Chapter 3 - THE BRIDE WHO CAME BACKMarin called June’s name as if her sister could hear her through the screen.
Cassian took the phone gently from her hand.
“The photograph has no location data.”
“I don’t care about location data.”
“We need to know where Serafina took her.”
“We need to give her the dress.”
“No.”
Marin turned on him.
“You do not get to say no.”
“The dress is the only leverage keeping June alive.”
“And if we refuse?”
“Then Serafina still needs it.”
“You don’t know that.”
Cassian’s expression remained steady.
“No. I don’t.”
That honesty hurt worse than reassurance would have.
Marco drove them back toward Baltimore while Cassian called every contact he had.
Marin sat in the rear seat with the black notebook against her chest.
Her mind moved through every detail of the photograph.
Concrete wall.
A hanging light.
Rust on the chair.
June’s hospital bracelet still around her wrist.
Serafina wore no coat despite the cold.
There had been a faint blue reflection at the edge of the image.
Water.
“She’s near the harbor,” Marin said.
Cassian ended his call.
“Why?”
“The light behind June is moving.”
“It could be a vehicle.”
“No. Look.”
She enlarged the photograph.
A narrow stripe of reflected blue crossed the concrete floor.
“Water beneath a door or loading bay.”
Marco glanced at the rearview mirror.
“There are more than two hundred warehouses near the harbor.”
“Serafina’s family owns shipping property,” Marin said.
Cassian’s jaw tightened.
“Bowmont Marine owns twelve.”
They divided the addresses among Cassian’s men.
Then Marin’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
Cassian motioned for her to answer on speaker.
Serafina’s voice filled the car.
“Marin.”
“Let me speak to June.”
“You are in no position to make demands.”
“Neither are you.”
Cassian looked at her sharply.
Marin kept her voice steady.
“If June dies, you lose the dress.”
Serafina laughed.
“So practical. Your mother was practical too.”
“You knew her?”
“My mother did.”
“Why do you want the dress?”
“That is not your concern.”
“You kidnapped my sister. Everything is my concern.”
Silence.
Then June’s voice sounded in the background.
“Marin, don’t—”
A slap.
Marin lunged toward the phone as though she could reach through it.
“Touch her again and I burn the dress.”
Serafina’s breathing changed.
There.
Fear.
Not anger.
“What is in it?” Marin asked.
“You have two hours.”
“Where?”
“You’ll receive instructions.”
The call ended.
Cassian looked at Marin.
“You heard it.”
“She’s afraid of the dress.”
“Not the dress itself.”
“What’s hidden inside.”
Marin opened the box.
The nurse’s uniform lay folded across her lap.
She examined every seam.
Nothing.
Then she remembered her grandmother’s lesson.
A stitch is not only a way to close something.
It is also a way to hide it.
The hem was hand-sewn.
The thread looked newer than the fabric.
Marin found scissors in the medical kit and cut carefully.
A thin strip of waxed paper slid out.
Inside was a metal key.
No markings except a stamped number.
Cassian recognized it.
“Baltimore Central Station.”
“A locker?”
“The old storage lockers.”
Marin stared at the key.
“Serafina doesn’t want the dress.”
“She wants what it leads to.”
Cassian contacted a team near the station.
They found locker 117 within fifteen minutes.
Empty.
Except for a card containing one handwritten address.
St. Agnes Cemetery.
Marin’s mother was buried there.
They reached the cemetery as evening fell.
Evelyn Holloway’s grave stood beneath a maple tree.
Someone had placed fresh white roses against the stone.
Marin knelt.
Her fingers traced her mother’s name.
Cassian’s men searched the area.
Marco found disturbed soil behind the headstone.
They uncovered a small waterproof case.
Inside were cassette tapes.
A ledger.
And a sealed letter addressed to Marin.
Her hands shook so badly Cassian had to open it.
My dearest girl,
If you are reading this, then I failed to keep the Marquettes and Bowmonts away from you.
Do not trust the man who says he serves the family. Teddy serves the secret that gives him power over both.
Lenora helped me hide the evidence. Adrian paid for it with his life.
Cassian was only a child. He did not know what his father had built beneath the harbor.
Neither did Serafina.
But children inherit wars adults refuse to end.
The first stitch saved Cassian.
The second was meant to mark him.
Look beneath the cathedral.
Forgive me for leaving you questions instead of answers.
Mom.
Marin pressed the letter to her mouth.
Cassian read the final line again.
“Beneath the cathedral.”
“The wedding cathedral.”
“St. Matthew’s.”
His phone rang.
A guard had identified the warehouse in Serafina’s photo.
Bowmont Pier Four.
Cassian’s men surrounded it within twenty minutes.
Serafina called again before they entered.
“Bring the dress alone,” she said.
Marin looked at Cassian.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“June will trust me.”
“It’s a trap.”
“Obviously.”
“You are not trained.”
“I know how to keep someone alive.”
Cassian leaned close.
“And I know how quickly someone can die.”
The memory of the poisoned stitches existed between them.
Marin lowered her voice.
“If that had been June on your wedding morning, would you have stayed behind?”
Cassian’s answer was in his face.
He hated her for being right.
They formed a plan.
Marin entered through the main loading door carrying the white uniform in a clear garment bag.
A microphone was taped beneath her collar.
Cassian and Marco moved through the rear.
Inside, June sat tied to the chair.
Serafina stood behind her with a pistol.
“You came.”
“Let her go.”
“The dress first.”
Marin held it up.
“You don’t even know what you’re looking for.”
Serafina smiled.
“My mother sewed a map into that hem.”
“No. She sewed a key.”
The smile vanished.
Marin saw June looking toward the ceiling.
Once.
Twice.
A warning.
Someone above.
Marin stepped sideways.
A gunshot cracked from the catwalk.
She dropped.
Cassian’s men fired back.
Serafina screamed and pulled June from the chair.
Marin crawled toward them.
The shooter above disappeared into shadow.
Cassian crashed through a side door.
Serafina pointed the pistol at him.
“Stop!”
He froze.
June twisted suddenly and bit Serafina’s hand.
The pistol fired into the ceiling.
Marin lunged.
She knocked Serafina down and dragged June away.
Cassian disarmed the former bride.
Marco’s men surrounded the warehouse.
It ended in seconds.
Too easily.
Cassian grabbed Serafina by the arm.
“Who was on the catwalk?”
She stared at him.
“I thought he was yours.”
A slow clap came from the darkness above.
Teddy stepped into view.
He held a remote detonator.
“You were both such promising children,” he said.
Cassian raised his gun.
Teddy smiled.
“You may shoot me.”
His thumb rested over the button.
“But the first explosion will take this warehouse.”
He looked at Marin.
“The second will take the cathedral.”
May you like
Then he looked at June.
“And the third is beneath your sister’s hospital.”
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