Chapter 7
The seventh pin answered the question nobody at Hawthorne wanted to ask.
Who would control the council?
Lucia.
Not officially.
That was never her style.
She wanted six men arguing around a table while every one of them depended on her to hold the family together. My father had done the same thing with fear. Lucia preferred obligation.
I picked up the pin.
“When did she give you this?”
The oldest man shook his head.
“That one wasn’t here yesterday.”
Marco looked toward the hallway.
Someone had been inside Hawthorne after Lucia was confined at my estate.
Rafael found the person in the kitchen.
A Bellandi driver named Ellis.
He had carried a message from Lucia before I cut her phone access.
I read it aloud.
IF RAFFAELE ARRIVES WITHOUT SOPHIA, DELAY HIM. GRANT WILL MOVE THE GIRL BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
For one second, I could not hear anything.
Marco was already calling the estate.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
I looked at Rafael.
He was moving before I spoke.
We left Hawthorne in under thirty seconds.
The drive back felt endless.
Then Marco’s phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
Looked at me.
“Sophia’s safe.”
My lungs worked again.
“Grant?”
“Gone.”
I stared at him.
Grant had been under guard.
Someone helped him out.
Camilla was still at the estate.
Lucia too.
When we arrived, Sophia was asleep in my bedroom with two guards outside. I stood in the doorway long enough to see her breathe before I went downstairs.
Lucia was seated in the library.
She looked almost amused.
“You panic beautifully when it’s her.”
I walked toward her.
“Who freed Grant?”
No answer.
“You wanted him to move Sophia.”
“He was supposed to complete the plan.”
“From my house.”
“You were at Hawthorne.”
“So?”
Lucia smiled faintly.
“You still haven’t learned. You protect the place you’re standing in.”
I stared at her.
Then understood.
Grant was not trying to take Sophia from my estate.
He was going somewhere else.
I looked at Camilla.
She had gone pale.
“Where?”
She whispered the answer.
“Our old house.”
The house Camilla and I shared before the separation.
May you like
Sophia’s real bedroom was there.
And apparently the bags in the pool had not contained everything.
