Chapter 16 - The Woman Who Refused to BegSera woke with her wrists bound.
For one terrifying second, she was twenty-four again.
Grant’s house.
Grant’s voice.
Grant’s footsteps outside the locked bedroom.
Her lungs refused to work.
Then she remembered Damen.
The greenhouse.
The cliff.
The sanctuary.
You are not there anymore.
She inhaled.
Four seconds.
Held it.
Exhaled.
She studied the room.
Concrete walls.
One door.
No windows.
A camera in the upper corner.
Sera stared directly into it.
“I’m awake.”
No answer.
She stood.
Her knees shook.
She let them.
Fear was allowed.
Obedience was not.
The door opened.
The silver-haired woman from Marblehead entered.
Sera recognized her immediately despite never having consciously seen her before.
“You were watching the house.”
The woman stopped.
“Good.”
“Who are you?”
“Helena Cross.”
“And what do you want?”
“Viktor Voss.”
“So does everyone.”
Helena almost smiled.
“You’re different from the reports.”
“What reports?”
“The psychological evaluations Grant commissioned.”
Sera’s blood cooled.
Helena placed a folder on the table.
Sera did not touch it.
“Grant documented everything about you,” Helena said. “Triggers. Fears. Medication history. Sleep patterns.”
“Grant lied.”
“Often.”
“You believed him?”
“Once.”
Sera studied her.
“You worked for him.”
“For his father.”
That explained the scar.
The discipline.
The access.
“What happens if Damen gives you Viktor?”
“Viktor dies.”
“And me?”
“You go home.”
“No.”
Helena’s eyebrow lifted.
“No?”
“You’ll kill me too.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve seen your face.”
Helena smiled.
“Margaret’s daughter.”
The compliment felt like a threat.
“What did my mother do to you?”
“She destroyed my life.”
Sera remained silent.
Helena pulled back her collar.
The scar beneath her ear continued down her neck.
“Your mother gave evidence to an internal investigator. Charles believed I had betrayed him.”
“He did that?”
“Yes.”
“And somehow you blame my mother?”
“I blamed everyone for a long time.”
“Then why are you still protecting Charles’s network?”
Helena’s expression shifted.
“I’m not.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Killing it.”
Sera stared.
Helena had murdered Charles.
The realization must have shown.
“Yes,” Helena said. “Charles died by my hand.”
“Why?”
“Because after thirty years, I finally stopped being afraid of him.”
The words landed between them.
Sera understood them too well.
“Then why Viktor?”
“Because Viktor helped build the machine.”
“And Damen?”
“Collateral.”
Sera stepped forward.
“You chose the wrong man for collateral.”
Helena laughed.
“Still defending him?”
“I’m warning you.”
Meanwhile, sixty miles away, Damen Voss was dismantling Boston one phone call at a time.
Every harbor camera.
Every toll booth.
Every private airfield.
Every police scanner.
Every criminal informant.
He wanted Sera’s location.
Nothing else mattered.
Viktor sat across from him in a safehouse.
“You cannot give me to them.”
Damen slowly looked up.
“My wife is missing because of you.”
“If Helena gets me, she gets the codes.”
“What codes?”
“Access keys to the network’s reserve accounts.”
“How much?”
“Approximately eight hundred million dollars.”
Damen’s expression didn’t change.
“I don’t care.”
“You should. That money funds people who can destroy governments.”
“I said I don’t care.”
Viktor leaned forward.
“If you trade me for Sera, Helena gains everything.”
Damen stood.
“I would trade every dollar on this continent for my wife.”
Viktor stared at him.
Then something softened.
“You really do love her.”
Damen grabbed his father by the collar.
“If she has one bruise when I find her, you and I are going to have a very different conversation.”
Marcus entered despite his bandaged shoulder.
“Found something.”
Damen released Viktor.
“What?”
“The call bounced through six towers, but there was background noise.”
He played the recording.
Sera’s faint voice.
Then a horn.
Three notes.
Damen listened.
Again.
A ship horn.
Marcus nodded.
“Fog signal pattern. Active harbor.”
“Boston?”
“No.”
Marcus pulled up a map.
“New Bedford.”
Damen reached for his coat.
Viktor stood.
“Damen.”
He turned.
His father tossed him a key.
“What is this?”
“Warehouse seventeen.”
“Why?”
Viktor’s face darkened.
“Because Helena used to run operations from there.”
Damen looked at the key.
Then at his father.
“If this is a trap—”
“It probably is.”
Damen almost smiled.
For the first time, they looked like father and son.
Then Damen walked out.
Back in the concrete room, Sera sat across from Helena.
A phone on the table suddenly vibrated.
Helena answered.
Her face changed.
“What?”
She stood.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Move her.”
Sera’s pulse jumped.
Helena looked at her.
“Your husband found us.”
Sera smiled.
Not because she was safe.
May you like
Not yet.
But because for the first time since being taken, Helena Cross looked afraid.
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