Chapter 5
The cameras in Emily’s corridor had gone dark for forty-six minutes the night she vanished.
Only three people possessed credentials capable of overriding that system.
Adrian.
The elderly security administrator.
And Victor Hale.
Adrian said nothing.
Not yet.
Lily spent the first day on the marble staircase.
She barely ate.
At midnight, Adrian sat beside her.
“Lily.”
She looked at him.
“Did you see your mother leave?”
Lily frowned.
“An uncle came.”
“Which uncle?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you see his face?”
She shook her head.
Adrian removed his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.
“Your mother didn’t leave you.”
Lily’s eyes filled.
“Then where is she?”
Adrian had built his entire life around never making promises he could not guarantee.
That night, he broke the rule.
“I’m going to bring her home.”
Lily stared at him.
“Promise?”
Adrian hesitated.
Then nodded.
“Promise.”
As the days passed, Lily began following him everywhere.
She colored beneath his desk during meetings.
She ate beside him.
When he returned late at night, she waited at the top of the stairs until he came home.
One evening, Rose found Lily crying so violently she could barely breathe.
Adrian carried her to the armchair.
He tried reasoning with her.
Useless.
He tried promising again.
Worse.
Finally Rose placed a children’s storybook in his hands.
“Read.”
“I don’t read stories.”
“You do tonight.”
Adrian stared at the book.
Then began.
His voice was terrible.
Lily cried through the first page.
On the second, a duck appeared.
Adrian made the duck’s voice ridiculous.
Lily stopped crying long enough to stare at him.
On the third page, the rabbit spoke.
Adrian made the rabbit sound even worse.
A tiny laugh escaped her.
Adrian looked down.
Lily wiped her nose against his shirt.
He did not care.
By the time he reached the last page, she was asleep against his chest.
He remained in the chair for nearly two hours because moving would wake her.
The next morning, he found another drawing on his desk.
Three people.
Lily.
Emily.
And a tall man in black.
Their hands were joined.
Adrian folded the picture and slipped it into the inside pocket of his jacket.
Four days later, Lily pointed through the study window.
“That’s him.”
Victor.
Adrian’s first instinct was violence.
His second was colder.
Evidence first.
Emily alive second.
Victor afterward.
When Victor entered the study, Adrian gave him nothing.
Not a glance too long.
Not a question too sharp.
He held Lily against his chest and discussed freight invoices for twenty minutes.
When Victor finally left, Adrian waited until the door closed.
Then he looked at Lily.
“You’re sure?”
She nodded.
“That uncle took Mommy.”
May you like
Adrian kissed the top of her hair.
“You did very well.”
