Chapter 8 - LILY IS GONE
I don’t remember screaming.
Nora later told me I did.
I remember the empty bed.
I remember the open window.
I remember touching Lily’s blanket as if she might somehow still be beneath it.
Then the house filled with police.
Dogs.
Detectives.
Questions.
Alvarez arrived in twelve minutes.
“How was the alarm disabled?”
“I don’t know.”
Marcus checked the system.
Someone had used the master code.
Only I knew it.
Or so I thought.
Then Ethan appeared at the top of the stairs.
His face was white.
“I know how.”
Everyone turned.
“My dad made me install an app on Aunt Claire’s phone.”
“When?”
“Months ago.”
I stared at him.
“What app?”
“He said it was family security.”
Marcus grabbed my phone.
Within minutes, he found hidden remote-access software.
Robert had been watching.
Messages.
Passwords.
Security codes.
Possibly locations.
I felt violated in a way I couldn’t describe.
But none of that mattered.
Only Lily mattered.
At 4:12 a.m., my phone rang.
Unknown number.
Alvarez signaled for silence.
I answered.
“Mom?”
My knees nearly gave out.
“Lily.”
Her voice was shaking.
“Mom, I’m scared.”
“Baby, listen to me.”
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
A man grabbed the phone.
Robert.
“Hello, Claire.”
I almost stopped breathing.
“If you hurt her—”
“I’m not going to hurt Lily.”
“You already have.”
“I need the ledger.”
“Take it.”
Alvarez shook his head.
I ignored him.
“Take everything.”
“Just bring her back.”
Robert laughed softly.
“Now you understand.”
“Understand what?”
“What it’s like when someone decides they’re entitled to destroy your life.”
“You destroyed your own life.”
His voice hardened.
“Midnight tomorrow.”
He gave me an address.
An abandoned Bennett Hospitality warehouse.
“Come alone.”
“I want to hear Lily.”
“You already did.”
The call ended.
Police traced nothing useful.
Burner phone.
Moving vehicle.
But Robert made a mistake.
The warehouse belonged to a company he had secretly purchased using Lily’s trust.
Investigators found old utility records.
Security plans.
Underground access tunnels.
The meeting was obviously a trap.
So we prepared our own.
At 11:50 the next night, I walked into the warehouse carrying the blue ledger.
Police were hidden nearby.
A microphone was taped beneath my shirt.
My legs shook.
But I kept walking.
A light came on.
Robert stood twenty feet away.
He held Lily by the shoulder.
She was crying.
Her hands were tied.
Every instinct in me screamed.
“Let her go.”
“Ledger first.”
I held it up.
“You killed Michael.”
Robert smiled.
“That’s what Dean says?”
“Did you?”
His expression flattened.
“He was going to destroy everything.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“He thought he was better than me.”
“Did you kill him?”
Robert’s hand tightened on Lily’s shoulder.
She winced.
I stepped forward.
“Don’t touch her.”
“Stay there!”
I stopped.
“Did you kill Michael?”
Robert stared at me.
Then he said it.
“I didn’t tell Dean to kill him.”
My heart pounded.
“But you told him to damage the brakes.”
“He was supposed to scare him.”
“And when Michael died?”
Robert’s face remained cold.
“I adapted.”
That sentence ended whatever remained of my brother.
I threw the ledger onto the floor between us.
“Now give me Lily.”
He released her.
“Run, baby!”
Lily ran.
I ran toward her.
Then Robert pulled a gun.
“Claire!”
Alvarez shouted from somewhere outside.
Robert grabbed the ledger.
Police flooded the warehouse.
“Drop the weapon!”
Robert backed toward a side door.
Then another figure appeared behind him.
Helen.
“Robert.”
He spun.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Helen was crying.
“Give me Ethan back.”
Robert laughed.
“You gave him away.”
“No.”
“I saved him from you.”
Robert raised the gun.
Not at me.
At Helen.
A shot exploded.
May you like
Lily screamed.
And Helen dropped to the concrete floor.
