Chapter 6 - The Son in the Storm
The old Warren estate stood above Blackwater Ridge, surrounded by dead trees and rusted iron gates.
Rain hammered the roof as Spencer entered through the front doors.
Detective Shaw and his officers remained outside, waiting for a safe opportunity to move.
Adrian had threatened to harm Dexter if he saw police.
The mansion had no electricity.
Candles burned along the staircase.
Spencer followed Dexter’s cries to the ballroom.
Adrian stood beside the shattered balcony doors with the baby against his chest.
A handgun rested beneath Dexter’s blanket.
“Close the doors,” Adrian ordered.
Spencer obeyed.
“You wanted me here. I’m here.”
“I want the signed transfer.”
“The documents burned.”
Adrian pointed toward another copy on the table.
“Sign.”
Spencer approached slowly.
Dexter’s face was red from crying. The blue teddy bear was tucked beneath Adrian’s arm.
“You’re frightening him,” Spencer said.
“He won’t remember.”
“I will.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“That is your problem. You believe feelings matter.”
“They matter more than the company.”
“Then sign it away.”
Spencer picked up the pen.
Outside, Detective Shaw watched through a long-range camera.
The storm made a clean shot impossible.
Inside the safe room at the modern mansion, Charlee stared at the tracker.
She had discovered the toy store’s tag contained a tiny sound function used to help parents locate lost items.
She pressed the button.
The blue teddy bear began playing a cheerful melody.
Adrian jerked in surprise.
Dexter screamed.
Spencer lunged.
The gun fired.
A bullet struck the ceiling.
Spencer seized Adrian’s wrist and slammed it against the table. The weapon fell across the floor.
Adrian punched Spencer and ran toward the balcony with Dexter.
Spencer followed.
Rain swept across the stone platform.
“Give him to me!” Spencer shouted.
“You took everything from me!”
“I didn’t take your life. You destroyed it yourself.”
Adrian backed toward the edge.
The railing cracked beneath his weight.
For one terrible second, Adrian and Dexter began falling together.
Spencer threw himself forward.
He caught Dexter’s blanket with one hand and Adrian’s wrist with the other.
His shoulder struck the stone floor.
Adrian dangled over the cliff.
Dexter cried against Spencer’s arm.
“Help me!” Adrian screamed.
Spencer tightened his grip.
Despite everything Adrian had done, Spencer tried to pull him upward.
The old railing broke again.
Detective Shaw and two officers rushed onto the balcony.
They took Dexter and dragged Adrian to safety.
Adrian collapsed on the stone, sobbing and laughing at the same time.
“You should have let me fall.”
Spencer held Dexter close.
“That’s the difference between us.”
Adrian was handcuffed.
As officers led him away, Nolan agreed to cooperate in exchange for a reduced sentence.
He revealed that Lena had discovered the missing trust and Adrian’s financial crimes three years earlier.
Adrian ordered Nolan to frighten her.
Nolan tampered with her brakes.
He claimed he never intended to kill her.
No one believed him.
The evidence from the warehouse, Pamela’s clinic, and the estate tunnels connected Adrian and Nolan to kidnapping, attempted murder, financial fraud, evidence destruction, and Lena’s death.
But the danger was not over.
Dexter had been exposed to cold rain for too long.
His breathing became shallow during the drive to the hospital.
Spencer sat beside him in the ambulance, holding his tiny hand while paramedics placed an oxygen mask over his face.
At Saint Matthew’s, doctors rushed Dexter into intensive care.
Jocelyn arrived in a wheelchair.
Charlee and Florence followed with Mrs. Mabel.
For hours, no one spoke.
Spencer stood beside the window, staring at the city lights.
He had spent his entire adult life building companies because buildings, contracts, and numbers could not abandon him.
Now everything he loved was behind a hospital door.
Charlee slipped her hand into his.
“Dexter is strong,” she said.
“You saved him twice.”
“You saved him too.”
The intensive care doctor entered shortly before sunrise.
His expression was serious.
“Dexter has developed respiratory distress. We’ve stabilized him, but the next several hours are critical.”
Jocelyn began to cry.
Spencer sat beside her.
She looked at him with exhausted, frightened eyes.
“I didn’t know Pamela used your genetic material,” she whispered. “But Dexter is my son. I can’t lose him.”
“He’s our son,” Spencer replied.
The doctor returned to the intensive care unit.
Through the glass, Dexter’s chest rose beneath the machines.
Then an alarm sounded.
Nurses ran toward his bed.
The heart monitor dropped sharply.
Charlee pressed both hands against the glass.
“Please,” she whispered. “Don’t leave us.”
May you like
The monitor became a single, unbroken tone.
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