Chapter 9 - THE PRICE OF A HUSBAND
The livestream ended after forty-seven seconds.
Elias replayed it three times.
“The building in Queens is a decoy,” he said.
“How do you know?”
“The room has museum-grade humidity controls.”
Mara studied the metal vents behind Julian.
“He is still inside Halcyon.”
Amelia looked toward her.
“The museum has been searched.”
“The public galleries have been searched.”
Mara remembered the original freight elevator.
“The hidden archive is not the only sealed room.”
Elias contacted the officers at the museum.
They found no sign of Beatrice, Julian, or Lena Ellison.
Every visible exit had been monitored since midnight.
That meant they had never left.
Mara unfolded the copy of the reversion clause Amelia had received.
“This is what Beatrice wants.”
“She wants ownership?” Elias asked.
“She already controls the board.”
“She wants the land,” Amelia said.
“The land is worth nearly two billion dollars.”
Mara looked at the final page.
A small symbol appeared beside Gabriel’s signature.
It resembled the broken wheel carried by Saint Aurelia.
“My father added a condition.”
Amelia leaned closer.
“I do not see one.”
“It is not written into this copy.”
Mara remembered the statue in the hidden archive.
Broken things revealed the path out.
“Gabriel hid part of the clause.”
Sebastian entered the interview room under police escort.
His wrists were cuffed.
Elias had arrested him for falsifying his death and avoiding subpoenas in the original trafficking investigation.
Sebastian looked exhausted.
“Beatrice wants you to bring the clause because she cannot activate the trust without the original seal.”
“What seal?” Mara asked.
“Your father’s signet.”
“I do not have it.”
“Yes, you do.”
Sebastian looked toward her evening bag, which sat among the evidence on the table.
“The silver clasp.”
Mara stared at the bag.
The clasp had belonged to Gabriel.
She had carried it for years.
An officer opened the evidence package.
Mara examined the clasp.
A tiny wheel was engraved beneath the hinge.
Amelia understood first.
“The seal is built into it.”
Sebastian nodded.
“Beatrice needs the seal to transfer the property.”
“Why would she believe I would trade it for Julian?”
“Because she still believes you love him.”
Mara looked at Julian’s frozen image on the screen.
Love had not disappeared cleanly.
It had rotted.
Pieces of it remained inside memories that now embarrassed her.
The night Julian stayed beside her father’s hospital bed.
The mornings he brought coffee into the conservation studio.
The winter he promised that Mara would never face grief alone again.
Those moments may have been calculated.
Her feelings had not been.
That was the cruelest part.
“I will bring the seal,” Mara said.
Amelia stood.
“No.”
“We need Beatrice to reveal the room.”
“You are not entering that museum as bait.”
“I am already bait.”
Elias looked at the livestream image.
“We can track the next transmission.”
“Beatrice will expect that.”
“She cannot block everything.”
“She has blocked you since last night.”
Elias did not deny it.
Mara looked toward Sebastian.
“How many hidden rooms did my father build?”
“Four.”
“You showed us one.”
“I knew the location of one.”
“Who knew the others?”
“Your mother.”
The room went silent.
Mara understood.
Lena had not been Beatrice’s prisoner in the window.
She was the person guiding Beatrice through Gabriel’s hidden architecture.
Mara placed the clasp in her palm.
“I need to speak with my mother alone.”
“You cannot control who answers the next call,” Elias said.
“No.”
Mara closed her fingers around the seal.
“But I know how to make her call.”
She asked Nora to contact every news station covering the gala.
Within twelve minutes, Mara stood before the precinct cameras.
She wore the same black gown.
Her hair was wet from the rain.
Her face showed no panic.
“Beatrice Ashcroft has demanded that I exchange control of the Halcyon Museum for Julian Vale’s life.”
Reporters shouted questions.
Mara raised one hand.
“Before I agree, I have one condition.”
She looked into the nearest camera.
“My mother must tell me what happened to my father.”
The broadcast ended.
For nine minutes, nothing happened.
Then a phone rang inside the interview room.
The caller identification displayed one name.
MOM.
Mara answered.
A woman breathed on the other end.
“Mara.”
Her mother’s voice was older than memory.
Mara closed her eyes.
“Did Beatrice kill Dad?”
Lena began to cry.
“No.”
“Did Julian?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
A long silence followed.
May you like
When Lena answered, her words destroyed the final piece of Mara’s childhood.
“I did.”
