Chapter 4 - THE BLACKOUT
The drive back to New York felt endless.
I called the mansion seventeen times.
No answer from Grace.
No answer from Mrs. Donnelly.
No answer from Michael.
Nico finally reached one guard through an emergency satellite line.
“What happened?” I demanded.
“Power failed at twenty-one forty-two.”
“Generator?”
“Disabled.”
“By who?”
“We don't know.”
“Where is Grace?”
Silence.
My voice dropped.
“Where is the little girl?”
“Amara is safe.”
Air entered my lungs again.
“Repeat that.”
“Amara is safe. She's with Mrs. Donnelly in the panic room.”
“And Grace?”
“Missing.”
I closed my eyes.
Michael.
I had left him inside my house.
I had practically handed Grace to him.
“Find him.”
“We can't.”
My eyes opened.
“What?”
“Mr. Trent is gone too.”
Nico stared through the windshield.
Neither of us spoke.
Three hours later, another call came.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Julian.”
Michael.
“Where is she?”
“Who?”
“Don't.”
He sighed.
“Grace is alive.”
I felt rage become something cold.
“You took Lucy.”
“I moved her.”
“Where?”
“I can't tell you.”
“Then you're choosing how this ends.”
“Victor is the enemy, Julian. Not me.”
“You walked into a foster mother's house and took my six-year-old daughter.”
“To keep her away from Victor.”
“Where is she?”
“Safe.”
I laughed once.
There was nothing humorous in it.
“You stood beside her coffin.”
“I know.”
“You watched me bury an empty box.”
“I know.”
“You let me believe my child was dead for two years.”
Michael became quiet.
“That part wasn't supposed to happen.”
For one second, my anger disappeared beneath confusion.
“What does that mean?”
“The original plan was to get Isabelle and Lucy out.”
I stopped breathing.
“What?”
“Isabelle wanted to leave you.”
Nico glanced at me.
Michael continued.
“She came to me four weeks before the crash.”
“That's a lie.”
“She had files on Victor. Shipping records. Payments. Names. She'd discovered he was using your companies behind your back.”
“What does that have to do with leaving me?”
“She knew what would happen when Victor realized she'd found him.”
“So she came to you?”
“She wanted help disappearing with Lucy.”
My hands tightened.
“Why?”
“Because she didn't believe you'd choose them over the organization.”
The words hit harder than any bullet ever had.
I remembered Isabelle's question.
If you could leave everything tomorrow, would you?
My answer.
People like me don't walk away.
Michael continued.
“I arranged identities. Safe houses. Transportation.”
“The crash?”
“Wasn't part of the plan.”
“Who caused it?”
“Victor.”
“You said he wasn't the enemy?”
“I said I'm not.”
“Where is Grace?”
“She found something she shouldn't have.”
“What?”
“Daniel left more than that flash drive.”
A sound came through the phone.
Metal.
Then a woman's voice.
“Julian!”
Grace.
I stood so quickly my head nearly struck the roof.
“Grace!”
“I'm okay.”
Michael pulled the phone away.
“She has another copy of Isabelle's files.”
“Then let her go.”
“I can't.”
“Michael.”
“You don't understand how many people are involved.”
“Then explain.”
“Not over the phone.”
“Where?”
A pause.
“The old Madison Hotel.”
I knew it.
One of my father's abandoned properties.
“Come alone.”
“You know I won't.”
“I know.”
He disconnected.
The Madison had been closed twelve years.
At 2:15 a.m., I walked through the lobby.
Nico and his men entered through service tunnels.
Michael sat inside the former ballroom.
Grace was beside him.
Her wrists weren't tied.
That surprised me.
She stood when she saw me.
“Julian.”
I looked at Michael.
“If she's hurt—”
“She isn't.”
Grace shook her head.
“He didn't hurt me.”
I stared at her.
“Then why are you here?”
Grace held up an envelope.
“Because Daniel mailed something to my sister before he died.”
Michael looked exhausted.
