Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO VANISHED FROM A GUARDED MANSION
Victor did not speak for three seconds.
That frightened Marco more than shouting would have.
“What do you mean she’s gone?”
“She was in the east sitting room when police arrived,” Marco said. “Her attorney showed up twenty minutes later. We were dealing with officers, staff statements, medical calls—”
“Where is she?”
“We don’t know.”
Victor’s voice dropped.
“My gates were locked.”
“Yes.”
“My property had twelve guards.”
“Yes.”
“And Serena walked out?”
“She didn’t use the front gate.”
Victor’s grip tightened around the phone.
“How?”
“We found the service entrance open.”
Victor closed his eyes.
Someone inside the Blackwood mansion had helped her.
There was no other explanation.
“Lock down the security logs.”
“Already doing it.”
“Check every vehicle.”
“Yes.”
“Every employee.”
“Yes.”
Victor looked at Lily.
She was watching him carefully.
“And Marco?”
“Boss?”
“Trust no one who was in that house tonight.”
A pause.
“Understood.”
Victor ended the call.
Lily’s face had become pale.
“She escaped?”
“Someone helped her.”
“I told you.”
Victor looked at her.
“You were right.”
The admission tasted bitter.
Lily pulled the hospital blanket tighter around herself.
“She’ll come after me.”
Victor crossed the room.
“No.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“Yes, I can.”
“You promised Ethan would be safe in your house.”
The words hit him harder than any insult ever had.
Lily immediately looked regretful.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
Victor sat.
“You’re right.”
For the first time, Lily saw shame in Victor Blackwood’s eyes.
“I built that house to be impossible to enter,” he said quietly. “I never considered that the threat might already be inside.”
Lily looked toward the hallway.
“Ethan needs you.”
“So do you.”
“I’m his employee.”
“You protected my son while someone kicked you into a marble floor.”
“That doesn’t make me family.”
Victor’s expression changed.
“No. It makes you the person who behaved like family when people carrying my name did not.”
Lily had no answer.
Marco called again seven minutes later.
Victor answered instantly.
“We found something.”
“What?”
“Her room had been cleaned out.”
“When?”
“Most of her clothes are gone. Jewelry too.”
“So this was planned.”
“Looks that way.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“What else?”
“There was a second phone taped beneath a drawer.”
Lily watched his face.
“Unlocked?”
“No.”
“Get it opened legally through the investigators.”
“Already turned it over.”
Victor nodded.
Then Marco’s voice changed.
“One more thing.”
“What?”
“We found a key card.”
“To what?”
“The private records room.”
Victor went still.
Only three people were supposed to possess access to that room.
Victor.
Marco.
And Victor’s attorney, Nathan Hale.
Serena had never been authorized.
“Who issued it?”
“We’re tracing it.”
Victor ended the call.
His mind began arranging facts.
The disabled foyer camera.
The missing memory card.
The false theft accusation.
The suspicious fall from Ethan’s crib.
The estate documents.
The unauthorized records-room key.
Serena’s escape.
None of this was random.
And Victor suddenly hated himself for how long he had been distracted by the easy explanation.
Jealous fiancée.
Nervous nanny.
Household drama.
It had been convenient.
Convenience, Victor knew, was often where intelligent people became stupid.
The hospital door opened.
Dr. Bennett entered.
“Ethan is awake.”
Victor stood instantly.
“Can I see him?”
“Yes.”
Lily tried to get out of bed.
The doctor shook her head.
“You need to rest.”
“He’ll be scared.”
Victor looked at Lily.
“Come when they clear you.”
She hesitated.
“Please don’t leave him alone.”
“I won’t.”
Victor followed the doctor.
Ethan lay in a hospital crib with his arm immobilized.
His little face was exhausted.
Victor approached slowly.
“Hey, little man.”
Ethan looked at him.
His lower lip trembled.
Victor touched his hair.
“I’m here.”
Ethan’s eyes moved toward the door.
“Li.”
Victor frowned.
“Lily?”
“Li-Li.”
Victor’s throat tightened.
“She’s here too.”
Ethan’s eyes filled with tears.
“Li-Li.”
