Chapter 8 - The Pierces
Hannah had never heard Lorraine say her family name with that much hatred.
Pierce.
Not Hannah.
Not your wife.
The Pierces.
Caleb put the phone on speaker.
“What did her family do to you?”
Lorraine laughed once.
“Ask her father.”
“He’s dead.”
“So is mine, and apparently that hasn’t stopped anyone.”
Grant’s voice sounded faintly in the background.
“Lorraine.”
She snapped, “Stay out of this.”
Caleb froze.
His parents were together.
Not reunited.
Not allied.
Something harsher.
“What does Dad want?” Caleb asked.
Grant spoke closer to the phone.
“To give you your son.”
“Then do it.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor has men watching us.”
Caleb looked at Shaw.
Shaw began tracing.
“Where are you?”
Grant ignored the question.
“Caleb, listen. Your mother made mistakes.”
Lorraine shouted, “Mistakes?”
Grant continued.
“But she did not arrange the kidnapping.”
“Then who did?”
“Victor.”
“Why does she have August?”
“Because she intercepted the transfer.”
Hannah stared at the phone.
“You stole him from kidnappers?”
Lorraine answered.
“Yes.”
“After helping delay my emergency care?”
Silence.
“You don’t get to become the hero because someone worse arrived.”
Lorraine’s voice hardened.
“I know.”
That admission surprised everyone.
Hannah said, “Give me my son.”
“I need something first.”
“No.”
“Hannah.”
“No. You already took my phone, lied about my symptoms, and left me bleeding because you wanted Caleb to distrust me. You do not get another condition.”
Caleb watched his wife.
Weak.
Pale.
Still commanding the room.
Lorraine said quietly, “You sound like your father.”
Hannah’s eyes sharpened.
“You knew him.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He found the theft.”
“What theft?”
“Grant’s.”
Grant protested.
Lorraine snapped, “Stop pretending.”
Silence.
Then she continued.
“Peter Pierce discovered Grant’s land scheme. He threatened to expose it.”
Caleb looked at Hannah.
Her face was rigid.
“What happened to my father?” she asked.
Lorraine paused.
“He was offered money.”
“He refused?”
“Yes.”
“What happened after?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“Then why did he die six months later?”
Caleb turned to Hannah.
“Your father died in a car accident.”
“That’s what I was told.”
The room chilled.
Another suspicious death.
Lorraine whispered, “Victor handled Peter.”
Shaw wrote the words.
Hannah’s voice shook.
“Handled?”
Grant said, “Lorraine, stop.”
“No. We are done protecting you.”
Caleb closed his eyes.
His parents were tearing open decades in real time.
Grant spoke.
“Peter found evidence that Victor moved the money.”
Hannah stared.
“Not Grant?”
“Grant authorized the shell companies. Victor diverted more than agreed.”
Caleb felt sick.
His father had been guilty.
Just not alone.
“Forty million?”
Grant answered.
“Twenty-two was supposed to buy the land. Eighteen vanished.”
“To Victor?”
“We think so.”
Hannah whispered, “My father found it.”
“Yes.”
“And died.”
Grant was silent.
That silence answered enough.
Shaw motioned for Caleb to keep them talking.
“Where is August?”
Lorraine said, “Safe house.”
“Address.”
“No.”
“Mom.”
“If Victor hears—”
“He already knows you took the baby.”
“Yes.”
“So hiding from police helps how?”
Lorraine breathed.
Then, unexpectedly:
“Because one of your police officers works for him.”
Shaw’s face changed.
Caleb stared at him.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Victor told me he knew what hospital unit August was in before I did.”
Hannah closed her eyes.
“Inside access.”
Maya whispered, “That could be medical, not police.”
Adrian nodded.
Lorraine continued.
“He knew when Elias went to the townhouse. He knew when Caleb reached the marina. He knew the police route to the warehouse.”
Shaw ended the trace attempt from the hospital system.
“If she’s right, we reduce circle.”
Caleb asked, “How did you intercept the kidnappers?”
“I followed Victor’s van.”
“You knew he planned it?”
“No. I knew he was watching the hospital.”
“Why didn’t you warn us?”
Lorraine’s voice cracked.
“Because I thought he wanted the trust documents.”
Hannah laughed bitterly.
“You keep thinking everyone wants paper while people bleed.”
That landed.
Lorraine whispered, “I know.”
“Stop saying you know.”
Hannah’s monitor began alarming from stress.
Dr. Chen stepped in.
“End the call.”
Hannah refused.
“Not until I hear my son.”
Lorraine brought the phone close.
A tiny breath.
A soft cry.
Hannah wept.
“August.”
Caleb pressed his forehead to hers.
Grant spoke again.
“Hannah.”
She stiffened.
“I’m sorry about your father.”
“Were you there when he died?”
“No.”
“Did you know Victor threatened him?”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell anyone?”
“No.”
“Then save your apology.”
Grant fell silent.
Lorraine said, “I will contact you in one hour with an exchange point.”
“What exchange?”
“The statement.”
“No,” Caleb said.
Lorraine ignored him.
“Hannah signs that Caleb may not be the father. I give you August.”
Maya whispered, “She only needs doubt filed.”
Caleb said, “Why are you still trying to delay the trust if Victor is the enemy?”
There was a long pause.
Then Lorraine answered.
“Because I already signed the sale.”
Everyone froze.
“When?” Caleb asked.
“Yesterday.”
“To Victor?”
“Yes.”
“Can you reverse it?”
“Only if I remain trustee long enough to rescind before closing.”
Maya understood first.
“If August is formally acknowledged and the transfer triggers immediately, Lorraine loses authority. Victor can argue the sale is binding.”
“So she needs to stay trustee,” Caleb said.
“For a few days,” Lorraine replied.
Hannah’s face twisted in disbelief.
“You kidnapped my son to fix your own contract?”
“I did not kidnap him.”
“You are holding him.”
“To keep Victor from taking him.”
“And extorting us.”
“To buy time.”
Caleb stood.
“No.”
“What?”
“We will not lie about our son to save your land deal.”
“It is not a land deal. If Victor controls that property, he controls the evidence buried with it.”
“What evidence?”
Lorraine hesitated.
Grant said, “Tell him.”
She whispered:
“Peter Pierce’s car.”
Hannah stopped breathing.
“My father’s car?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“On the land.”
Hannah gripped Caleb’s hand.
“Why?”
Lorraine’s voice became almost inaudible.
“Because he never died on the highway.”
For the first time since the ambulance, Hannah did not feel frightened of Lorraine.
She felt furious.
Not the hot, helpless anger Lorraine had always dismissed as “emotional.” This was colder.
Useful.
Caleb saw it.
“What are you thinking?”
“That if my father’s car is really buried there, your mother has been carrying a grave in her pocket for eighteen years.”
Caleb swallowed.
“And if she lied about that?”
“Then we prove it.”
“And if she didn’t?”
Hannah looked toward the secure NICU feed on the monitor.
May you like
“Then after we get August back, nobody in either family gets to decide what truth we can handle ever again.”
The line went dead.
