Chapter 16 - THE BLUE DECANTER

Federal agents sealed Daria’s mansion before dawn.

The blue decanter was exactly where Elena remembered.

Locked inside a display cabinet in Thomas’s old study.

Chemical analysis found microscopic residue of the same toxin referenced in Daria’s shell-company purchase.

It was not just motive anymore.

It was physical evidence.

Naomi called a judge.

An arrest warrant was approved before sunrise.

But Daria had vanished.

Her attorneys claimed they did not know where she was.

Her bank accounts began moving money overseas.

Luis found the first clue.

A company helicopter had left one of Kincaid Enterprises’ private facilities without filing a route.

Destination unknown.

Catherine stood beside the window holding Penelope.

“She’s running.”

“No,” I said.

“She doesn’t run.”

“What does she do?”

“She comes back for control.”

At 8:17 a.m., my phone rang.

Daria.

Naomi motioned for everyone to stay silent.

I answered.

“Mother.”

A laugh.

“Still calling me that?”

“Old habits.”

“You found Elena.”

“Yes.”

“How touching.”

“Where are you?”

“Somewhere you should remember.”

I looked at Marcus.

He mouthed one word.

Hawthorne.

Daria continued.

“You brought strangers into our family, Samuel. Catherine. Investigators. That woman.”

“That woman gave birth to me.”

“I raised you.”

“You owned me.”

Her voice sharpened.

“I made you.”

“No. You stole me.”

Silence.

Then Penelope laughed softly behind me.

Daria heard it.

“She’s there.”

My stomach tightened.

“Leave my daughter out of this.”

“I tried.”

The line went dead.

Seconds later, alarms sounded across the hotel.

Luis looked at his tablet.

“Another breach.”

Not the penthouse.

The parking garage.

We ran downstairs.

A black SUV smashed through the exit barrier.

Inside the rear seat, someone was struggling.

Catherine reached us, saw the security image and screamed.

“Elena!”

Daria had not run away.

She had taken my biological mother.

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And the SUV was heading north.

Toward Hawthorne Ridge.