Chapter 8
Marcus used the crowbar to pry away a false section of plywood at the back of the vault.
Behind it lay a narrow spiral staircase leading upward through the granite rock face.
We climbed the stairs in complete darkness, using only the dim glow of my phone screen to guide our steps.
Five minutes later, we pushed open a rusty iron hatch, stepping out into the cold night air behind Pier 9.
The rain was pouring down in sheets, washing the salt mist from our faces.
In the distance, Grand Haven Resort loomed against the dark sky like a lit-up fortress surrounded by police cruisers.
Red and blue emergency lights flashed across the glass facade, reflecting on the black ocean water.
Sitting at the end of Pier 9 was my private wooden boat, the Clara, rock-swaying gently against the wooden pilings.
Standing on the deck of the boat, holding an umbrella against the rain, was Senator Thomas Sterling himself.
He was in his late sixties, dressed in an immaculate charcoal wool overcoat, his silver hair neatly styled.
He didn't look like a man whose private tactical team had just been flushed out by seawater.
He looked like a man who had been expecting me all along.
“Amelia,” Senator Sterling spoke, his deep, resonant voice easily carrying over the sound of the rain.
“You always did inherit your father’s dramatic flare.”
I stepped onto the wet dock, Marcus staying two paces behind me, his hand resting on his holstered weapon.
“Your daughter is in state police custody downstairs, Senator,” I said, stopping ten feet away from him.
“And your tactical unit is currently swimming out of my sub-basement tunnel.”
The Senator chuckled softly, leaning his hands on the silver handle of his walking cane.
“Vanessa was always a fool, Amelia. Richard was even worse.”
“They were small pawns in a very long game that your father and I started thirty years ago.”
“My father is dead,” I said, clutching the leather bag tightly against my side.
May you like
“Your father is very much alive, my dear,” Senator Sterling revealed with a terrifying, calm smile.
“And he’s currently waiting for us in Connecticut.”
