Chapter 14 - The Mill
Daniel did not go alone.
He also did not tell Victoria that.
Police placed a tracker on his car, a wire under his shirt, and officers two blocks from the old mill.
Isabel hated the plan.
“This is exactly what she wants,” she said.
“She wants me isolated.”
“And you’re walking in.”
“With everyone listening.”
Isabel stared at him. “Your father probably thought he was one step ahead too.”
That stopped him.
Daniel took her hand carefully.
“I hear you.”
It was not agreement.
It was something harder for him: proof he had listened.
He changed one part of the plan.
If Victoria ordered him deeper into the building or demanded he surrender his phone, he would leave.
No hero move.
No chasing.
No secret sacrifice.
At the mill, broken windows stared over the river.
Daniel entered through the loading door.
“Mom?”
His voice echoed.
A lamp switched on upstairs.
Victoria stood behind an old office railing.
“You brought police.”
Daniel kept his face neutral. “You always said I was predictable.”
She laughed.
“Where are the trust papers?”
“Still asking the wrong question.”
“What’s the right one?”
“Why your father needed them hidden.”
Daniel looked up at her.
“Did you kill him?”
Victoria’s face changed.
Not fear.
Offense.
“Your father killed himself the moment he decided I was disposable.”
Daniel’s pulse jumped.
In the wire, every word mattered.
“What does that mean?”
“He was going to remove me from the foundation. From the board. From the trust.”
“So you paid Pike.”
Victoria smiled faintly.
“You sound like Isabel.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“She always wanted you to question me.”
“No. She wanted me to question evidence.”
Victoria’s eyes hardened.
“Same thing.”
A floorboard creaked behind Daniel.
He turned.
Raymond Pike stepped out from the shadows.
Daniel’s body went cold.
Pike held no gun.
He didn’t need one to make the room dangerous.
Victoria said, “You were supposed to come alone.”
Daniel backed toward the door.
Pike moved to block it.
Daniel touched the transmitter under his shirt.
Then the light above them exploded.
Darkness swallowed the mill.
May you like
And through his earpiece, Daniel heard Park shout one word.
“MOVE!”
