Chapter 8 - Claire's Missing MemoryClaire did not sleep.
She searched old family boxes until sunrise.
Her mother had never mentioned New York.
Never mentioned the Varricks.
Never mentioned Elena.
But Claire found an old photograph.
Her mother, Margaret, was standing beside a younger Elena Varrick.
Both women were smiling.
Claire's hands began shaking.
On the back:
Summer, 2010. Mercer Hotel.
Claire ran to Gabriel.
He looked at the photograph.
His face went blank.
“Where did you get this?”
“My mother's things.”
“Your mother knew Elena.”
Claire nodded.
“Why?”
Gabriel looked at the date.
“Because Elena disappeared for six months that year.”
Claire frowned.
“Disappeared?”
“She was hiding.”
“From whom?”
“My father.”
Gabriel explained.
Elena had discovered a trafficking network operating through luxury hotels.
Children were being moved between wealthy criminal families.
Gabriel's father had been involved.
Elena tried to expose him.
She failed.
Then she vanished.
Claire's mother had apparently helped her.
But that created another question.
“How did my mother know your wife?”
Gabriel stared at the photograph.
Then he saw something Claire hadn't noticed.
A little girl in the background.
Four years old.
Dark curls.
Lily.
Claire's blood went cold.
“I was there.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“You were?”
Claire nodded slowly.
“I think I was.”
Memory came in fragments.
A hallway.
A red door.
A woman crying.
A child hiding under a table.
Her mother shouting.
And Elena grabbing Claire by the shoulders.
“Promise me.”
Claire whispered:
“What?”
“Promise me you’ll sing it.”
The lullaby.
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
She remembered.
Not everything.
But enough.
Elena had handed her something.
A small silver key.
Number 217.
The same key Lily had hidden beneath her pillow.
Claire looked at Gabriel.
“My mother didn't just know Elena.”
“She was helping her.”
“Then why did she never tell me?”
Gabriel answered quietly.
“Because somebody threatened her.”
“Who?”
A phone rang.
Gabriel answered.
His expression changed.
“What happened?”
He listened.
Then looked at Claire.
“Your mother has been taken.”
Claire's stomach dropped.
“What?”
“Three men entered the treatment center.”
“Where is she?”
“Missing.”
Claire felt the world tilt.
Then Gabriel's phone received a photograph.
Margaret tied to a chair.
Alive.
A message appeared beneath it.
BRING THE GIRL TO THE RED DOOR.
Gabriel stared at Claire.
“They don't want Lily.”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
May you like
She looked at the photograph.
“They want me.”
