Chapter 9 - THE YACHT
For three seconds, no one moved.
Then Emma saw Lily's pink shoe near the service gate.
Grant did not shout on the boat. His silence had changed from blindness to focus. Every order was short, every movement controlled, but Emma saw his hands shake whenever Lily appeared on the screen.
Renata had not driven away alone. During the confusion, someone had taken Lily from the lawn.
Grant's face became something dangerous.
"Launch every boat we have."
The Callahan yacht was already moving north on the Hudson without navigation lights.
Emma refused to stay behind. "Lily trusts me. If she panics, I may be the only person she answers."
Grant nodded once.
They boarded a security launch with Mason and two state officers. Cold wind cut across the water. Ahead, the yacht was a black shape against darker hills.
Owen hacked into its internal cameras using an emergency maintenance channel.
The screen showed Lily tied to a dining chair. Renata stood beside her. Victor, bleeding from the shoulder, searched through a safe.
"Where is the original trust ledger?" Victor demanded.
Lily stared at him.
Renata grabbed the burned side of her hair.
Emma's hands curled into fists.
Grant leaned toward the radio. "Renata, this is over. Let Lily go."
Renata looked directly at the camera.
"Transfer control of the company and the trust to Victor. Then maybe your daughter comes home."
"You killed my wife."
Renata smiled. "Your wife killed herself by refusing to understand power."
Lily suddenly kicked the table. A glass fell and shattered.
She bent down, grabbed a piece, and cut one of the ropes.
Emma saw it before Renata did.
May you like
"Keep talking," Emma whispered. "She's getting free."
Then Victor noticed the loose rope and raised his gun.
