Chapter 4 - The Cousin Who Knew Too Much
The metal box contained twenty-three documents.
Vincent counted them twice.
Lena watched him from the farmhouse kitchen table while rain struck the windows.
Marcus stood near the back door, speaking quietly into his phone.
Every few minutes, Lena checked her own phone.
Still nothing from Sophie.
The silence felt unbearable.
Vincent opened the first document.
It was a laboratory report dated fifteen years earlier.
The pages described experimental botanical compounds, corporate payments, and unauthorized transfers from Blackthorn Research.
Several entries had been circled in red.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Nathaniel Calder.
Nathan.
Lena leaned forward.
“Your cousin?”
Vincent nodded.
“He was twenty-four when this was written.”
“Was he working at the laboratory?”
“He handled investments for my father.”
She looked at another document.
“This says someone transferred twelve million dollars into an offshore account.”
Vincent's jaw tightened.
“That's what my father was investigating before he died.”
Lena's eyes moved across the page.
“And Nathan authorized it?”
“His signature is here.”
“Then why didn't anyone investigate him?”
“Because after the fire, Nathan claimed the records had been destroyed.”
Vincent stared at the signature.
“For fifteen years, he told me my father died because of an electrical accident.”
Lena studied him.
“Did you believe him?”
“He was my brother in everything but blood.”
There was pain in his voice.
Not theatrical.
Not loud.
Just the quiet devastation of someone realizing that the person he trusted most might have been lying for half his life.
Marcus approached.
“We found the van.”
Lena stood immediately.
“Where?”
“An abandoned warehouse near the old freight terminal.”
“Was Sophie there?”
Marcus hesitated.
“No. But there were signs someone had been held there.”
Vincent rose.
“Send the photographs to me.”
Marcus showed him images of the warehouse.
A chair.
Rope.
A disposable coffee cup.
And a pink shoelace.
Lena recognized it instantly.
“That's hers.”
Vincent placed a hand on her shoulder.
“We're getting closer.”
She pulled away.
“Closer isn't enough.”
“I know.”
“No, you don't.”
Her voice broke.
“You have guards, cars, money, people who answer when you call. Sophie has nobody except me.”
Vincent absorbed the words without interrupting.
Then he said, “She has me now.”
Lena wanted to believe him.
That frightened her more than anything.
Because believing Vincent Calder meant trusting a man whose world had already destroyed so many lives.
Marcus's phone rang again.
He answered.
Then his expression hardened.
“Sir, Nathan is asking why you left the estate.”
Vincent smiled without humor.
“Tell him I went to visit a woman.”
Lena stared.
“A woman?”
“It will annoy him.”
“This isn't funny.”
“No,” Vincent agreed. “It isn't.”
He turned toward Marcus.
“Keep Nathan occupied. I want to know who he calls when he thinks I'm distracted.”
Marcus nodded.
The next morning, Lena returned to Calder Estate under heavy security.
Vincent insisted she stay in the east guest wing.
She protested.
He ignored the protest.
When she entered the suite, she discovered a bedroom larger than her entire apartment.
Fresh flowers stood beside the window.
A tray of breakfast waited on the table.
And hanging inside the closet were six new outfits.
All in her size.
Lena stared at them.
Then she marched downstairs.
Vincent was speaking with his attorney when she entered his study.
“Why are there clothes in my room?”
His attorney blinked.
Vincent didn't.
“Because you arrived without luggage.”
“I didn't ask you to buy me a wardrobe.”
“Would you prefer to wear the same uniform for three days?”
“That isn't the point.”
“Then explain the point.”
Lena crossed her arms.
“The point is that you don't get to make decisions about my life just because you have money.”
Vincent considered that.
Then he looked at his attorney.
“Give us a moment.”
The attorney left.
Vincent approached Lena.
“You're right.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“I should have asked.”
Her anger lost its footing.
“That was surprisingly easy.”
“I've been told I can learn.”
“By whom?”
“No one recently.”
Despite herself, she smiled.
Vincent noticed.
For one strange second, the room felt different.
Less like a fortress.
More like a place where two exhausted people might eventually understand each other.
Then Lena's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered immediately.
“Hello?”
A familiar voice whispered, “Lena?”
Her heart stopped.
“Sophie?”
“Please don't hang up.”
Lena grabbed the desk.
“Where are you?”
“I don't know. They moved me.”
“Are you hurt?”
A pause.
“Not badly.”
Vincent silently activated the call recording on his desk system.
Lena tried to keep her voice steady.
“Listen to me. We're going to find you.”
Sophie began crying.
“Lena, there's something you need to know.”
“What?”
“The man who took me—he said he knew Grandma.”
Lena looked at Vincent.
“What man?”
Sophie lowered her voice.
“He said Grandma stole something from him fifteen years ago.”
A door slammed in the background.
Sophie gasped.
Then she whispered one final sentence.
“He called himself Uncle Nathan.”
The call ended.
Lena slowly lowered the phone.
Vincent's expression had become frighteningly calm.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then he turned toward Marcus.
“Bring my cousin to me.”
Marcus reached for his radio.
May you like
But Vincent raised one hand.
“Alive.”
