Chapter 14 - Under the River
Cold water erased everything.
Arthur sank deep, his shoulder slamming against a submerged beam. When he opened his eyes, he saw only brown-green darkness and bubbles.
He kicked upward.
A hand grabbed his ankle.
Graham.
Arthur twisted, but Graham pulled him down. Panic hit hard and primitive. Arthur kicked again and connected with Graham’s chest.
The grip loosened.
Arthur broke the surface beneath the broken floor of the boathouse.
Above him, chaos thundered—shouts, another gunshot, wood cracking.
“Arthur!” Elena yelled.
He grabbed a beam.
Graham surfaced three feet away and swung at him. “You should have signed!”
Arthur ducked. “You put my son in a wall!”
“That was Victoria’s idea!”
“You paid for it.”
Graham lunged again.
Arthur caught his wrist. They slammed against the pilings, fighting for leverage while river current pulled at their legs.
Then Graham reached inside his jacket.
Arthur saw metal.
A knife.
Before Graham could raise it, a bright beam hit his face.
“Police! Drop it!”
Detective Kim stood on the dock above them, weapon drawn.
Graham laughed and pressed the knife against Arthur’s throat.
“Back up!”
Arthur could feel the blade.
Kim did not move.
Inside the boathouse, Elena had managed to knock the gunman’s weapon away. Mateo, still tied to the chair, kicked it toward the water.
Victoria worked one hand free and grabbed the fallen lighter.
The gunman charged Elena.
Victoria threw the metal lighter into his face.
He flinched.
Elena hit him with a boat hook.
He collapsed.
Outside, Graham pulled Arthur closer.
“Tell her to lower the gun.”
Arthur stared at the man he had once called his brother.
“No.”
Graham tightened the knife.
Arthur suddenly let go of the piling.
Both men dropped with the current.
The move surprised Graham just enough.
Arthur drove his elbow backward.
The knife fell.
Kim’s officers dragged Arthur toward the dock. Two others seized Graham.
Within minutes, the boathouse was secured.
Victoria was freed.
Mateo was alive.
Arthur coughed river water onto the dock and looked at Elena.
“We got him.”
Elena’s relief lasted one second.
Then Kim’s radio crackled.
A frantic voice said, “Units needed at St. Matthew’s Hospital. Possible child abduction.”
May you like
Arthur stopped breathing.
Leo was at St. Matthew’s.
