Chapter 7 - The FatherStone did not lower his weapon.
Daniel slowly raised both hands.
“You're Daniel Whitmore.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Stone took one step forward.
“You disappeared eight years ago.”
“I was forced to.”
“By Elias Voss?”
Daniel nodded.
“What happened?”
Daniel looked toward Evelyn.
“She knows.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“You tell him.”
Daniel sighed.
“I stole the records.”
“What records?”
“The same ones everyone keeps killing for.”
Stone waited.
“The list of families. Payments. Names. Judges. Police. Politicians. Business owners.”
Daniel looked toward the city lights.
“Elias Voss built an empire by controlling people.”
“And you were part of it?”
“For a while.”
Stone's grip tightened.
Daniel didn't defend himself.
“Yes.”
“I moved his money.”
“How much?”
“Enough to make people disappear.”
Stone took a breath.
“Why should I believe you?”
“You shouldn't.”
That answer surprised him.
Daniel continued.
“Trust doesn't matter tonight.”
He pointed toward the darkness.
“Because they already know where your clubhouse is.”
Stone looked at Evelyn.
She said nothing.
A phone rang.
Daniel pulled his from his pocket.
“It's Mara.”
Stone stepped forward.
Daniel answered.
A scream came through the speaker.
“Dad!”
Clara.
Daniel's face collapsed.
“Clara?”
Then another voice.
Victor.
“Bring the ledger to the old church.”
The line went dead.
Stone looked at Daniel.
“You knew this was coming.”
“I knew they would come eventually.”
“Then why didn't you warn them?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Because every time I tried, someone disappeared.”
The riders arrived at the quarry.
Jax jumped off his motorcycle.
“Stone!”
Stone turned.
“Get back to the clubhouse.”
Jax shook his head.
“They're already there.”
Stone froze.
“What?”
“Fire.”
His face hardened.
They raced back.
The Rustline Roadhouse was burning.
Not the clubhouse.
The bar.
Smoke poured from the windows.
Stone ran inside.
The main room was empty.
A chair overturned.
Broken glass.
No Clara.
No Noah.
No Mara.
Jax found a bloody handprint on the wall.
Then he found a door behind the bar.
Locked.
Stone smashed it open.
A narrow tunnel led underground.
At the far end was an abandoned train line.
Stone looked down.
Fresh tire marks.
“They took them through here.”
Daniel stared at the tracks.
“They're heading to the church.”
“Which church?”
Daniel answered:
“Saint Mercy.”
Stone knew the place.
An abandoned stone church fifteen miles north.
They mounted their bikes.
Before Stone left, he looked back at the burning roadhouse.
Something felt wrong.
Then he saw it.
A small stuffed bear lying in the ash.
Clara's.
Stone picked it up.
Inside the torn seam was a tiny note.
He opened it.
Six words.
THE WRONG CHILD WAS TAKEN.
Stone stared.
Daniel saw the message.
“What does it mean?”
Stone looked at him.
“I don't know.”
Then he turned toward the motorcycles.
“But we're about to find out.”
Behind them, on the roof of the burning bar, Evelyn Voss watched from the shadows.
May you like
She touched one white glove.
And smiled.
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