Chapter 6 - The Night Clare Disappeared
The message came at 2:13 a.m.
You should have stayed afraid.
Vincent stared at the screen.
Clare was asleep upstairs.
Or she had been.
He checked the security cameras.
The bookstore.
Empty.
Her apartment.
Empty.
He called.
No answer.
His pulse dropped.
“Marco.”
“I’m awake.”
“Find Clare.”
“What happened?”
“She disappeared.”
Everything moved within minutes.
Cars.
Security.
Police.
The bookstore was searched.
Her apartment was searched.
Her phone was found in an alley.
Her purse was missing.
There was one bloodstained scarf.
Elena's blue scarf.
Vincent recognized it immediately.
His stomach collapsed.
Then a second message.
Come alone.
He ignored the instruction.
Instead, he called Margaret.
“Does Anthony know where you are?”
“Yes.”
“Then move.”
“What happened?”
“Clare is missing.”
Margaret went silent.
Then she said,
“Find the old church.”
“What church?”
“St. Michael's.”
“Why?”
“That is where Marcus and I planned to meet before he died.”
Vincent knew it.
A closed church on the South Side.
He went there with police.
Inside, they found nothing.
But hidden beneath the altar was another envelope.
Elena's handwriting.
Vincent opened it.
If Clare is gone, Anthony is afraid of what she knows.
Inside was a map.
Three locations circled.
The first was the old South Canal warehouse.
The second was St. Michael's.
The third was a lakeside property.
Vincent understood.
Anthony was moving her.
He drove toward the lake.
The house appeared abandoned.
Lights were visible upstairs.
Police surrounded the property.
Vincent entered through the back.
He found two men.
Then a third.
Then silence.
Finally, a room.
Empty.
A chair.
Rope.
A bloodstain.
And Clare's phone.
Vincent felt something inside him break.
Then he heard movement downstairs.
He ran.
Clare was there.
Alive.
Tied to a chair.
Her face bruised.
But she smiled when she saw him.
“Took you long enough.”
Vincent nearly fell to his knees.
He cut the restraints.
“Are you hurt?”
“I'm angry.”
“That's a good sign.”
“I told them you'd come.”
“You did?”
“I told them you don't know how to leave people behind.”
He pulled her against him.
For a moment neither spoke.
Then Clare whispered,
“Anthony wasn't alone.”
“Who?”
She looked at him.
“Your brother.”
Vincent froze.
“Marcus?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Your other brother.”
Vincent stared.
He had no other brother.
Except—
“Peter?”
His father's illegitimate son.
A man no one discussed.
A man believed to be living in Arizona.
Clare nodded.
“He has been working with Anthony.”
Vincent's jaw tightened.
“Why?”
“Because your father promised him half the family empire.”
“Half?”
“Yes.”
Clare pulled a small flash drive from her coat.
“I stole this.”
Vincent looked at it.
“What is it?”
“Everything.”
They returned to Chicago.
The drive contained financial records.
Recordings.
Photographs.
And a video.
Anthony and Peter discussing the final plan.
Once Vincent marries Clare, he loses control.
So separate them.
Make her disappear.
Destroy her credibility.
Then the trust transfers.
Vincent stared at the screen.
“They wanted me alone.”
“Yes.”
“And after they got control?”
“Peter becomes chairman.”
Vincent laughed bitterly.
“All these years.”
Clare looked at him.
“What?”
“I thought everyone wanted what I had.”
She squeezed his hand.
“Some people wanted what you were.”
He looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
“The man.”
She touched his chest.
“Not the empire.”
The simplicity of the gesture affected him more than any declaration.
Vincent sat beside her.
“I love you.”
Clare froze.
He looked at her.
“I don't know when it happened.”
She smiled faintly.
“I do.”
“When?”
“The first time you laughed and looked annoyed about it.”
He laughed.
“That was the restaurant.”
“Yes.”
Vincent leaned toward her.
Then stopped.
“I don't want to rush you.”
Clare closed the distance.
“Good.”
She kissed him.
It was not dramatic.
It was quiet.
Certain.
And terrifying in the way all genuine things are.
When they separated, Clare whispered,
“Now we finish it.”
The authorities arrested Peter two days later.
Anthony disappeared.
Again.
But this time he left behind one final message.
Meet me where Elena died.
May you like
Vincent knew exactly where.
The hospital.