“I’ll bring her.”
The baby reached weakly toward him with his good hand.
Victor let Ethan curl his fingers around one of his.
For years Victor had controlled warehouses, companies, properties, political favors, legal teams, and men who did not ask unnecessary questions.
Yet his entire world now fit inside a hand too small to wrap around his index finger.
“I’m sorry,” Victor whispered.
Ethan stared at him without understanding.
“I should have seen it.”
His son blinked sleepily.
Victor lowered his head.
“I should have protected you.”
A nurse entered.
“There’s someone asking to speak with you.”
“Who?”
“Detective Amelia Grant.”
Victor’s old instincts rose immediately.
Police.
Questions.
But this wasn’t business.
This was Ethan.
“Send her in.”
Detective Grant was in her early forties, with tired eyes and the calm posture of someone who had spent years listening to lies.
She glanced at Ethan before addressing Victor.
“Mr. Blackwood.”
“Detective.”
“I understand you’ve agreed to cooperate.”
“Regarding my son, completely.”
“That qualifier matters.”
“It’s the one relevant tonight.”
She accepted that.
“We have statements from two household employees supporting Lily Carter’s account.”
“Two?”
“Rosa Delgado and Thomas Reed.”
Victor recognized Thomas.
One of the cooks.
“What did Thomas see?”
“He heard Miss Montigue screaming at your son on multiple occasions.”
Victor’s face tightened.
“Did he tell anyone?”
“He says he told your head of household operations.”
Victor looked at her.
“Who?”
“Adrian Cole.”
The name landed like a gunshot.
Adrian had worked for Victor for thirteen years.
He had stood beside Victor at Clara’s funeral.
He had carried Ethan out of the hospital after he was born.
Victor whispered, “Are you certain?”
Grant studied him.
“That name means something.”
“He runs the house whenever I’m away.”
“Then you should probably ask why three employees say they complained about Serena to him.”
Victor stared toward the window.
Adrian.
Impossible.
But impossible had been happening all night.
Detective Grant continued.
“There’s another issue.”
“What?”
“We searched Miss Montigue’s private bathroom.”
Victor waited.
“We found medication.”
“For what?”
“A prescription sedative.”
Victor looked sharply at her.
“For Serena?”
“No.”
Grant handed him a photograph.
The pharmacy label carried someone else’s name.
A woman Victor had never heard of.
“What does this have to do with Ethan?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Victor’s eyes dropped to the dosage.
Liquid.
Pediatric formulation.
His stomach turned.
Grant watched him.
“Has your son experienced unusual sleepiness recently?”
Victor thought back.
Ethan sleeping through dinner.
Ethan difficult to wake after afternoon naps.
Serena insisting he was going through a growth spurt.
Victor’s mouth went dry.
“Yes.”
“How often?”
Victor couldn’t answer.
He didn’t know.
Because he had been gone too much.
Meetings.
Travel.
Problems.
A world he had treated as urgent.
Meanwhile the only person in his life who truly depended on him had been crying inside his own home.
Grant took the photograph back.
“We’re testing everything.”
Victor nodded.
“Detective.”
“Yes?”
“Find Serena before she gets to Lily.”
Grant’s expression hardened.
“We’re trying.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand threats against witnesses quite well.”
“She told Lily nobody would believe her.”
“We believe evidence.”
Victor looked at Ethan.
“So do I.”
When Victor returned to Lily’s room later, she was no longer there.
His heart slammed into his ribs.
He hit the nurse-call button.
“Where is she?”
A nurse hurried in.
“Mr. Blackwood?”
“Lily Carter. Where is she?”
“She was discharged.”
“What?”
“She signed the paperwork about fifteen minutes ago.”
Victor stared at her.
“She can barely walk.”
“She said someone was picking her up.”
“Who?”
The nurse hesitated.
“A man.”
Victor’s blood went cold.
“What man?”
“I don’t know. He said he was from your household.”
Victor pulled out his phone.
He called Marco.
“Did you send someone for Lily?”
“No.”
Victor was already moving.
“Lock every exit.”
May you like
“Why?”
“Because someone just took her.”
