Chapter 7 - The Child They TookLeo wanted to send fifty men.
Beatrice refused.
“If Damian sees them, he may hurt her.”
“He will hurt her whether we cooperate or not.”
“He has kept her alive because he needs the records.”
“And once he has them?”
Beatrice looked at the metal case on Leo’s desk.
“Then he needs me to explain where the copies are.”
“There may not be copies.”
“He does not know that.”
Leo paced before the windows.
The restraint he had shown around the investigators was gone. Every part of him seemed built for violence.
Mateo spread a map across the desk.
“St. Agnes closed fifteen years ago. Three buildings, underground tunnels, two vehicle exits.”
“Owned by?” Leo asked.
“A Kensington charitable foundation.”
Beatrice’s fear sharpened.
“Victoria is there.”
“Probably.”
Leo looked at Beatrice.
“You are not going alone.”
“The message was clear.”
“The message was written by a man who murdered your father and my wife.”
“You don’t know he killed Elena.”
“The records may prove it.”
“And Lily is still in his hands.”
Silence fell.
Beatrice stepped closer.
“All my life, people assumed I was weak because I was quiet. Damian is making the same mistake.”
Leo’s eyes remained on hers.
“What are you planning?”
“To let him think I’m terrified.”
“You are terrified.”
“Yes.”
She did not hide it.
“That does not mean I cannot think.”
Leo placed the brass key in her palm.
“The rabbit has a tracker.”
Beatrice looked at the toy Lily had dropped near the abandoned vehicle.
“He left it behind.”
“Not that rabbit.”
Leo opened a drawer and removed an identical stuffed rabbit.
“Elena bought two. Lily kept one at the lake house. Mateo placed a tracker inside it yesterday.”
“How does that help?”
“We found fibers from the second rabbit in the investigator’s car.”
Beatrice understood.
Lily had brought the duplicate.
The tracker signal was weak but active near St. Agnes.
Leo had a way to follow.
They created the illusion that Beatrice had escaped the estate alone.
She drove an old staff car with the metal case on the passenger seat. Leo’s men followed at a distance with their lights off.
St. Agnes stood behind rusted gates on the city’s south side.
The abandoned school had once served girls from wealthy families. Stone angels watched over broken windows. Wind pushed dead leaves across the courtyard.
Beatrice carried the case inside.
The entrance doors closed behind her.
Victoria appeared at the top of the staircase.
She wore a red coat and held a pistol.
“You actually came.”
“Where is Lily?”
“Still demanding her maid.”
Victoria descended slowly.
“You should be proud. She screamed your name for an hour.”
Beatrice’s hands curled around the case handle.
“Let me see her.”
“When Damian is ready.”
A man stepped from the shadows.
Gray gloves.
Silver ring.
Damian smiled.
“I always wondered what Robert Miller’s daughter would look like.”
“You have seen me for years.”
“But you never knew who I was.”
“I know now.”
Damian approached.
“You resemble your father around the eyes. He had the same stubborn disappointment.”
“You burned him alive.”
“He made a choice.”
“He found out you were stealing.”
“I was building something.”
“For yourself.”
“For the family.”
Damian circled her.
“Leo’s father was cautious. Leo is sentimental. Neither understood that fear alone cannot protect an empire. You need leverage. Judges. Corporations. Enemies who owe you favors.”
“You sold information to rival groups.”
“I sold selected information. Enough to create dependence.”
“And Elena?”
Damian’s smile faded.
“She discovered one of the accounts.”
Beatrice’s heart pounded.
“So you killed her.”
“The bomb was meant to frighten Leo.”
“It killed his wife.”
“An unfortunate miscalculation.”
Lily cried somewhere above them.
Beatrice looked toward the sound.
Damian stepped in front of her.
“The case.”
“Lily first.”
Victoria raised the gun.
“You are not negotiating.”
Beatrice looked at her.
“Does he know you planned to marry Leo after Elena died?”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed.
Damian became still.
Beatrice continued.
“You were waiting before the funeral flowers faded.”
“That is a lie,” Victoria said.
“Damian told you Leo would need a woman beside him. Someone beautiful enough to make him forget his grief.”
“Stop.”
“But Lily never accepted you.”
Victoria’s hand tightened around the weapon.
“She accepted a servant.”
“She trusted someone who was kind.”
“I was kind!”
The shout echoed through the school.
Beatrice saw the truth.
Victoria did not believe she was cruel.
She believed affection was something owed to her.
Damian reached for the case.
Beatrice stepped back.
“Release Lily.”
He nodded toward Victoria.
She disappeared upstairs.
Minutes later, Lily emerged with her hands tied loosely in front of her. Her face was streaked with tears, but she was walking.
“Bee.”
Beatrice forced herself not to run to her.
“Are you hurt?”
Lily shook her head.
“Give me the case,” Damian said.
“Let her come to me.”
Damian gestured.
Victoria pushed Lily forward.
The child moved slowly.
Her eyes met Beatrice’s.
Then Lily stumbled.
The duplicate rabbit slipped from beneath her coat.
Damian looked down.
Lily kicked it across the floor.
It struck Beatrice’s shoe.
A tiny green light blinked inside one torn seam.
Damian saw it.
His expression changed.
“Tracker.”
He grabbed Lily by the back of her coat.
Beatrice swung the metal case.
It struck his shoulder.
Papers exploded across the entrance hall.
Victoria fired.
The bullet shattered a stone angel.
Beatrice pulled Lily behind a pillar.
Outside, engines roared.
Leo’s men had received the signal.
Damian dragged Victoria toward a side corridor.
“Move!”
She fired again as armed men entered through the front doors.
Beatrice shielded Lily with her body.
Leo appeared through the smoke and dust.
“Lily!”
“Daddy!”
She ran toward him.
A steel gate dropped from the ceiling between them.
Lily collided with the bars.
Leo reached through.
“Get back!”
Damian’s voice sounded through the building’s speaker system.
“You brought him.”
Beatrice grabbed the bars.
“You knew I would.”
“Yes.”
An explosion shook the west wing.
Part of the ceiling collapsed behind Leo, separating him from Mateo’s men.
Damian appeared at the end of Beatrice’s corridor.
He held a detonator.
“This school has tunnels leading beneath the river road.”
Victoria stood beside him.
Her face was wild.
“Take the girl.”
Damian pressed a button.
Gas hissed from vents in the walls.
Beatrice smelled something sweet and chemical.
Lily swayed.
“No.”
Beatrice lifted her, but her own knees weakened.
Leo shouted through the gate.
“Hold your breath!”
The corridor blurred.
Beatrice pressed Lily’s face against her chest.
The last thing she saw was Leo pulling at the steel bars with his bare hands.
The last thing she heard was Lily whispering, “He found us.”
Then darkness swallowed them.
When Beatrice woke, her wrists were tied to a chair.
Cold water dripped somewhere nearby.
Lily lay unconscious on a mattress across the room.
Victoria watched from the doorway.
“Welcome back.”
Beatrice tested the ropes.
“Where are we?”
Victoria smiled.
“The same warehouse where your father died.”
A loudspeaker crackled overhead.
May you like
Damian’s voice filled the darkness.
“And tonight, Leo Rossi is going to die here too.”
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