Chapter 6 - The Night Luke Holloway Died
Nathan watched his father’s message without blinking.
Rachel stood beside him.
Emma had been moved into the bedroom where Dr. Patel stayed with her, but Nathan knew there was no longer any room in the apartment far enough away from the Holloway family’s secrets.
Edward Holloway continued speaking from beyond the grave.
“Three years ago, Luke planned to meet you at the marina.”
Nathan remembered.
Luke had called at 11:43 p.m.
Nathan had been in a meeting.
He ignored the first call.
Luke called again.
Nathan answered angrily.
They argued.
The last words Nathan ever said to his brother had been:
If you want to destroy everything Dad built, do it without me.
Six hours later, the Coast Guard found pieces of Luke's boat floating near Morris Island.
Edward's recording continued.
“Luke intended to give you everything. Elena's files. Rachel's location. My records. Whitmore's accounts.”
Nathan stopped the video.
“Rachel's location?”
Rachel looked just as shocked.
“He knew where I was?”
Nathan restarted it.
“Luke discovered Rachel was alive approximately five months before his death,” Edward said. “He planned a rescue. But he made one mistake.”
Edward leaned closer.
“He trusted you.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“He sent information to a private address controlled by your office.”
Nathan thought immediately of executive access.
Only a handful of people had it.
“Someone intercepted it and warned Whitmore.”
Rachel whispered, “That's why Luke changed the meeting.”
Nathan remembered another detail.
Luke had asked to meet him at Pier 19 first.
Nathan refused.
Too dangerous.
Too public.
Nathan chose the marina.
His decision.
His location.
Edward continued.
“Whitmore's people knew where Luke would be because you chose where to meet him.”
Nathan stopped breathing.
That was what Edward meant.
Nathan had not murdered Luke.
But his decision had created the opportunity.
Rachel touched his arm.
“This isn't your fault.”
Nathan pulled away.
“Don't.”
“Nathan—”
“I chose the marina.”
“You didn't know.”
“I ignored his calls.”
“You didn't know.”
“I told him I didn't care what he had found.”
Rachel stared at him.
Nathan’s voice dropped.
“And he died believing me.”
Edward’s video continued.
Except then came the reversal.
“Luke survived the explosion.”
Nathan looked up sharply.
Edward said, “Whitmore captured him.”
Rachel gasped.
The photograph.
Luke alive eleven months later.
Nathan moved closer to the screen.
“Your brother remained alive for at least fourteen months after the accident.”
Nathan's knees weakened.
“Where?”
The recording couldn't answer him.
Edward continued.
“I tried to extract him once. I failed.”
Then Edward coughed violently.
When he looked back at the camera, his eyes were wet.
Nathan had never seen his father cry.
Not once.
“I built the machine that destroyed both my sons.”
Nathan stared.
“You tried to make Nathan inherit it. You tried to make Luke run it.”
Rachel spoke softly.
“Instead they both tried to escape it.”
Edward seemed almost to answer her through the recording.
“If there is anything left of our family after this, Nathan, destroy what I built.”
The video ended.
Nathan sat completely still.
Then his phone rang.
Whitmore.
Nathan answered.
“Where's Caleb?”
“Alive.”
“Vivian?”
“Also alive.”
“For now?”
Whitmore chuckled.
“You understand negotiation.”
“You want Emma.”
“I want what Elena hid.”
“We have it.”
That was a lie.
They had copies of Elena’s files.
But Nathan suspected Whitmore wanted something specific.
“What file?”
“You don't know?”
Whitmore sounded amused.
“That is almost disappointing.”
Nathan said nothing.
“There is a ledger inside Elena Marquez's archive containing payment authorizations from thirty-one individuals.”
“I've seen the files.”
“No. You've seen her evidence.”
Whitmore paused.
“I want Edward’s key.”
Nathan frowned.
“What key?”
“Ask Vivian.”
The call ended.
Nathan looked at Rachel.
Then his phone received another message.
Vivian on video.
Bruised but conscious.
A man off-camera asked her, “Where is Edward's key?”
Vivian looked directly at the camera.
Then she said something strange.
“The girl has already seen it.”
The video ended.
Nathan immediately went to Emma.
She sat on the bed with Elena's locket.
“Sweetheart.”
Emma looked up.
“Did Mrs. Grayson die?”
“No.”
Relief crossed her face despite everything Vivian had done.
Nathan noticed.
Children were complicated in ways adults were not.
Adults could decide someone was a monster.
