Chapter 11 - The Daughter They Tried to StealI ran.
I don't remember leaving the ballroom or pushing through the crowd. I remember only the image of Ava in the back seat of that moving vehicle and the desperate conviction that every second mattered.
Marcus caught up with me in the corridor.
“Mrs. Mitchell, we have a security team tracking the vehicle.”
“Where is Ethan?”
“He's safe at the estate.”
“Don't tell me he's safe until you can prove it.”
Marcus nodded.
He understood.
We entered a black SUV, and the driver accelerated toward the estate. Daniel joined us two minutes later, his face pale with anger.
“Victor has disappeared,” he said. “The police are searching for him.”
“Then why are we driving home?”
“Because the vehicle in the video was seen near the eastern road. Marcus believes Ava may have been taken to the old service property.”
“May have been?”
“We're going to find her.”
I pressed my hands together so tightly that my knuckles whitened.
“Daniel, if anything happens to her—”
“Nothing is happening to her.”
“You don't know that.”
He looked at me.
“No. I don't. But I know that we aren't going to stop looking.”
The old service property stood beyond the estate's northern boundary. It had once housed maintenance equipment and security vehicles, but it had been abandoned after a new facility was built.
The gates were locked.
Marcus's team had already surrounded the building.
A guard approached our vehicle.
“We found the SUV.”
“Where is my daughter?” I demanded.
The guard looked toward the building.
“We're checking every room.”
I ran toward the entrance.
Daniel followed.
Inside, the air smelled of dust and oil. Several vehicles sat beneath tarpaulins, and old equipment filled the corners.
I called Ava's name.
No answer.
Then I heard a faint sound from the back of the building.
A child crying.
I ran toward it.
Ava was sitting on the floor of a small storage room, her hands tied loosely with a strip of fabric. Her face was wet with tears, and her pink dress was covered in dust.
I dropped to my knees.
“Baby!”
She threw herself into my arms.
I held her so tightly that she squealed.
“I'm here. I'm here. You're safe.”
She clung to me.
“The man said you wouldn't come if I cried.”
I kissed her hair.
“Never believe anyone who tells you I won't come for you.”
Daniel knelt beside us.
“Are you hurt, Ava?”
She shook her head.
Then she looked at him.
“Are you the man who's going to marry Mom?”
Daniel glanced at me.
“No,” he said gently. “I'm the man who's going to help keep you safe.”
Ava seemed to consider that.
Then she nodded solemnly.
“Good. Mom doesn't like people who tell her what to do.”
Despite everything, I laughed.
Daniel did too.
For a moment, the fear loosened its grip.
Then Marcus appeared at the door.
“We found the driver.”
He was a young man in his twenties who had been caught trying to escape through the rear entrance. He claimed he had been paid to transport Ava from the estate to a private residence.
“Who paid you?” Daniel asked.
The man refused to answer.
Marcus placed a photograph on the table.
It showed Victor Shaw meeting the driver outside a hotel two days earlier.
The man's face crumpled.
“He said the child would be safe. He told me no one would get hurt.”
“Where was he taking her?”
The driver looked at me.
“To Eleanor's house.”
Daniel went completely still.
“Why?”
“He said she wanted to speak to the girl.”
I pulled Ava closer.
“You're never going near that woman again.”
Daniel stood.
“Take him to the authorities.”
The driver began protesting, claiming he hadn't known the full plan. Marcus led him away.
Before leaving, the man turned back.
“There's something you should know.”
Daniel stopped.
“What?”
“Mr. Shaw said this wasn't supposed to be the final move. He said the boy was the real target.”
The room seemed to grow colder.
“Ethan?” I whispered.
The man nodded.
“He said if the girl wasn't enough, they would take the boy next.”
Daniel immediately called the estate.
Ethan answered the phone himself.
“Uncle Daniel?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Ethan, listen carefully. I need you to stay with Thomas and the guards. Don't open any doors for anyone.”
“Is Mom okay?”
“Yes. She's with Ava.”
“Can I talk to them?”
Daniel handed me the phone.
I heard Ethan's small voice.
“Mom?”
“I'm here, sweetheart.”
“Did they take Ava?”
“They tried, but we found her. She's safe.”
He began to cry.
I wanted to tell him that everything was over.
But I had learned not to make promises I couldn't keep.
“We're coming home,” I said.
“Both of you?”
“Both of us.”
When we returned to the estate, Ethan ran down the staircase and threw his arms around Ava.
The children clung to each other for several minutes.
Then Ethan looked at Daniel.
“Why are people trying to take us?”
Daniel crouched in front of him.
“Because there are adults who want something that belongs to your family, and they believe they can get it by frightening you.”
Ethan frowned.
“What belongs to our family?”
Daniel looked at me before answering.
“Some money. Some documents. And the truth about what happened to your father.”
Ethan thought about that.
“Can we give them the money?”
“No,” I said.
He looked at me.
“Why not?”
“Because the money isn't the problem. The people who think hurting children is an acceptable way to get it are the problem.”
Ethan lowered his eyes.
“I don't want to be an heir.”
I knelt beside him.
“You don't have to decide what you want to be today. You're allowed to be a child.”
He nodded.
Then he reached into his backpack and took out Matthew's old photograph.
“I found this in the pocket Dad used to keep his watch in.”
The picture showed Matthew standing beside a woman I didn't recognize.
Behind them was a building bearing the logo of Hayes Global.
On the back, Matthew had written a sentence.
THE LAST PROMISE IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN.
Daniel stared at the photograph.
“That's the original headquarters.”
He turned toward Marcus.
“Get the car ready.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because if Matthew hid the final evidence anywhere, it would be there.”
May you like
He paused.
“And if Victor knows we're going, he'll probably be waiting for us.”
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