Chapter 13 - The MillThe old Bradley Mill stood at the edge of the Cumberland River.
It had been abandoned for twenty years.
We arrived ten minutes before midnight.
I told Amy to stay in the car.
She refused.
“You promised we would never face them alone.”
I stared at her.
She was right.
Mason was inside.
So were my mother and Diane.
We entered together.
The mill was dark.
The smell of rust and dust filled the air.
Then a light came on.
Mason was tied to a chair.
Diane stood beside him.
My mother stood near the machinery.
Caldwell was there too.
“You came.”
I looked at them.
“What do you want?”
Diane answered.
“The truth.”
I laughed.
“You’ve spent a year lying.”
She smiled.
“Not anymore.”
Then she turned to my mother.
“She knows.”
My mother looked irritated.
Diane pointed at me.
“He deserves to hear it.”
“What?”
Diane inhaled slowly.
“Your father discovered that your mother and Caldwell were stealing money.”
“I know.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You don’t know the worst part.”
She looked directly at me.
“Your father planned to expose them.”
I nodded.
“And my mother stopped him.”
Diane shook her head.
“No.”
She pointed at herself.
“I did.”
The world stopped.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your father was going to destroy all of us.”
I felt numb.
Diane explained that she had tampered with the truck.
She had not expected my father to die.
But when he did, my mother saw an opportunity.
She blamed the accident on faulty equipment.
Then Caldwell took control.
They moved money.
Created shell companies.
Built debt.
And waited for me to become old enough to inherit everything.
“You were supposed to sign the trust transfer next year,” Diane said.
“And my mother needed me vulnerable before then.”
“Yes.”
Amy stepped forward.
“You tried to destroy me.”
My mother looked at her.
“I tried to protect my family.”
“You kidnapped my baby.”
Silence.
Then my mother said something that shocked me.
“I never wanted Frederick hurt.”
I almost laughed.
“You used him.”
“Yes.”
“And you used me.”
“Yes.”
“And my father.”
Her eyes dropped.
“Yes.”
Then she looked up.
“But you still haven’t heard the whole story.”
Caldwell suddenly pointed a gun at Diane.
“What are you doing?”
Diane froze.
Caldwell smiled.
“You talk too much.”
He pulled the trigger.
The gun clicked.
Empty.
The police burst through the doors.
Caldwell dropped to his knees.
My mother stared at the officers.
Then she laughed.
“Too late.”
She pulled a remote from her pocket.
The machinery behind us started moving.
A hidden gate opened.
Water rushed into the lower level.
Mason screamed.
“They’re flooding the basement!”
My father’s old mill had an underground tunnel connected to the river.
Within seconds, water reached our ankles.
My mother disappeared through a side door.
Caldwell was arrested.
Diane surrendered.
But Mason was trapped.
I ran toward him.
Amy followed.
The water rose to our knees.
We reached Mason.
The chair was bolted to the floor.
I started pulling.
Nothing.
“Connor!” Mason shouted.
Water reached my waist.
Amy grabbed a metal pipe.
Together, we struck the bolt.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The bolt broke.
We dragged Mason free.
Then the ceiling shook.
A beam collapsed.
We ran.
We reached the tunnel entrance.
Behind us, the mill began to collapse.
We barely escaped.
Outside, police surrounded the property.
My mother was nowhere to be found.
Then an officer came running.
“We found her car.”
“Where?”
He looked at me.
“At your house.”
I froze.
“She went home.”
The officer shook his head.
“No.”
He handed me a photograph.
My mother had parked beside the nursery.
May you like
And in the photograph, she was holding something.
Frederick’s birth certificate.
