Chapter 8 - THE ABDUCTION AND THE RACE
Everything slowed and spun at once.
Marlow called for an Amber Alert instantly. Every officer in the district was deployed. Roadblocks went up. Airports, train stations, rental agencies — all notified. Elena had signed Sophie out under her own name. She had acted boldly, knowing we were coming for her.
And she had taken her.
I sat in the back of a police car, Vanessa beside me giving every detail she knew — Elena’s habits, favorite places, a cabin she owned hours away in the hills, inherited from the family.
“She talked about it,” Vanessa said breathlessly. “A place to disappear. To wait until things settled. I never thought she would actually go there — not with Sophie — but Adrian… she said once Claire was gone, that cabin would be where everything finally became perfect.”
Marlow relayed the location to dispatch. Officers converged on the area. Helicopters scrambled.
I gripped the seat edge until my knuckles turned white. Elena had her. My six-year-old daughter. Alone with the woman who had murdered her own sister. Who had tried to poison her. Who had every reason to want Sophie dead as the final obstacle to everything she desired.
If Elena panicked… if she felt cornered…
I did not let myself finish the thought.
We drove fast, sirens screaming, blue lights cutting through the morning. Every minute felt like an hour. Every mile stretched forever.
On the way, Elena called me.
Her voice was calm. Serene, almost.
“Adrian,” she said. “You have made this so difficult. All I wanted was a fair share. Claire had more than enough for three lifetimes. Why did she leave nothing for me?”
“You killed her,” I said, my voice shaking with rage. “And now you have my daughter. Bring her back. Nothing else matters. Bring her back and we will work something out.”
Elena laughed softly.
“It is too late for bargaining,” she said. “Sophie is coming with me. She is Claire’s daughter, after all. She has my blood. Once you are gone — and you will be gone, soon — she will be all I have left. And everything will be mine. Through her.”
“Sophie is a child,” I said. “She is not a tool. She is your niece.”
“She is the key to everything,” Elena said flatly. “Just like that bear. Just like the safe. Everything is a key to something.”
The call ended.
Marlow looked at me.
May you like
“She is heading to that cabin,” he said. “We will get there first. We will surround it. We will get her back, Adrian. I promise.”
But as we neared the turnoff to the mountain road, dispatch crackled in — Elena’s car had been spotted. Speeding. Driving erratically. And heading straight for the winding cliffside road leading to the cabin.
