Chapter 8 - VICTOR DANE’S LAST MOVE
Dane disappeared for six months.
Too quiet.
Elias knew something was coming.
So did I.
The twins turned one.
Small party.
Cupcakes.
No criminal captains.
Teresa Ortiz—Detective Ortiz’s mother—made tamales because somehow we had acquired half her family.
Life becoming normal was strange.
Then Rose disappeared.
For seven minutes.
Seven minutes.
I went into the daycare room to pick up the girls.
Mia was there.
Rose was not.
I screamed.
The staff locked doors.
Security footage showed a woman in a maintenance uniform carrying Rose through a service hallway.
My entire body went cold.
Not again.
Elias arrived before police.
His face looked dead.
I grabbed him.
“Do not start a war.”
“Ava—”
“Promise me.”
His eyes burned.
“Promise.”
He whispered:
“I promise.”
The kidnapper’s vehicle was found two blocks away.
Empty.
Then a phone rang.
Dane.
Of course.
He wanted one thing.
Elias’s signature transferring Gabriel’s voting trust.
In exchange:
Rose.
Elias said:
“Yes.”
I stared.
No hesitation.
He would give away everything.
Dane laughed.
“Finally.”
But Elias’s attorney had already warned us.
A transfer under coercion would be challenged.
Dane knew too.
He wanted signed control long enough to move assets before litigation.
We worked with federal agents.
Again.
No private rescue.
Hardest decision of Elias’s life.
He signed.
The meeting took place at an unused ferry terminal.
Dane arrived with Rose.
She was crying.
I almost ran.
Agents stopped me.
Dane held her against his chest as though she were merchandise.
Elias approached alone.
Document in hand.
“Give me my niece.”
Dane smiled.
“Your niece?”
Then looked at me.
“Her daughter?”
“Yes.”
Dane laughed.
“Everyone rewriting biology.”
Elias’s face remained calm.
“Biology is why you want her.”
Then:
“It is not why we love her.”
Dane took the document.
Released Rose toward an intermediary.
The moment she was clear—
agents moved.
Dane tried to run.
No dramatic gunfight.
He fell on wet concrete.
Old man.
Expensive coat.
Hands cuffed behind his back.
I grabbed Rose.
She screamed against my shoulder.
I cried.
Elias came toward us.
Stopped.
Waited.
I held one arm out.
He joined.
For one minute, the three of us stood there.
Not victory.
Relief.
Dane’s arrest unlocked everything.
Clinic records recovered from a lawyer.
Bribed doctors.
Embryo theft.
Financial crimes.
Murders linked to his organization.
Marco.
Others.
His empire collapsed through evidence.
Not bullets.
Elias watched the news coverage from my apartment.
He said:
“This is less satisfying than I expected.”
I looked at him.
“He's in prison.”
“Yes.”
“No one died.”
“Yes.”
“Rose is sleeping.”
He looked toward the crib.
Then smiled.
May you like
“More satisfying.”
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