Chapter 45 - The Tunnel Roman Forgot
Roman knew every tunnel beneath the estate.
He had used them during wars.
Escapes.
Ambushes.
He had sealed most after Sofia was born.
Rebecca knew one he had forgotten.
Catherine led them toward the greenhouse.
“There used to be a servants’ rail tunnel.”
Roman stared.
“Rail?”
“Your grandfather installed carts to move supplies between the estate and old shoreline storage.”
Marcus pulled up historical blueprints.
Nothing.
Catherine shook her head.
“Those plans were never filed.”
“Where does it exit?” Clara demanded.
“Three miles north.”
They ran.
Roman drove himself.
Clara beside him.
Marcus followed.
At the abandoned shoreline depot they found the tunnel exit open.
Sofia’s scarf lay on the ground.
Roman picked it up.
His hand shook.
Clara touched him.
“They’re alive.”
“How do you know?”
“Rebecca wants them symbolic.”
Roman looked at her.
“That is not comforting.”
“No.”
They searched the depot.
A message waited on the wall.
NOT YOURS TO INHERIT.
Beneath it, a train schedule.
Marcus studied it.
“Freight line.”
Catherine gasped.
“Samuel loved trains.”
Roman looked at her.
“Focus.”
“I am.”
She pointed to a route.
“This line reaches Bellweather’s original property.”
“Where?”
“Vermont.”
Rhodes called state authorities.
No immediate assault.
Rebecca knew legal structures and surveillance.
She might have prepared false kidnapping narratives.
Clara asked, “Meaning?”
Rhodes’s voice came through speaker.
“Meaning she could claim she rescued the children from imminent danger.”
Roman nearly threw the phone.
Clara stopped him.
“Emily, can she legally move them?”
“Not legally. But with forged emergency documents, she can delay intervention.”
Roman stared out the windshield.
Delay.
Every hour mattered.
Sofia was eight.
Smart.
Observant.
She had grown up around adults who planned for danger even when they pretended not to.
Roman suddenly looked at Clara.
“Her watch.”
Clara’s eyes widened.
Sofia wore a simple digital watch.
A birthday gift from Adrian.
Except Marcus had modified it.
Emergency beacon.
Marcus checked.
“No signal.”
Roman’s hope died.
Then Marcus smiled.
“But Sofia knows the manual burst code.”
One burst every hour, only if she pressed the side button for ten seconds.
They waited.
9:00.
Nothing.
10:00.
Nothing.
Roman paced.
10:03.
A signal appeared.
One second.
Coordinates.
Moving north.
Roman closed his eyes.
“My girl.”
Clara smiled through tears.
They tracked the signal.
A black passenger van.
State police prepared roadblocks.
Roman refused.
“She has my children inside. No forced stop.”
Rhodes agreed.
They followed from distance.
At noon, the van entered a mountain property.
Bellweather Lodge.
Rebecca’s childhood home.
Roman wanted immediate entry.
Clara stopped him.
“She expects that.”
“I don’t care.”
“She expects you angry.”
“I am angry.”
“Exactly.”
Marcus showed thermal imaging.
Rebecca.
Two guards.
Two children.
No visible explosives.
Catherine insisted on going in.
Roman refused.
“This is about me,” Catherine said.
“She kidnapped my children.”
“Because she thinks I abandoned her.”
Clara looked at Catherine.
“Did you?”
Catherine’s eyes filled.
“I thought she died.”
“How?”
“After Samuel’s death, his family took Rebecca. I searched for months. Then Antonio told me she had died during a pneumonia outbreak.”
Roman’s face changed.
“My father lied again.”
Catherine nodded.
“He needed me at the estate. He needed someone loyal to Sofia. To you.”
Roman looked sick.
Antonio had stolen Catherine’s family to strengthen his own.
Rebecca had spent a lifetime believing Catherine chose the Ducas.
Clara whispered, “She built everything on a lie.”
Roman looked toward the lodge.
“Then we tell her.”
Inside, Sofia watched Rebecca prepare lunch.
Antonio whispered, “Dad’s coming.”
Sofia nodded.
“I know.”
“How?”
“He always comes.”
Rebecca heard.
She turned.
“Your father cannot solve everything.”
Sofia looked at her calmly.
“My dad says that too.”
Rebecca seemed surprised.
Sofia continued.
“He says Mom is usually better at solving things.”
Antonio nodded.
“Mom is scary.”
Rebecca almost smiled.
Then the front bell rang.
One of the guards checked the camera.
Only Catherine stood outside.
Rebecca froze.
Catherine held no weapon.
She looked directly into the lens.
“Rebecca.”
The older woman’s face cracked.
Catherine whispered through the intercom.
“I didn’t leave you.”
Rebecca stared.
Catherine’s eyes filled.
“I thought you were dead.”
May you like
For the first time, Rebecca Vale lost control.
And outside in the trees, Roman waited for the moment grief became stronger than anger.
