Chapter 19 - The Spider’s Web
Inside the cottage, the air grew frigid despite the roaring hearth. Claire sat on the edge of the sofa, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. Elena had been her closest female friend since she moved north, the woman who had helped her register the business, who had babysat Leo during deliveries, and who had brought hot soup when Claire was recovering from childbirth.
"It can't be Elena," Claire said, her voice cracking. "She wouldn't do that to us. She loves Leo."
"We don't know anything for certain yet," Alexander said gently, kneeling beside her. He reached out, his hand hesitating before tenderly covering her cold fingers. She didn't pull away. "Gabriel, where is Elena right now?"
"She was supposed to be in Bangor auditing the quarterly tax records," Gabriel replied, already pulling out his phone. He dialed rapidly, his brow furrowed in mounting anxiety. He held the phone to his ear for three rings before pulling it away. "Direct to voicemail. That’s not like her. She never turns her phone off during an audit."
"Marcus traced the digital footprint of the original image before I left New York," Alexander said, standing up and pulling his own device out. "He said the metadata contained a local IP address routed through a satellite node on the northern bluff. Is there a property up there?"
Gabriel’s face drained of color. "The old lighthouse keeper’s lodge. It’s been abandoned for years. But our family used to own the deed before my father passed."
"Someone didn't just bribe Elena," Alexander realized, the chilling truth snapping into place. "Someone used her family’s debt to force her hand, just like my father did to me. The Sterlings didn't act alone. They have a partner on the ground."
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Claire looked up, fear finally cutting through her composure. "Alexander... if Elena was coerced, where is she now? What have they done to her?"
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