Chapter Seven: Lighthouse Seventeen (Part Two)
577 Words
The wind roared against the cliffs as everyone turned toward Daniel.
His confident expression had vanished.
Loki took a slow step forward, his boots crunching against the gravel.
"I didn't expect to see you here," he said, his voice steady.
Daniel swallowed.
"I could say the same thing."
Michael looked between the two men.
"You know each other?"
Neither of them answered immediately.
Ella's eyes darted from Daniel to Loki.
"Daniel... what's going on?"
Daniel let out a long breath.
"I met him years ago."
Loki folded his arms.
"Tell her the whole story."
"I can't."
"You mean you won't."
The tension between them grew so thick that even Oliver stopped joking.
Favour moved closer to Michelle and whispered, "Something isn't right."
Michelle nodded.
"I know."
Vivian quietly pulled out her camera, not to take pictures, but to record notes.
Every instinct she had as a journalism student told her this moment mattered.
Daniel finally looked at Ella.
"When you were little, Dad asked me to make a promise."
"What promise?"
"That no matter what happened... I'd protect you."
Ella frowned.
"Protect me from who?"
Before Daniel could answer, Loki spoke.
"From the people who wanted your family's fortune."
The words struck everyone like lightning.
"My family had a fortune?" Ella asked.
Loki nodded.
"Not just wealth. Your parents owned land along this coastline—land that later became worth millions. But money wasn't the only reason people came after them."
Michael stepped closer to Ella.
"What else?"
Loki's expression darkened.
"They possessed documents exposing corruption involving several powerful business leaders."
Vivian's eyes widened.
"You mean..."
"Yes," Loki replied. "If those documents become public, some of California's most respected names would lose everything."
Oliver looked toward the abandoned lighthouse.
"And you think those documents are hidden here?"
Loki gave a slow nod.
"I do."
A heavy silence settled over the group.
The crashing waves below seemed louder than ever.
Ella looked down at the brass key still resting in her hand.
"So... my parents left me here for a reason."
"They trusted that one day you'd return."
She looked at the lighthouse again.
For a split second, an image flashed through her mind.
A woman laughing.
A little girl running across wet sand.
A man lifting her onto his shoulders.
Then...
A deafening clap of thunder.
Screams.
The image disappeared as quickly as it had come.
Ella grabbed her head.
Michael caught her before she lost her balance.
"Ella!"
"I'm okay..."
"No, you're not."
She opened her eyes.
"I remembered something."
Everyone froze.
"What did you see?" Michelle asked gently.
"I don't know."
Her voice shook.
"It was only pieces."
Before anyone could ask another question, the sound of an engine echoed through the valley.
A black SUV appeared at the entrance to the lighthouse grounds.
Victor stepped out.
He looked relieved to see Ella was unharmed.
Then another door opened.
Torgan Blackwood emerged.
He adjusted the cuffs of his dark coat before meeting Ella's gaze.
"So," he said calmly.
"You finally came home."
Ella's heart pounded.
"You know who I am."
"I've always known."
"Then tell me the truth."
Torgan looked at the lighthouse towering behind her.
"The truth isn't something you hear."
He glanced at the brass key in her hand.
"It's something you unlock."
With that, he stepped aside, revealing the rusted iron door at the base of Lighthouse Seventeen.
For the first time in twelve years...
The door was about to be opened.
- Writer
