Chapter 8
The kidnappers had recovered the rabbit from the garden and thrown it into the truck beside Lily. Noah located the signal eleven minutes after the call.
The abandoned textile mill stood beside the river, its windows boarded and its brick walls darkened by decades of rain.
Adrian arrived with the investigation file in one hand. No visible weapon. No visible backup.
Inside, Lily sat tied to a chair beneath a hanging work light. Her eyes were red, but she was awake. Mason stood behind her with a gun. Vanessa waited near a metal table in a white coat, as though she had dressed for a business meeting rather than the abduction of a child.
Grace had followed Adrian despite his order to remain at the estate. She entered through a broken side door and hid behind an old machine.
Vanessa smiled. “You always were predictable.”
Adrian placed the file on the table. “Let her go.”
“Sign the transfer documents.”
“After she is safe.”
Mason pressed the weapon closer to Lily. “Sign them.”
Lily looked at Adrian. “I knew you would come.”
His voice softened. “I promised I would always come.”
Vanessa’s composure cracked. “She ruined everything. A maid’s child. A nobody who should have been invisible.”
Adrian looked at her. “That is why you lost.”
“What?”
“You thought people without money or power were invisible. You never considered that they might see you more clearly than anyone else.”
Vanessa grabbed the file and flipped it open. The pages were blank. Her eyes widened.
The lights went out.
Noah’s team entered through three access points. Shouts filled the mill. Mason pulled Lily from the chair and held her against his chest as a shield.
Adrian stopped moving. “Mason, don’t do this.”
May you like
“You left me no choice.”
“You had eleven years of choices.”
