Chapter 11 - THE GRAVE WITHOUT A BODY
“She isn’t dead,” Julian said.
Victoria looked confused.
“What?”
“Claire is alive.”
Victoria’s face broke.
“No.”
“Pike saw her six months ago.”
She closed her eyes.
“My father lied to me too.”
Marcus called an ambulance.
Julian crouched beside her.
“What does Leo remember?”
Victoria struggled to breathe.
“When he was little, he used to talk more.”
Julian froze.
“What?”
“Before he turned two.”
“You told me he had never spoken.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Because of what he said.”
Julian’s voice went cold.
“What did he say?”
Victoria looked at him.
“He talked about a woman singing.”
Claire.
“He said she was in a dark room.”
Julian felt sick.
“He couldn’t have remembered the hospital.”
“I know.”
“What dark room?”
“My father took him somewhere.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
Julian stared.
“You let your father take my son?”
“I thought he was helping.”
“Helping what?”
“Leo’s nightmares.”
“Where did he take him?”
Victoria began sobbing.
“To Vermont.”
Julian stopped.
The care facility.
Claire.
“Leo saw her.”
“Yes.”
“And recognized her.”
“Yes.”
“Because she was his biological mother.”
Victoria covered her face.
“I didn’t know.”
Julian stood.
Rage moved through him so cleanly it almost felt calm.
“Where is Vale taking him?”
“I don’t know.”
Elena entered with Pike.
Pike looked at Victoria.
“She knows.”
Victoria stared at him.
“You’re dead.”
“Not yet.”
Pike knelt.
“Where did your father take Claire from the facility?”
Victoria shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Pike grabbed her shoulder.
“Think.”
She cried out.
Julian pulled him back.
Pike shouted, “Vale knows the truth is collapsing. Leo is evidence. Claire is evidence. The girl is evidence.”
Julian froze.
“Lily.”
He called the team in Connecticut.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then Marcus’s phone rang.
His face changed.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“The foster house is empty.”
Julian’s blood ran cold.
“Where’s Lily?”
“Gone.”
Julian stared at Pike.
Vale had both of Claire’s children.
Marcus tapped his tablet.
“I can track Senator Vale’s vehicle.”
“Do it.”
A location appeared.
Upstate New York.
Near an abandoned property owned by the Vale Foundation.
Pike recognized it.
“That’s the old psychiatric clinic.”
Victoria whispered, “No.”
Julian looked at her.
“What?”
“My father used that place before he entered politics.”
“For what?”
She swallowed.
“People who needed to disappear.”
Nobody spoke.
Julian grabbed his coat.
Elena stood.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Claire is my sister.”
“And Lily is my daughter.”
“She’s my niece.”
Julian looked at her.
She didn’t blink.
“Fine.”
Marcus loaded weapons into the SUV.
As Julian headed for the elevator, Noah caught his hand.
“Daddy.”
Julian knelt.
“I’m bringing Leo home.”
Noah shook his head.
“The bad man said you can’t.”
“Why?”
Noah looked terrified.
“Because if you come…”
May you like
His lower lip trembled.
“…he burns the building.”
