Chapter 11 - THE COST OF TRUTH
I ran to the phone. “Daddy?”
“Mia.” His voice was rough, breathless, but alive. “Thank God. You’re safe.”
“Are you hurt? Where is Mommy?”
A pause that stretched too long. “She’s here. She’s alive. But… Mia, listen to me carefully. Voss escaped. He broke through the perimeter before we could seal it off.”
My heart sank. “He got away?”
“He did. And he took men with him. Men who are loyal only to him.” Daddy took a breath. “Vanessa is with you?”
“Yes.”
“Good. She knows more than any of us. Listen to her. Nolan too. But Mia… be careful. Voss didn’t just escape. He left a message. For you.”
My throat tightened. “What did he say?”
“That he’s coming. That he doesn’t need to force you to speak the words anymore. That you’ll come to him voluntarily. Because he has something you want.”
I gripped the phone. “What does he have?”
“He didn’t say. But Mia… stay where you are. Don’t leave the safe house. No matter what happens. No matter what anyone tells you. Wait for me. I’m coming.”
“Daddy—”
“I have to go. Stay safe, sweetheart. I love you.”
The line went dead.
I handed the phone back to Nolan. My hands were shaking.
Vanessa stepped forward. “What did he say?”
“That Voss is coming. And that we won’t have a choice.” I looked at them both. “What does he have?”
Nolan exchanged a heavy look with Vanessa. “We don’t know. But we do know one thing. Voss lost his hold on the trust today. Between the recording, the confession, and Elias’s letter… his legal claim is gone.”
“Which means,” Vanessa said, “he can’t take it through the courts. He can’t force you to sign anything. He can’t touch a penny.”
“So he’s going to try another way,” I said.
“Exactly. He needs you to volunteer. To speak the words because you want to. Or because you have no other choice.” Vanessa sat down beside me. “Which means he’s going to take something from you. Something precious. And he’ll say: speak the words, or lose it forever.”
I thought about Daddy. About Mommy. About everything we had already lost.
“I won’t do it,” I said. “I won’t speak the words. No matter what he takes.”
Vanessa reached out and touched my hand. “That’s exactly what Elias counted on. He knew you’d be brave. He knew you’d choose what was right over what was easy.” She stood and walked to the window. “But Voss knows you too. He’s watched you for months. He knows what you love. He knows who you love.”
The rest of the day passed in a blur. Nolan secured the house—checking every window, every door, every corner. Vanessa organized the documents, making copies, securing them in different locations. I sat by the fire, thinking.
Late that night, while Vanessa and Nolan were talking quietly in the next room, I heard a sound outside. Not a footstep. Not a voice. Something else.
A melody. Familiar. Old. Sung softly into the night.
I stood up and walked to the window.
Standing in the shadows beneath the porch light was a woman. She looked tired. Worn. But she was singing.
And I knew that voice.
I unlocked the door and stepped outside before I could think.
“Grandma?”
She stopped singing. She looked up, her face pale in the moonlight. She had been crying.
“Hello, Mia.”
I stared. My grandmother—Mommy’s mother—had lived three states away. I had seen her only twice in my life. She was not supposed to be here.
“Grandma… what are you doing here?”
She took a step forward. “I came to see you, sweetheart. Voss sent for me. He said… he said if I didn’t bring you to him… he would hurt your grandfather.”
My blood ran cold. “Grandma… don’t go near him. He’s not who he says he is.”
“I know that, Mia.” She reached into her coat and pulled out a small, folded piece of paper. “Which is why I came to warn you. And to give you this.”
She handed it to me. Her hands were trembling.
“Voss doesn’t just want the words, Mia. He wants to destroy everything Elias built. He wants to burn the trust to the ground. And he’s going to use me to make you do it.” She touched my face gently. “I’m sorry, Mia. I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
Before she could answer, a gunshot rang out.
She fell forward. I caught her, barely able to hold her weight. Blood bloomed dark across her coat.
From the darkness, Voss stepped into the light. Holding a silencer-equipped pistol. Smiling.
“Good evening, Mia.”
I cradled my grandmother in my arms. She was breathing shallowly. Her eyes were glazing over.
“Voss…” I whispered, horrified. “You shot her.”
“She was compromised.” Voss stepped closer. “She came here to betray me. Just like Vanessa. Just like everyone else.” He gestured to the note in my hand. “Read it, Mia. Read it and understand.”
I unfolded the paper. In Voss’s handwriting:
*“Bring the girl to me or her grandmother dies. Once she speaks the words… the old woman is free to go.”*
I looked up at him, tears spilling over. “You lied.”
“Of course I did.” Voss sighed. “People do what they’re told only when they believe there’s hope. Remove hope… and they do what is necessary.” He gestured to my grandmother. “She chose to die rather than betray you. How noble. How foolish.”
My grandmother gripped my hand. She pulled me close, whispering weakly:
“Words… not enough. There is a second part… Elias told me… told me only me…”
Her voice faded. Her hand went limp.
Voss stepped forward and snatched the paper from my fingers. He glanced at it, then at her body.
“Typical. Always one last secret.” He looked at me. “What did she say, Mia? What was the second part?”
I said nothing. I gripped my grandmother’s cold hand and stared at him with all the hatred I had inside me.
Voss studied me. Then he smiled.
“Fine. Keep your secret. It changes nothing. I have your father. I have your mother. And by morning… I will have you.” He took a step back. “Think about it, Mia. By sunrise… they die unless you come to me. And when you do… you will speak the words. All of them. Even the ones I don’t know.”
He vanished back into the shadows.
Behind me, the door burst open. Nolan and Vanessa ran out. They saw my grandmother. They saw me.
Vanessa knelt beside her, checking for a pulse. Then she looked up at Nolan, shaking her head slowly.
Nolan drew his weapon and scanned the darkness. “He’s gone.”
Vanessa turned to me. “Mia… what did she tell you?”
I looked down at my grandmother’s face. At the peace that had finally settled there.
“She said the words aren’t enough,” I whispered. “There’s a second part. Something Elias told only her. Something Voss doesn’t know.”
Vanessa exchanged a look with Nolan. “Then we have an advantage. One he can’t take away.”
“But he has Mommy and Daddy,” I said. “And he’s going to kill them at sunrise.”
Nolan looked at his watch. “Four hours until sunrise. We have four hours to find him, rescue your parents, and end this.”
“And if we don’t?” Vanessa asked quietly.
May you like
I looked at my grandmother’s body. At the darkness beyond the porch. At everything Voss had already taken from us.
“Then I go to him,” I said. “I speak the words. And while he’s celebrating… I give him the second part. The part that destroys him.”
