Chapter 11 - The House Without Windows
The building stood alone against the Nevada hills.
Concrete walls.
No visible windows.
One gate.
Two guards.
Bell called for backup.
Stallone looked at the building.
“By the time backup gets here, they move her.”
“We go in wrong, she dies.”
“Then we don’t go in wrong.”
They entered through a drainage channel behind the property.
The first guard never saw Bell coming.
The second ran.
Stallone caught him near a service door.
“Where’s the girl?”
“I don’t know.”
Stallone shoved him against the wall.
“Wrong answer.”
“Lower level!”
They found six rooms underground.
Five empty.
The sixth locked.
Stallone hit the door.
“Lily?”
Nothing.
“Lily!”
A small voice answered.
“Who are you?”
His throat closed.
He leaned closer to the door.
“My name is Sly.”
Silence.
Then:
“No.”
“It’s me.”
“No. Vanessa said you’d pretend.”
Stallone shut his eyes.
That hurt more than anything yet.
“She lied to you.”
“How do I know?”
He thought of the letters.
The photographs.
Everything she had lost.
“Because you wrote me letters you never mailed.”
Silence.
“You found them?”
“Yes.”
“Read the first line of the last one.”
He remembered.
“Dad, if you ever come looking for me, don’t trust Vanessa.”
Something moved behind the door.
A lock clicked from inside.
The door opened two inches.
A girl looked out.
Brown eyes.
Dark hair.
Same face as Sofia.
For one second Stallone couldn’t move.
Lily stared at him.
“You look older.”
He laughed and cried at the same time.
“So do you.”
She opened the door.
He dropped to his knees.
“Can I hug you?”
She hesitated.
Then nodded.
He wrapped his arms around her.
She stayed stiff for a second.
Then collapsed against him.
“You took forever.”
“I know.”
“I thought you didn’t want me.”
“I didn’t know.”
She started sobbing.
Bell looked away.
Then footsteps sounded in the hall.
Keller appeared.
Blood soaked one side of his shirt.
Stallone stood.
“You.”
Keller raised both hands.
“I brought her here because there was nowhere else.”
“You call this safe?”
“No. I call it hidden.”
Bell aimed his weapon.
“Get on your knees.”
Keller obeyed.
Lily grabbed Stallone’s hand.
“He helped me.”
Bell lowered the gun slightly.
Keller looked at Stallone.
“There’s still something you don’t know.”
“I’m tired of hearing that sentence.”
“Vanessa didn’t choose Ethan.”
Stallone went still.
“What?”
“She wanted the girls.”
“Why?”
“Because Rachel’s trust transferred differently depending on which children survived.”
Bell frowned.
“Explain.”
Keller swallowed.
“Rachel’s father created a family trust worth hundreds of millions.”
Stallone stared at him.
“Rachel never told me.”
“She didn’t know the final terms.”
“What terms?”
“If Rachel died, her biological children inherited.”
Lily squeezed Stallone’s hand.
Keller continued.
“Vanessa discovered that if the children disappeared legally, control moved to the appointed trustee.”
“Who?”
Keller looked toward the hallway.
Before he could answer, a man’s voice came from the darkness.
“Me.”
An elderly man stepped into the light.
Stallone recognized him.
He hadn’t seen that face in years.
Rachel’s uncle.
Charles Carter.
The man everyone believed had moved overseas after Rachel died.
May you like
Charles smiled.
“You always were difficult to kill.”
