Chapter 6 - Clara’s Choice
For twelve minutes, I believed Dominic had taken my daughter.
Those were the longest twelve minutes of my life.
Then Nathan found the note.
It was folded beneath the passenger seat.
His name was written on it.
Not mine.
Nathan opened it.
I’m sorry. If I tell Mom, she’ll stop me. Dominic sent instructions through an old email account. He says he’ll trade the evidence about Dad for me. Track the medal. I know you will. — Clara
Nathan swore.
I had never heard him swear before.
“She knew the medal had a tracker?”
“Yes.”
“And you let her know?”
“I told her because she asked whether we could use it as bait.”
I turned on him.
“She is eight months pregnant.”
“I know.”
“You were supposed to protect her.”
His face tightened.
“So were you.”
The words struck hard.
Then he added quietly:
“And neither of us can protect an adult by taking away her choices.”
I wanted to hate him.
Instead, I knew he was right.
Clara had spent two years being controlled.
I could not respond by controlling her differently.
But I could still be furious.
“Find my daughter.”
“We will.”
The tracker moved south toward the waterfront.
Nathan’s team followed at a distance.
Clara had taken a rideshare to an abandoned marina.
Dominic’s instructions told her to enter warehouse seventeen alone.
The tracker stopped there.
Federal teams surrounded the area.
Nathan prepared to go inside.
“So am I.”
“No.”
“Nathan.”
“No.”
“I am a witness and her mother.”
“You’re also the person Dominic may want most.”
“Exactly.”
He stared at me.
Then something unexpected passed through his expression.
Fear.
Not professional concern.
Personal fear.
“Victoria, if something happens to you—”
He stopped.
Neither of us finished the sentence.
This was not the moment.
Maybe there would never be one.
He handed me a vest.
“Stay behind me.”
Inside warehouse seventeen, we found Clara sitting alone beneath a hanging work light.
She looked furious.
Not frightened.
“Mom?”
I nearly crushed her when I hugged her.
“Where is he?”
“He never came.”
Nathan scanned the warehouse.
“It was a diversion.”
Clara shook her head.
“No. He called.”
Her phone lay on the floor.
Nathan picked it up.
“From where?”
“I don’t know. He said he wanted me to understand something.”
“What?”
Clara looked at me.
“He said Dad was alive after the crash.”
The warehouse became silent.
“What?”
“Dominic said Raymond reached the accident before the ambulance.”
My legs almost failed.
Clara continued.
“He said Dad gave Raymond something.”
“The evidence?”
“No.”
“What?”
“A name.”
Nathan asked, “Whose?”
Clara swallowed.
“Peter’s.”
I understood slowly.
Daniel had not been protecting Peter.
He had been identifying him.
Then Clara’s phone rang.
Dominic.
Nathan signaled for everyone to stay silent.
Clara answered on speaker.
“Hello?”
Dominic’s voice filled the warehouse.
“Did you bring your mother?”
Clara looked at me.
“Yes.”
A soft laugh.
“Of course you did.”
I stepped closer.
“Dominic.”
“Judge Sterling.”
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere your warrant doesn’t reach yet.”
“You sound less confident than yesterday.”
“I’m still free.”
“For now.”
He laughed again.
“You always did like the courtroom.”
“And you always mistake delay for victory.”
Silence.
Then his tone changed.
“You want the truth about Daniel?”
“I want you in custody.”
“Peter killed him.”
Across the warehouse, Nathan watched my face.
Dominic continued.
“Raymond ordered it, but Peter caused the crash.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because your brother confessed to me.”
“Then send the recording.”
“I will.”
“What do you want?”
“Clara.”
“No.”
Clara interrupted.
“I’m standing right here, Dominic.”
For the first time, he lost control.
“You should have stayed home.”
Clara’s face hardened.
“You mean your prison?”
“I protected you.”
“You hit me.”
“You pushed me.”
I saw Nathan’s jaw tighten.
Clara remained calm.
“You locked me in a bedroom.”
“You were hysterical.”
“You threatened our baby.”
“I never touched the baby.”
“You made me afraid you would.”
Silence.
Clara’s voice became steady.
“You know what I finally understand?”
“What?”
“You needed me afraid because without fear, you had nothing.”
Dominic breathed into the phone.
Then said:
“You think your mother can save you?”
Clara looked directly at me.
“No.”
My heart caught.
Then she continued.
“I saved myself when I walked out your door.”
Dominic disconnected.
Nathan stared at her.
I had never been prouder.
An agent rushed toward us.
“We traced it.”
“Where?”
“Sterling courthouse annex.”
My blood chilled.
The annex was where sealed evidence from several federal cases was temporarily stored.
Dominic was not fleeing.
He was destroying evidence.
We arrived nine minutes later.
Smoke was already pouring from the underground garage.
Fire alarms screamed.
Federal marshals evacuated the building.
Nathan’s team entered through the west corridor.
I stayed outside with Clara this time.
Then an explosion shook the building.
Windows shattered.
Clara screamed Nathan’s name.
Not “Agent Cole.”
Nathan.
Ten minutes passed.
Then fifteen.
Firefighters emerged carrying an injured agent.
Not him.
I realized my hands were shaking.
Clara looked at me.
“You love him.”
I stared at her.
“This is not the time.”
“That means yes.”
Before I could answer, Nathan emerged through the smoke.
His jacket was torn.
Blood ran from his forehead.
He was carrying a metal evidence case.
I moved toward him before I remembered fifty federal agents were watching.
He stopped in front of me.
“You okay?”
I laughed in disbelief.
“You’re asking me?”
His eyes held mine.
Then Clara cleared her throat.
Nathan stepped back.
“We recovered what Dominic came for.”
He placed the metal case on the hood of an SUV.
Inside were original financial ledgers.
And one old microcassette.
A handwritten label was taped to it.
DANIEL — FINAL CALL.
Nathan looked at me.
“Victoria, you don’t have to listen tonight.”
“Yes.”
I picked up the cassette.
“I do.”
May you like
But when investigators played Daniel’s final recording, it wasn’t Peter’s voice we heard threatening him.
It was mine.
