Chapter 9 - THEY TOOK SOPHIE
Emma called Sophie.
No answer.
She called again.
Nothing.
The school receptionist said Sophie had left campus twenty minutes earlier after receiving a message that Emma's father had taken a turn for the worse.
Emma had sent no message.
Vincent's security team pulled traffic cameras.
A black SUV had picked Sophie up one block from campus.
Emma turned on Vincent.
"This happened because I'm helping you."
"No," he said. "It happened because they were already watching your family."
"That doesn't make her safer."
He didn't argue.
Emma's phone rang from an unknown number.
Victoria.
"Your sister is fine," she said.
Emma gripped the phone. "Let me hear her."
Sophie came on, crying.
"Emma, I'm sorry. I thought the message was from you."
Then Victoria returned.
"Bring me the tablet and the memory card. Alone."
"Where?"
"The old Lake Street theater. Midnight."
"If you hurt her—"
"Then don't make me wait."
The call ended.
Vincent said, "You're not going alone."
"She'll see your people."
"Then she sees them."
Emma shook her head.
"You don't know Victoria like I do now. She wants control more than money. If she thinks she has control, she'll talk."
Marco prepared a copy of the memory card and embedded a tracker in the tablet casing.
At 11:58, Emma entered the abandoned theater through a side door.
Victoria stood on the stage.
Sophie was tied to a chair behind her.
Dominic stepped out from the wings.
Emma's stomach dropped.
"Give me the tablet," Victoria said.
Emma held it up.
"Release my sister first."
Dominic smiled.
"Still brave. Just like Linda."
Emma froze.
"You knew my mother."
"Very well."
May you like
Then a gunshot cracked from somewhere above the balcony.
Dominic dropped to the floor.
