CHAPTER 7 — The Trap at Black Hollow Bridge
Rowan drove alone.
No security.
No police escort.
No bodyguards.
Only the handwritten note resting on the passenger seat.
"Come alone."
The address led him to Black Hollow Bridge, an abandoned steel bridge crossing the Harpeth River outside Franklin.
Rain poured from the dark sky.
The old bridge creaked beneath the wind.
Then he saw them.
Maren stood at the center of the bridge, holding one twin while the other clung to her shoulder.
She wasn't tied up.
She wasn't injured.
But four armed men surrounded her.
Standing in front of them was Richard Bellamy.
His expensive suit looked strangely out of place in the abandoned landscape.
"So," Richard smiled.
"You finally came."
Rowan stepped forward.
"Let them go."
Richard laughed softly.
"You still don't understand."
"This was never about your wife."
"This was never even about Tessa."
"It was always about Bellamy Technologies."
Richard slowly removed a folder from his coat.
"When your father rewrote his will, he made one fatal mistake."
Rowan's heart pounded.
"He placed nearly fifty-one percent of the company into a trust."
"The beneficiaries weren't you."
"They were your future children."
Rowan stared at him.
"If all three children were legally recognized..."
Richard nodded.
"You would gain permanent voting control."
"But if no one knew they existed..."
"I remained the most powerful man in the company."
Everything suddenly made sense.
The fake affair.
The planted evidence.
The stolen child.
The missing records.
It had all been designed to erase Rowan's heirs from history.
Richard raised a pistol.
"I've protected this company for twenty-five years."
"I'm not about to lose it now."
Before Rowan could move, one of the twins suddenly began crying.
The sound echoed across the empty bridge.
Richard hesitated.
Only for a second.
But that second was enough.
A flash of headlights exploded from both ends of the bridge.
Police vehicles.
SWAT officers.
Helicopters.
Richard's smile vanished.
"You called them?"
Rowan slowly shook his head.
"I didn't."
A familiar voice echoed through a loudspeaker.
"Richard Bellamy!"
"Drop your weapon!"
Rowan turned toward the convoy.
The person leading the operation wasn't Detective Mason.
It was Tessa.
Handcuffed.
Escorted by federal agents.
She looked directly at Richard.
"I'm done protecting you."
"You promised no one would get hurt."
Richard's face twisted with rage.
"You stupid girl."
"You were always disposable."
He fired one desperate shot.
May you like
The bullet struck the bridge railing.
Then chaos erupted.