Children remembered the one night that monster brought them soup when they were sick.
“Vivian said you've seen a key.”
Emma frowned.
“What kind?”
“I don't know.”
Rachel entered.
“Something connected to Grandpa Edward.”
Emma looked thoughtful.
Then shook her head.
Nathan sat beside her.
“Anything unusual you found in the house?”
“The little door.”
“We know about that.”
“The envelope.”
“We know.”
“The old watch.”
Nathan froze.
“What watch?”
“The one behind Grandpa's picture.”
Rachel looked at him.
Emma explained.
“When the picture fell, there was the envelope and a watch.”
“Where is it?”
“I put it back.”
Nathan stood.
Rachel grabbed his arm.
“You are not going back a second time.”
“I don't need to.”
Nathan called one of his men positioned outside the estate.
He described the location.
Fifteen minutes later a photograph arrived.
A gold pocket watch.
Nathan recognized it.
Edward carried it every day of Nathan’s childhood.
But Nathan had seen that same watch buried with him.
Another fake.
His man opened the back.
Inside was no engraving.
Only a sequence of eight rotating metal numbers.
Rachel stared.
“A cipher.”
Nathan understood.
Edward's key.
Whitmore did not simply need files.
He needed the code that unlocked them.
“Bring it to me.”
The man never answered.
Three minutes later, Nathan received a photograph.
The man unconscious beside his vehicle.
Watch gone.
Nathan swore.
Rachel whispered, “Whitmore has it.”
“No.”
Emma looked at Nathan.
“Not the real one.”
Everyone turned.
“What?”
Emma pointed to the photograph.
“Grandpa's watch didn't have that scratch.”
Nathan stared.
She was right.
A deep diagonal mark crossed the photographed cover.
Emma said, “The one I saw was shiny.”
Rachel looked at Nathan.
“Your man found a decoy.”
Nathan slowly smiled.
Edward Holloway had always believed any secret worth keeping required at least two lies around it.
“Where did you put the real watch?” he asked Emma.
She shrugged.
“Mrs. Grayson found me before I could put it back.”
Nathan's smile vanished.
“What happened?”
“She took it.”
Vivian.
That was why Whitmore had kidnapped her.
Nathan looked toward Pier 19.
Vivian had the key.
Or knew where it was.
His phone rang again.
This time it was Caleb.
Nathan answered instantly.
Caleb whispered, “Don't speak.”
Nathan froze.
“I got loose.”
In the background came machinery.
Water.
Wind.
“They separated Vivian.”
Nathan listened.
“Whitmore thinks she has the watch.”
“Does she?”
A pause.
“No.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“Where is it?”
Caleb exhaled.
“Nathan, you're not going to like this.”
“I'm getting tired of hearing that sentence.”
“Vivian mailed it before you came home.”
“To who?”
Caleb said one name.
Nathan went completely still.
“Luke.”
Rachel stared at him.
Nathan almost couldn't say the words.
“Luke is dead.”
Caleb answered softly.
“Vivian doesn't think so.”
A noise sounded behind Caleb.
He whispered quickly.
“She says she's been receiving instructions from Luke for almost a year.”
Nathan gripped the phone.
“What instructions?”
“To protect Emma.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
The punishments.
The fear.
The hidden phone.
Nothing fit.
“Caleb.”
“I know.”
“Find Vivian.”
“Working on it.”
The line disconnected.
Nathan looked at Rachel.
“If Luke is alive, why didn't he come for his daughter?”
Rachel whispered, “Maybe he couldn't.”
Emma had entered the doorway.
Again, she had heard more than Nathan wanted.
Her face was pale.
“Daddy?”
Nathan turned.
She held Elena's locket.
“If my real dad is alive…”
Her voice cracked.
“Does that mean you're not my dad anymore?”
Before Nathan could answer, someone knocked on the apartment door.
Three slow knocks.
Pause.
Two more.
Rachel froze.
Nathan drew his weapon.
Nobody knew this location anymore except Whitmore.
Caleb.
And Samuel.
Nathan approached silently.
“Who is it?”
A man answered from the hallway.
His voice was rougher than Nathan remembered.
Older.
But unmistakable.
“Nate.”
Nathan stopped breathing.
No one had called him that since Luke disappeared.
The voice came again.
“Open the door before Whitmore finds me.”
Nathan unlocked it.
The door opened.
A scarred, exhausted man stood beneath the hallway light.
Alive.
Luke Holloway looked past Nathan.
May you like
He saw Emma.
And began to cry.
