Chapter 6 - The Message Hidden Behind the Frame
The woman at the gate was not Isabella.
She was younger.
Early forties.
Terrified.
Her name was Mara Voss.
She had worked as a nurse at St. Vincent’s the night Daniel died.
Elias brought her inside.
Mara looked at Adeline and began crying.
“I’m sorry.”
Adeline stiffened.
“For what?”
“I left him alone.”
Mara explained that Daniel had been recovering.
Weak, but stable.
Then Rourke arrived.
Minutes later, alarms sounded.
By the time Mara returned, Daniel was dead.
“Did Rourke kill him?” Elias asked.
“I didn’t see it.”
“Who did?”
Mara looked at Bruno.
“Isabella.”
Elias stared.
“My mother watched?”
“She was hiding in the next room.”
“Where is she now?”
Mara shook her head.
“She contacted me yesterday. Told me to come here if Elias found the photograph.”
Adeline produced it.
Mara removed the frame backing and peeled away a thin second layer.
A microSD card dropped out.
Daniel had hidden it so well even Adeline had missed it.
Evan loaded the card.
Video appeared.
Harbor Nine.
Three years earlier.
Rourke stood beside Cormac Haverin.
They were not enemies.
They were partners.
The supposed war had been manufactured.
Routes leaked intentionally.
Attacks staged.
Men on both sides killed to enrich the two leaders controlling the conflict.
Then Daniel appeared on camera.
He had accidentally recorded them.
Adeline covered her mouth.
Her father had died because he saw too much.
Another file showed Sebastian Baron.
Alive.
Arguing with Rourke years earlier.
“You are not turning my son into this.”
Rourke replied, “He isn’t your son.”
Elias froze.
The recording continued.
Sebastian hit Rourke.
“You may have given him blood. I gave him a name.”
Elias stepped away from the screen.
Rourke was his biological father.
Sebastian had known.
Raised him anyway.
Protected him.
And apparently died for it.
The final file showed Isabella.
Older.
Recorded six months earlier.
“Elias, if you are seeing this, Daniel’s children found you. Protect them. Rourke will destroy anyone who can prove what he built.”
She looked directly into the camera.
“And do not come looking for me.”
The video ended.
Elias stood in silence.
Adeline approached.
“You don’t have to deal with all of this tonight.”
He laughed softly.
“Your father was murdered because of my family.”
“My father made his own choice.”
“He saved me.”
“Yes.”
“And I did nothing for you.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have.”
Adeline looked at him.
“You followed your maid across Boston because she stole bread. You’re not exactly skilled at letting mysteries go.”
He almost smiled.
Then Evan interrupted.
“There’s more.”
A hidden file had just decrypted.
A map.
A location outside Boston.
And a scheduled timestamp.
Tonight.
Mara recognized it.
“That’s where Isabella is.”
Before Elias could respond, every light in Baron House went out.
Emergency power failed too.
Bruno drew his weapon.
Then a voice came through the dark hallway.
Rourke’s voice.
“Son.”
May you like
Elias turned toward the door.
It was already opening.
