CHAPTER 24 THE SEA TUNNEL
The passage descended beneath the cliffs.
Water covered the lower steps.
Nathan moved in front of Claire while Gabriel followed behind.
The tunnel opened into a long stone corridor lit by emergency lamps.
Margaret lay near the wall.
Blood covered one sleeve, but the wound had only grazed her arm.
The ledger was gone.
“Who took it?” Nathan demanded.
“Veronica.”
“Where is she?”
Margaret pointed toward the sound of the sea.
Claire continued without waiting.
The corridor ended at an iron bridge suspended above a flooded cavern.
On the opposite side, a woman stood with Claire’s daughter in her arms.
Vanessa’s face.
Vera.
Claire stepped onto the bridge.
“Give her to me.”
Vera did not move.
“She looks like you.”
“Do not speak about her.”
“She has the same mark.”
Claire froze.
“What mark?”
“Behind her left ear.”
Nathan looked at Claire.
She had never seen the mark. The baby had been taken too quickly.
Vera adjusted the blanket.
A tiny crescent-shaped birthmark was visible behind the child’s ear.
Claire began to cry.
“That’s my daughter.”
Vera’s expression softened.
“I know.”
“Then give her back.”
“I am not taking her from you.”
“You are standing across a bridge with my child.”
“I am taking her from Cole.”
“He’s dead.”
“No one saw his body.”
Nathan stepped beside Claire.
“What does Cole want with the baby?”
“The same thing Margaret wanted. Control of the Shaw Trust.”
Vera looked at Nathan.
“But Margaret had another reason.”
“What reason?”
“She needed the guardianship clause activated before Cole returned.”
Claire turned toward Nathan.
“What did you sign?”
Nathan’s face tightened.
Vera continued.
“Ask your husband what the Whitmore family can legally do if you are declared mentally unstable after childbirth.”
Claire looked at Nathan.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“Did you sign it?”
“I signed a sealed trust agreement.”
Vera gave a bitter laugh.
“They always hide the ugliest truth under a seal.”
An explosion shook the tunnel.
Stone fell from the ceiling.
The bridge snapped in the center.
Claire dropped to her knees and grabbed the metal rail.
Nathan pulled her back as part of the structure collapsed into the water.
Vera remained on the opposite side with the baby.
“Wait!” Claire screamed.
Vera held the child close.
“I will keep her alive.”
“She needs me!”
“She needs to remain outside Cole’s reach.”
Gabriel fired at a figure moving behind Vera.
Gideon emerged from the shadows and pulled Vera toward a side passage.
Gabriel jumped across the broken section of bridge.
His hands caught the opposite edge.
Gideon looked down at him.
For a moment, the identical brothers stared at one another.
Then Gideon reached down.
Gabriel hesitated before accepting his hand.
Gideon pulled him onto the platform.
Claire watched Vera carry her daughter away.
“Gabriel!”
Gabriel started after them.
A second explosion tore through the cavern.
The tunnel collapsed between the two sides.
Nathan covered Claire as dust and stone filled the air.
When the noise stopped, they were separated from Gabriel, Gideon, Vera and the baby.
Only a narrow opening remained.
Vera’s voice passed through it.
“Claire!”
Claire crawled toward the gap.
“Bring her back!”
“Find the document Nathan signed.”
“Why?”
“Because Margaret can take your daughter without kidnapping her.”
May you like
Vera’s final words became faint as she moved away.
“She can make the law hand your child back to Cole.”
