Chapter 7 - THE EMPTY BEDROOM
Ethan called Maria.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
His pulse exploded.
He called the mansion security office.
A guard answered.
“Mr. Vale?”
“Where is Lily?”
A pause.
“Upstairs with Maria.”
“Check.”
“Sir?”
“CHECK NOW!”
Ethan heard footsteps through the phone.
Then silence.
“Mr. Vale…”
“What?”
“The bedroom is empty.”
Ethan ran.
By the time he reached the mansion, police were already there.
Maria was found unconscious in the pantry.
Alive.
A cloth had been pressed over her face.
When she woke, she remembered only one thing.
Sabrina had returned wearing a housekeeper’s uniform.
Security footage showed her leaving through the service gate.
Lily was in the back seat.
Claire collapsed into a chair.
“No.”
Ethan stood completely still.
Hale approached.
“We’ll find her.”
Ethan looked at him.
“How?”
Claire suddenly lifted her head.
“The bracelet.”
“What?”
“Lily’s bracelet.”
She grabbed Ethan’s arm.
“It has a tracker.”
Hale stared at her.
“You put a tracker on your daughter?”
“I’ve been running for eight years.”
No one questioned her again.
Claire opened an app.
A blue dot appeared.
Moving south.
Hale called dispatch.
“Do not intercept yet.”
Ethan turned.
“Why not?”
“If Sabrina sees police, she could panic.”
The dot stopped.
A private airfield.
Hale’s face hardened.
“She’s leaving.”
Police converged quietly.
At the airfield, a small private jet waited with its engines running.
Sabrina stood beside it.
One arm around Lily.
A black handgun in the other.
Ethan stopped twenty yards away.
“Sabrina.”
She turned.
Lily cried out.
“Uncle Ethan!”
Sabrina tightened her grip.
“Don’t come closer.”
Ethan raised his hands.
“You don’t want to do this.”
“You destroyed everything.”
“No.”
“You did.”
Sabrina laughed bitterly.
“You think Claire was innocent?”
Claire stepped from behind a police vehicle.
Sabrina’s face changed.
“You.”
Claire stared at her.
“You should have made sure the door was stronger.”
Sabrina pressed the weapon closer to Lily.
Ethan’s heart stopped.
“Don’t.”
Sabrina looked at Claire.
“Give me the codicil.”
Claire held up an envelope.
“Let Lily go.”
“First the document.”
“First my daughter.”
Sabrina smiled.
“You still don’t understand how this works.”
Claire tore the envelope in half.
Sabrina screamed.
“NO!”
For one second, her attention shifted.
Lily remembered something her mother had taught her.
If someone grabs you—
drop.
Go completely limp.
Lily collapsed.
Sabrina lost her grip.
Ethan ran.
A gunshot cracked across the airfield.
Claire screamed.
Ethan reached Lily and threw himself over her.
Police rushed Sabrina.
Seconds later, she was on the ground.
Handcuffed.
Ethan looked down.
Lily was crying.
But unharmed.
Then he heard Claire gasp.
Ethan turned.
She was standing beside the vehicle.
Her hand pressed against her shoulder.
Blood spread between her fingers.
“Claire!”
She looked at Lily.
May you like
Then smiled weakly.
“At least she missed my terrible haircut.”
