CHAPTER 22 — THE CHAPEL BENEATH THE SEA
Claire ignored Margaret’s warning.
The old Vane estate stood on a cliff overlooking North Harbor. The mansion had burned thirty-two years earlier, leaving only stone walls, a collapsed tower, and a private chapel that faced the sea.
Cole parked below the cliffs.
Rebecca joined them through a secured video connection. She had not yet risked leaving her motel.
“The signal from Margaret’s photograph came from this property,” she said.
Elaine examined the Number Nine key.
“The chapel has no visible locks.”
“The visible chapel does not,” Cole replied.
They entered through a broken side door.
Salt air moved through the ruined sanctuary.
At the altar, Claire found the same symbol carved into the floor.
Three waves.
A broken crown.
She inserted the key into the center of the crown.
The stone altar moved aside.
A spiral staircase descended beneath the cliff.
At the bottom waited a circular chamber.
Margaret stood beside a locked vault.
Mason leaned against the wall, holding his wounded side.
Claire aimed her gun at them.
“Step away from the case.”
Margaret looked exhausted.
“You should not have come.”
“You left with six vials carrying my daughter’s name.”
“They do not contain Lily’s blood.”
“What do they contain?”
“Failed samples created to make Sarah believe the succession program had continued.”
Mason opened the case.
Each vial was filled with colored water.
Claire lowered the weapon slightly.
“Why deceive Sarah?”
“Because she is watching every move we make,” Margaret said. “Including this one.”
A red light blinked above the vault.
Cole shot the camera.
Margaret placed her hand against the metal door.
“Sarah and I once worked together.”
Claire stared at her.
“We believed Gray Tide had stolen North Harbor from the Vane family. We planned to expose the fraud and return the land to its rightful owners.”
“What changed?”
“Sarah stopped caring who had to be sacrificed.”
Margaret looked at Lily.
“She began the genetic program.”
“She used her own son,” Cole said.
“Yes.”
“You knew she was my mother.”
“I helped hide you from her.”
Cole’s face tightened.
“You failed.”
“No. I succeeded for twelve years. Then Sarah found you after the shooting.”
Mason inserted the Number Nine key into the vault.
Inside lay an old deed, a handwritten ledger, and a sealed envelope addressed to Claire.
Margaret took the deed.
“This proves the Bennett companies never owned North Harbor.”
Claire opened the envelope.
The first page contained her father’s handwriting.
Claire,
If you are reading this, I failed to stop Sarah.
The second page had been torn away.
A timer began beeping beneath the vault.
Mason’s face changed.
“Bomb.”
He grabbed Lily.
Cole pulled Claire toward the stairs.
Margaret took the ledger.
The explosion destroyed the chamber.
The force threw them into the lower passage.
Water poured through cracks in the cliff.
Mason shielded Lily with his body.
Cole dragged Elaine upward.
Claire searched through smoke.
“Mom!”
Margaret crawled from beneath fallen stone.
The deed was burning in her hands.
Claire extinguished it against the wet floor, but half the names had already disappeared.
Only one signature remained visible.
Peter Bennett.
Her father.
They escaped as seawater flooded the underground chamber.
Outside, Margaret collapsed on the grass.
Claire held the damaged deed in front of her.
“Why did my father sign the transfer?”
Margaret looked toward the ruined chapel.
“He was protecting you.”
“From Sarah?”
“No.”
Margaret’s voice broke.
“From me.”
Claire stepped back.
Margaret removed a blackened photograph from the ledger.
It showed Peter’s car on the night of Margaret’s crash.
Peter stood beside the driver’s door.
A gasoline can rested at his feet.
Margaret whispered, “Your father was alive the night everyone thought I died.”
May you like
She looked at Claire.
“And he was the one who caused the crash.”
