Chapter 5 - THE BLACKWOOD BOATHOUSE
The pain in my abdomen flared with every step, a searing reminder that I had given birth less than six hours ago. But the primal terror of losing my son overrode the agony.
Eleanor had stripped off her designer trench coat, wrapping it tightly around my shoulders. I clutched Leo to my chest, the baby bundled safely in the soft velvet blanket.
"The freight elevator at the end of the hall goes directly to the underground loading dock," Celeste whispered, peering through the crack in the door. "The guard outside is distracted on his phone. We move now."
"I’ll distract him further," Eleanor said, her voice steadying with a newfound resolve. She looked at me, a desperate plea for forgiveness in her eyes. "Save your son, Mara. Destroy Victor."
Eleanor stepped out of the room, immediately raising her voice, berating the corrupt agent for a perceived slight.
Celeste and I slipped out, keeping to the shadows of the hospital corridor. Every agonizing step felt like walking on broken glass, but I held Leo tighter and pushed forward. We reached the freight elevator just as the doors to the main passenger elevator opened down the hall.
Through the closing doors of the freight car, I caught a terrifying glimpse of Daniel stepping onto the maternity ward, flanked by two massive men in white medical scrubs. His face was a mask of cold, unhinged fury.
The elevator descended, dumping us into the damp, concrete loading dock. Celeste led me to an idling, unmarked sedan.
"Get in the back," she ordered, jumping into the driver’s seat.
We tore out of the hospital garage, blending into the heavy evening traffic. The rain had started to fall, slicking the city streets with a neon glare.
"Where are we going?" Celeste asked, her eyes darting to the rearview mirror.
"The Blackwood Boathouse," I said, holding up the tiny brass key. "On the north edge of the Ashford estate. The evidence to destroy them is there."
It took forty minutes to reach the perimeter of the estate. Because the FBI had raided the main mansion, the private security force was scattered. Celeste parked the car in a grove of heavy pines half a mile from the property line.
"I can't walk that far," I breathed, the pain in my stomach now a blinding, radiant heat.
"You don't have to," Celeste said. She came around the back, gently taking Leo from my arms. "Lean on me."
Together, we trudged through the muddy, overgrown woods. The rain soaked through Eleanor’s trench coat, chilling me to the bone. Finally, the massive, rotting silhouette of the boathouse loomed against the dark waters of the lake.
The heavy wooden doors were chained shut, but the wood was so decayed that Celeste managed to kick the rotting frame inward, snapping the hinges.
Inside, it smelled of stagnant water, mold, and decades of decay. The moonlight filtered through the broken roof, illuminating an old wooden dock that stretched over the black water inside the structure.
"The parchment said beneath the floorboards," I panted, sinking to my knees on the wooden planks.
Celeste pulled a small flashlight from her pocket. We scoured the planks until I noticed one board near the center that lacked the thick layer of dust covering the rest of the room. It had been moved recently.
Celeste used a rusted crowbar she found in the corner to pry the board up.
Beneath it, embedded in the concrete foundation, was a heavy, iron lockbox.
My hands shook as I inserted the tiny brass key. It turned with a harsh grate of metal. I pulled the heavy lid open.
Inside, wrapped in thick oilcloth, was a vintage, leather-bound journal.
I pulled it out and opened it. The pages were filled with my father’s handwriting, alongside original bank transfers, blackmail letters signed by Victor, and the legal blueprints of the Ashford empire—all bearing my father’s original logistics company seal.
It was the holy grail. The absolute proof that Victor Ashford had built his billions on extortion, theft, and the destruction of my family.
"This is it," I whispered, a fierce, protective fire igniting in my chest. "This gives everything back to Leo. It puts them away forever."
Suddenly, the boathouse was flooded with blinding, high-intensity light.
Headlights from three black SUVs swept across the large, shattered windows of the boathouse, illuminating the interior like daytime.
The deep, heavy slam of car doors echoed through the rain.
May you like
A megaphone crackled to life.
"Come out, Mara," Daniel’s voice echoed over the water, dripping with malicious victory. "There’s nowhere to run. You have my son. And I have the perimeter surrounded."