“Show him.”
Grace handed me the envelope.
Inside was a memory card.
And a note.
Grace,
The woman lived longer than they said.
My chest tightened.
“What woman?”
Grace whispered, “Isabelle.”
The floor seemed to move.
“No.”
Michael looked away.
Grace continued.
“Daniel discovered the hospital records were altered twice.”
I couldn't speak.
“How long?”
“Four days.”
My wife had survived four days after the crash.
While I stood beside an empty hospital bed being told she was dead.
“Where?”
“Same hospital. Restricted wing. Registered under another name.”
“Did Victor know?”
Michael answered.
“Yes.”
I turned on him.
“And you?”
“Not until afterward.”
“Who was with her?”
“Daniel recorded part of it.”
We inserted the card into a laptop.
The video was shaky.
Daniel had apparently filmed through a partially open doorway.
Isabelle lay in a hospital bed.
Burned.
Bandaged.
Weak.
Victor stood beside her.
His voice was clear.
“Tell me where the files are.”
Isabelle said nothing.
Victor leaned closer.
“Your daughter is alive.”
Her eyes opened.
My heart broke all over again.
“Lucy?”
“She's alive. For now.”
Isabelle tried to move.
Victor continued.
“Give me the files and she remains alive.”
Isabelle whispered something.
Daniel's microphone barely captured it.
Victor bent closer.
She said it again.
“Julian will find her.”
Victor smiled.
“No. Julian believes she's dead.”
Isabelle turned her face toward the window.
“He'll know.”
Victor laughed.
“Your husband knows exactly what I allow him to know.”
The recording ended.
I stared at the screen.
My wife had died knowing Lucy survived.
Knowing I didn't know.
Michael spoke quietly.
“That's why I moved Lucy.”
I looked at him.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Victor wasn't operating alone.”
“Who?”
“I don't know all of them.”
“Names.”
“Your father's old council.”
Most were retired.
Some supposedly dead.
Some were still inside my organization.
Michael continued.
“Victor has spent years building a network around you. Drivers. accountants. security. politicians.”
“Then why keep Lucy alive?”
Grace answered.
“Leverage.”
Michael nodded.
“Isabelle hid evidence. Victor believed Lucy might know where.”
“She's a child.”
“She was four. Children hear things.”
“Where is she now?”
Michael hesitated.
That was enough.
I stepped toward him.
“Tell me.”
“I moved her from Maine because Victor found Nora.”
“Where?”
“Mercy House.”
Grace inhaled.
Michael turned the laptop toward us.
A map appeared.
Private property on a small island off the Maine coast.
No listed owner.
No road access.
Only a dock.
“Lucy is there?”
“Yes.”
“With who?”
“People I trust.”
“You don't have people I trust.”
“That is exactly the problem.”
My phone vibrated.
Nico.
I answered.
“Go.”
“Julian, we have movement outside.”
“How many?”
“At least twelve.”
Michael stood.
His face went pale.
“He followed you.”
Gunfire erupted outside.
Glass shattered.
Grace ducked.
I pulled her behind a marble column.
Michael drew his weapon.
“Back exit!”
Nico's men fired from the upper balcony.
Then something rolled through the doorway.
Smoke filled the ballroom.
Through the chaos, I heard Michael shout.
“Julian!”
I turned.
A red laser rested on my chest.
Michael slammed into me.
The shot hit him instead.
He fell.
Grace screamed.
I caught him before his head struck the floor.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Michael.”
He grabbed my jacket.
“Listen.”
“We're getting you out.”
“Listen.”
His voice was fading.
“Mercy House isn't safe anymore.”
My stomach dropped.
“Why?”
His fingers tightened.
“Victor knows.”
I leaned closer.
“How?”
Michael's eyes filled with something I had never seen before.
Terror.
“Because he has someone closer to you than me.”
May you like
Then his hand went limp.
And somewhere hundreds of miles away, my daughter was once again surrounded by people I couldn't trust.
