Chapter 7 - The Night They Came for Mia
“Commissioner Mercer,” Sophia whispered.
His laugh came through the speaker.
Vincent shot the camera.
They escaped through a service passage built into the mansion walls.
Vincent had never told Sophia it existed.
“Your house has secret tunnels?”
“My father was paranoid.”
“For once I'm grateful.”
They reached an underground garage.
Vincent moved Sophia and Mia into an armored SUV while Marco coordinated a rescue for Rosa.
But Mia suddenly cried, “Fox!”
Her stuffed fox was gone.
“We'll buy another,” Sophia said.
“No! Daddy Fox!”
Sophia froze.
“Why do you call it that?”
Mia sniffed.
“Because Daddy talks.”
Vincent turned.
“What?”
Mia explained that sometimes when she squeezed the stuffed fox, “Daddy” made noises.
Sophia pulled it from the emergency bag—Marco had grabbed it after all.
Vincent examined the toy.
Inside its stitched belly was a tiny voice recorder.
Sophia stared.
She had bought the fox before Daniel died.
Daniel had modified it.
They played the files.
Most contained Mia’s baby noises.
Daniel laughing.
Sophia singing badly in the kitchen.
Then the final recording began.
Daniel’s voice.
He was breathing hard.
“Adrian thinks Mercer ordered it. Mercer thinks Adrian ordered it. They're both being played.”
Vincent leaned closer.
“The person who sabotaged Harbor Point was never either of them.”
A metallic noise sounded.
Daniel whispered:
“Camilla.”
Sophia looked up.
Daniel continued.
“She learned everything from Anthony Castellano. She built accounts neither Mercer nor Adrian knew existed.”
Vincent’s face hardened.
“She used her father’s badge. Adrian’s contacts. Vincent’s companies. Everybody blamed everybody else.”
Daniel inhaled.
“If I don't make it, the proof is in the original Harbor Point foundation inspection. Page forty-seven. Vincent will know where.”
Recording ended.
Vincent did know.
The original documents were stored beneath Harbor Point itself, in a fireproof project archive never digitized.
They now knew what Camilla wanted destroyed.
And why she needed the ledger first.
Vincent could flee with Sophia.
Instead, Sophia insisted they finish Daniel’s work.
“You have Mia to think about.”
“That's exactly why.”
Vincent stared at her.
“I won't let her grow up wondering why her father died.”
He nodded.
“Then we finish it.”
Federal agents coordinated secretly.
Marco rescued Rosa and her son from an abandoned property.
Meanwhile Vincent, Sophia and a small team entered Harbor Point.
The archive room lay below the building.
They found page forty-seven.
Camilla Mercer’s signature.
Authorization for defective material.
A second document connected her shell corporation to the payments.
Sophia photographed everything.
Then the archive door slammed.
Locked.
Smoke entered through the ventilation system.
Vincent tried the door.
“Camilla.”
Sophia coughed.
Fire alarms began.
“They're burning the archive.”
Vincent found an emergency hatch.
Bolted.
He smashed it repeatedly with a fire extinguisher.
Sophia’s vision blurred.
“Vincent.”
“Stay awake.”
He broke one bolt.
Then another.
Smoke thickened.
Sophia fell.
Vincent caught her.
“Not today.”
He forced the hatch open and pushed her through.
They crawled into a maintenance tunnel seconds before flames entered the archive.
Outside, federal agents secured the evidence Sophia had transmitted.
Camilla had failed.
But Vincent’s phone rang.
Marco.
Vincent answered.
His expression emptied.
“What?”
Sophia knew before he spoke.
“Mia.”
Vincent closed his eyes.
Sophia grabbed him.
“What about Mia?”
Marco’s voice was audible through the phone.
“She’s gone.”
Sophia stopped breathing.
“Rosa was unconscious when we found her. The safe-house window was open.”
Then Marco said the words that destroyed what remained of Sophia’s composure.
“Camilla took Mia.”
A text arrived.
One photograph.
Mia sat in a chair holding her stuffed fox.
Behind her stood Camilla.
May you like
And beneath the photograph were six words:
BRING VINCENT. TRADE HIM FOR THE GIRL.
