Chapter 16 - The Steel MillThe old Callahan steel mill had been dead for twenty years.
Its windows were shattered. Its smokestacks rose against the night like black fingers. Snow drifted through holes in the roof and melted on rusted machinery that had once fed Vincent’s grandfather’s fortune.
Patrick chose places like a poet with a knife.
The cemetery for Caroline.
The orphanage for Ruby.
The steel mill for the Callahan name.
Vincent stood across the river from the building, studying its broken silhouette.
Grace stood beside him in a borrowed bulletproof vest that hung awkwardly over her coat.
Mason had argued against bringing her.
Vincent had argued harder.
Grace ended the debate by saying, “Patrick asked for me because he needs me alive. That makes me leverage, not bait.”
Vincent had replied, “Leverage can still break.”
Grace had said, “So can men who think women are only leverage.”
Mason had walked away muttering that he missed simpler criminals.
Now they waited in the dark.
The plan was dangerous because every plan involving Patrick was dangerous. Grace would enter with Vincent. Mason’s teams would surround the mill. Dr. Harper remained at the mansion with the twins and the rescued children under heavy guard.
Noah had begged Vincent not to go.
Lily had asked Grace to bring back Eleanor because “she tells the good pancake story.”
Grace promised she would try.
Vincent had not promised anything.
He was learning the cost of promises.
At midnight, Patrick’s call came.
“Front entrance,” he said. “No army.”
Vincent looked at Mason.
Mason nodded once.
Vincent and Grace crossed the yard alone.
Inside, the steel mill smelled of rust, oil, and old fire.
A single row of lights flickered on, leading them deeper.
Grace’s heart hammered, but she kept walking.
Vincent noticed.
“You can still leave.”
“So can you.”
“That is not how this works.”
“It is tonight.”
He glanced at her.
“You have become inconvenient.”
“You hired me.”
“Eleanor hired you.”
“Then blame her.”
His mouth moved almost into a smile.
Almost.
They reached the main floor.
Patrick waited on a raised platform above the old furnace pit. Diana stood beside him. Eleanor knelt between two men, gagged but alive.
Patrick clapped slowly.
“There she is. Grace Miller. The mother Northbridge lost.”
Grace stared up at him.
“You mean the mother you failed to break.”
Patrick’s smile thinned.
Vincent glanced at her.
Pride flickered across his face before he could hide it.
Patrick descended the stairs.
“You know, Vincent, she speaks to you like Caroline did.”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
“Do not say her name.”
“Why? Because the maid might realize she is only filling a vacancy?”
Grace flinched.
Vincent took one step forward.
Grace caught his sleeve.
Patrick smiled.
“There. Already trained.”
Grace released Vincent and stepped forward herself.
“You want my blood?”
Patrick tilted his head.
“I want what your biology unlocks.”
“You’ll have to take it.”
“Oh, I intend to.”
Vincent raised his gun.
Patrick snapped his fingers.
A screen lit up behind him.
The twins appeared.
Noah and Lily asleep in their bed.
Live camera.
Vincent froze.
Grace’s blood turned ice cold.
Patrick said, “Hidden camera in the rabbit. Lovely toy. Shame no one checked the eyes.”
Vincent’s face went white with rage.
Patrick held up a remote.
“Signal dead-man switch. Shoot me, and my associate inside your mansion injects the children before your guards understand which angel of mercy betrayed them.”
Mason’s voice crackled faintly in Vincent’s hidden earpiece.
“We’re sweeping the room now. Need time.”
Patrick looked directly at Vincent’s ear.
“And Mason, if you can hear me, hello.”
Vincent removed the earpiece slowly and crushed it under his shoe.
Patrick beamed.
“Family should talk without servants listening.”
Grace looked at the screen. Lily shifted in her sleep. Noah’s hand rested near the stuffed rabbit.
The rabbit Grace had held.
A camera inside.
Guilt nearly knocked her down.
Vincent saw it.
“No,” he said quietly.
Grace whispered, “I gave it back to her.”
“You did not do this.”
Patrick sighed.
“So touching. Truly. But time.”
He gestured to a chair with medical restraints.
“Grace sits. Harper’s old equipment draws what I need. Eleanor lives. The twins remain untouched.”
Vincent’s voice was deadly.
“You expect me to trust you?”
“No,” Patrick said. “I expect you to love them.”
That was worse.
Grace walked toward the chair.
Vincent caught her arm.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“They’ll die.”
“He will take you apart.”
“Maybe.”
“No.”
Her eyes filled.
“Vincent.”
Hearing his name from her mouth like that nearly undid him.
Grace lowered her voice.
“Ruby didn’t get a choice. Let me make one.”
Vincent’s hand trembled around her arm.
Then the screen behind Patrick flickered.
Noah opened his eyes.
He looked directly at the stuffed rabbit.
Then, slowly, he lifted one weak hand and covered the rabbit’s eye.
Patrick turned sharply.
Onscreen, Lily woke too.
She picked up the rabbit.
Noah whispered something.
Lily nodded.
Together, they shoved the rabbit under the blanket.
The screen went dark.
Vincent smiled.
Patrick’s face changed.
From above, Mason’s voice thundered through the mill speakers.
“Associate found.”
Gunfire erupted outside.
Vincent moved.
Grace ducked as Vincent fired at the lights, plunging half the mill into darkness. Mason’s teams stormed from the side entrances. Diana dragged Eleanor toward the platform edge. Grace ran after them, not thinking, only seeing Eleanor stumble near the furnace pit.
Diana raised her gun.
Grace threw herself at her.
Both women hit the metal floor.
The gun skidded away.
Diana clawed at Grace’s face. Grace struck back with all the rage of every form she had signed, every hospital bill she had opened, every night Ruby had cried.
Diana screamed.
Grace grabbed the gun.
Her hands shook as she aimed.
Diana froze.
“Poor maid,” Diana spat. “You won’t shoot.”
Grace’s voice was low.
“No.”
Then she swung the gun hard into Diana’s temple.
Diana collapsed.
“I clean,” Grace said, breathless. “I don’t execute.”
Vincent reached Patrick on the platform.
The brothers faced each other above the old furnace pit.
Patrick was bleeding from one shoulder but still smiling.
“You won’t kill me,” he said. “Not now. Not with her watching.”
Vincent looked at Grace.
She stood below, helping Eleanor rise.
Noah’s question echoed in his mind.
Will you be bad to stop them?
Vincent lowered his gun.
Patrick smiled.
Then Vincent punched him so hard Patrick fell to his knees.
“I won’t kill you,” Vincent said. “But I will let the world see you.”
Mason cuffed Patrick.
Patrick laughed through blood.
“You think courts can hold me?”
Vincent leaned close.
“No. But mothers can bury you alive without touching a shovel.”
Patrick’s smile faded.
May you like
Grace looked up.
For the first time, Patrick Callahan looked afraid.
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