon River” whenever Grace was hiding under the stairs. It was their signal to look in the place nobody expected.

Police built a careful plan around the clues. Emergency medical teams staged nearby. Benjamin agreed to wear a monitored device and follow instructions precisely.

At 9:58, he walked into the half-built structure carrying a leather folder. His footsteps echoed through cold concrete.

“I'm here!” he called.

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From somewhere in the dark, Ethan answered, “Put the folder down.”

Then a light snapped on, revealing Grace bound to a chair beside the open edge of the sixth floor.