Chapter 200
Elara’s POV
Elara watched Alexander’s car seat slide toward the water and something primal took over.
She tore her left hand free from the zip tie with so much force she felt skin rip. The chair clattered to the deck as she lunged across the boat, Catherine still clutched against her chest with one arm.
She dove for the car seat just as it tipped over the edge.
Her hand caught the handle and she pulled with everything she had, throwing her weight backward. The car seat swung back onto the deck and Elara collapsed with both babies, her body shielding them from the chaos around her.
Alexander was hysterical, his little face purple from screaming. Catherine had gone quiet against Elara’s chest, exhausted from terror. But they were both here, both safe, both breathing.
The boat was still spinning in wild circles. Elara crawled to the controls and cut the engine, her hands shaking so badly she could barely grip the key.
The sudden silence was deafening. Just the sound of both babies crying and water lapping against the hull.
Elara looked over the railing and saw Marcus and Julius still fighting in the river. Marcus had Julius in a headlock, dragging him toward the police launch that was approaching fast.
Detective Rivera stood at the front of the launch with a bullhorn. “Julius Wellington! Stop resisting! You’re
under arrest!”
But Julius wasn’t done. He twisted in Marcus’s grip and managed to break free, swimming hard toward his own boat that was still docked nearby. Marcus tried to grab him but Julius was faster, pulling himself up onto his boat’s deck before anyone could stop him.
“Julius, stay where you are!” Detective Rivera shouted.
Police officers on the launch had their weapons drawn, all pointed at Julius. More officers lined the shore, creating a perimeter that should have been impossible to escape.
Julius stood on his boat’s deck, water dripping from his clothes, blood running from his nose where Marcus had hit him. He looked at Marcus who was being pulled into the police launch, then at Elara holding both babies on the other boat.
And he smiled.
“You think you’ve won?” Julius called out. “You think this is over?”
Marcus was coughing up river water but he managed to respond. “It’s over, Julius. You’re surrounded.”
“This was never about winning or losing. This was about sending a message.”
“What message? That you’re insane?”
Julius laughed, the sound carrying across the water. “That you can’t protect them. Your wife, your children,
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14
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Chapter 200
everyone you love. I got to all of them without you being able to stop me. And I’m not the only one coming for you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Aurora sends her regards.” Julius backed toward his boat’s cabin. “You only cut one branch from the tree. Marcus. There are bigger branches, stronger branches. And they’re all coming for you next.”
Detective Rivera’s voice boomed through the bullhorn. “Julius Wellington, step away from that cabin and put your hands where we can see them!”
But Julius disappeared inside.
Marcus tried to jump back into the water but Dante and a police officer held him back. “He’s going to run! Don’t let him get away!”
The cabin cruiser’s engine roared to life.
Julius appeared at the controls, that same smile still plastered on his face. He looked directly at Marcus one
last time.
“See you in hell.”
Then the boat exploded.
The blast was massive, a fireball that shot into the sky and sent a shockwave rolling across the water. Elara threw herself over both babies, shielding them with her body as debris rained down around them.
Burning pieces of fiberglass and metal splashed into the river. The shockwave hit Elara’s boat and rocked it violently. Catherine started screaming again and Alexander’s cries reached a new level of panic.
When Elara looked up, Julius’s boat was gone. Just flames on the water and wreckage floating in expanding circles from where the vessel had been.
“Marcus!” Elara screamed.
She could see the police launch had been far enough away to avoid the worst of the blast. Marcus was standing at the railing, staring at the burning debris with an expression she couldn’t read.
The launch motored over to Elara’s boat. Marcus climbed aboard before the officers could even secure the lines, soaking wet and bleeding from cuts she hadn’t noticed before.
He pulled Elara and both babies into his arms, all of them shaking.
“You’re okay.” Marcus kept saying, like he was trying to convince himself. “You’re all okay.”
Elara was crying too hard to respond. She just held her children and her husband and let herself break down completely.
Detective Rivera climbed aboard next, his expression grim. “We need to get the babies checked out at a hospital. And Mrs. Thorne, you need medical attention too.”
Elara looked down and realized she was bleeding from multiple cuts, her wrists raw and torn from the zip ties. She hadn’t even felt the pain until Rivera mentioned it.
Chapter 200
“The babies first,” she said. “Make sure they’re okay before you worry about me.”
An ambulance was already waiting at the marina. Paramedics took Alexander and Catherine, checking their vitals and wrapping them in blankets. Both babies were still crying but the paramedics assured Elara that was a good sign.
“Crying means their lungs are clear and they’re responsive,” one paramedic said. “We’ll take them to Saint Barnabas for a full evaluation but from what I can see, they’re remarkably okay.”
Marcus helped Elara off the boat. Her legs gave out the moment her feet hit the dock and he caught her, lifting her into his arms like she weighed nothing.
“I can walk,” Elara protested weakly.
“Let me carry you. Just this once, let me take care of you.”
She didn’t have the energy to argue.
Police officers were already diving into the water, searching for Julius’s body. Others were collecting debris from the explosion, documenting everything.
Detective Rivera walked beside Marcus as he carried Elara toward the ambulance. “That explosion wasn’t an accident. We found evidence of a remote detonator. Julius planned this.”
“He knew he wasn’t getting away,” Marcus said. “So he tried to take us all with him.”
“Or he wanted us to think he died. Make us stop looking for him.”
Marcus stopped walking. “You think he’s alive?”
“I think the blast was centered in the cabin where he was standing. No one could survive that.”
“But?”
Rivera looked out at the water where officers were still searching. “But we haven’t found a body yet. And until we do, I can’t confirm he’s dead.”
Elara felt ice flood her veins. “He’s alive. He planned the explosion, he planned his escape. Julius isn’t dead.”
“Mrs. Thorne, that boat disintegrated. I watched it happen.”
“And you also watched him plan an elaborate kidnapping that fooled everyone. You watched him stay three steps ahead of the police for hours. Do you really think he’d kill himself when he could fake his death instead?”
Rivera didn’t answer, which was answer enough.
Marcus climbed into the ambulance with Elara while paramedics worked on the babies. Alexander had calmed down slightly, his cries reducing to whimpers. Catherine had fallen asleep from exhaustion, her tiny chest rising and falling in Marcus’s arms.
Through the ambulance windows, Elara watched police pull pieces of the boat from the water.
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Chapter 200
A cushion. Part of the steering wheel. A section of hull with the boat’s name sull visible
But there was no body or piece of Julius.
Detective Rivera’s radio crackled with updates from the dive team. They’d searched the immediate area and expanded their radius. Still nothing.
Rivera appeared at the ambulance door, his expression grim.
“We’ve recovered significant debris but no body. The current is strong here. A body could have been swept downriver, or…” He trailed off.
“Or he wasn’t on the boat when it exploded,” Marcus finished.
“We’ll keep searching. Drag the river if we have to. But Mr. and Mrs. Thorne, until we recover a body, Julius Wellington is officially a fugitive.”
AD
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