Chapter 3 - The Red DoorGabriel Varrick did not sleep.
Claire knew because she saw him at 3:17 a.m. standing alone in the hallway, staring at the rain.
She had spent the night beside Lily's bed.
The little girl had finally fallen asleep after Claire sang the incomplete lullaby.
Every time Claire stopped, Lily woke.
So Claire kept singing.
Quietly.
For hours.
At dawn, she found a message slipped beneath the bedroom door.
Three words.
ASK ABOUT NORA.
Claire read it twice.
Then she heard footsteps.
Gabriel.
“What are you doing?”
Claire held up the paper.
He took it.
His jaw tightened.
“Where did this come from?”
“Someone slid it under the door.”
“Did Lily see it?”
“No.”
He folded it.
“Forget it.”
Claire stared at him.
“That's difficult when someone leaves secret messages outside a dying child's bedroom.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You don't know what you're involved in.”
“Neither do you.”
The statement landed.
Gabriel stepped closer.
“Careful.”
Claire didn't move.
“You asked me here because everyone else failed. If you want me to keep Lily alive, stop deciding what information I’m allowed to have.”
His stare was brutal.
Then something unexpected happened.
He nodded.
“Nora was Lily’s mother’s sister.”
“Was?”
“She disappeared eleven years ago.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
Claire frowned.
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
“That doesn't sound possible.”
“For people like us, possible is a flexible word.”
Before Claire could answer, Lily called from the bedroom.
“Claire!”
She rushed inside.
Lily was sitting upright.
The room was cold.
The windows were locked.
The curtains were closed.
Yet Lily was trembling violently.
“What happened?”
“The red door.”
Claire searched the room.
“There isn't a red door.”
Lily pointed toward the wall.
“There was.”
Claire looked again.
Nothing.
Lily crawled toward the edge of the bed.
“Mommy took me there.”
“Where?”
“The house.”
“What house?”
Lily squeezed her eyes shut.
“The one with the red door.”
Gabriel entered behind Claire.
“What house?”
Lily stared at him.
Then she whispered:
“The house where Mommy cried.”
Gabriel's face drained of color.
“Lily, what happened there?”
The child shook her head.
“Daddy wasn't there.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“You were there.”
Gabriel froze.
Claire looked between them.
“What does she mean?”
Lily's voice trembled.
“You were behind the door.”
Gabriel stepped backward.
For the first time since Claire had met him, the feared Gabriel Varrick looked genuinely frightened.
“What door?”
Lily pointed toward the wall.
“The red one.”
Then she reached under her pillow.
She pulled out a tiny silver key.
Gabriel stared at it.
Claire stared too.
A number had been engraved on the metal.
217.
Gabriel whispered something under his breath.
Claire caught only two words.
“Mercer Hotel.”
Lily looked at him.
“That's where she took me.”
“Who?”
The little girl's eyes moved slowly toward the hallway.
“Evelyn.”
Then the lights went out.
All of them.
The penthouse disappeared into darkness.
A second later, somewhere downstairs, an alarm began screaming.
Gabriel grabbed his gun.
Claire pulled Lily into her arms.
Then a single gunshot cracked through the building.
May you like
Lily whispered against Claire’s shoulder.
“They found us.”
