Chapter 8 - THE FIRST BETRAYALLucas wanted to trade the flash drive immediately.
Grant refused.
“If you hand over the only evidence, Maria may still die.”
“She risked her life for my family.”
“And we’re going to save her.”
Federal agents traced Vanessa’s message to a hotel near the coast.
The room was empty.
Inside, they found Maria’s bloodstained scarf and another phone.
It rang the moment Lucas entered.
Vanessa appeared on video.
Maria sat tied to a chair inside what looked like an industrial building.
A digital clock behind her showed 11:14 p.m.
“Forty-six minutes,” Vanessa said.
“Tell me where she is.”
“Bring the drive to Pier Nine.”
“You’ll release her?”
“You ask that question too often.”
Vanessa ended the call.
Grant studied the background.
Rust-colored walls.
A freight elevator.
Blue barrels marked with a faded crown.
Lucas recognized the logo.
“Bennett Canning Factory.”
His father had closed the factory fifteen years earlier.
It stood twenty miles inland—not at Pier Nine.
“The pier is a trap,” Lucas said.
Grant organized two teams.
One would stage a false exchange at the pier.
The other would raid the factory.
Lucas insisted on joining the factory team.
Lily stayed with a federal agent at a secure location.
Before Lucas left, she stopped him.
“Dad, Vanessa said something when she took me.”
“What?”
“She said Mom stole her life.”
Lucas knelt beside her.
“Vanessa is sick. Nothing she says is your fault.”
“She also said you killed Uncle Daniel.”
Lucas froze.
“What exactly did she say?”
“She said, ‘When Lucas learns what he did to Daniel, he’ll wish he stayed ignorant.’”
Lucas tried to dismiss it as manipulation.
But a memory returned.
On the night before Daniel’s accident, Lucas and his brother had argued about company money.
Daniel wanted to delay a major project.
Lucas refused.
The next morning, Lucas ordered Daniel to drive to a construction site in the mountains.
Daniel died on that road.
Guilt burned through him.
At 11:42 p.m., the tactical team entered the abandoned factory.
They found Maria tied to a chair.
Lucas rushed toward her.
Grant shouted, “Wait!”
A pressure wire ran beneath Maria’s feet.
The chair was connected to an explosive device.
Maria opened her eyes.
“Don’t come closer.”
The clock on the wall showed eighteen minutes.
A bomb technician moved in.
Lucas searched the factory.
No Vanessa.
No Cole.
Only a laptop playing prerecorded footage.
Then his phone rang.
It was the federal agent guarding Lily.
His voice was strained.
“Mr. Bennett, we have a problem.”
Lucas’s heart stopped.
“What happened?”
“Lily is safe. But your family attorney arrived with a custody order.”
May you like
“What custody order?”
“He says you’ve been charged with Daniel Bennett’s murder.”
