Chapter 8 - CLAIREElena screamed.
Arthur and Mason pounded on the door.
“Mara!”
The lock wouldn't open.
Inside the room, Elena turned slowly.
The voice had come from behind the curtains.
She pulled them aside.
No one.
Only an open window.
She looked down.
Thirty feet below.
Nobody could have climbed away without being seen.
Then she saw something on the floor.
A fresh photograph.
It showed Claire.
Older.
Alive.
Elena's hand trembled.
On the back:
MIDNIGHT. OLD CHAPEL. COME ALONE.
The door finally opened.
Arthur rushed in.
“What happened?”
Elena showed him the photograph.
Arthur stopped breathing.
“That can't be.”
Mason took it.
“Do you know where this chapel is?”
Arthur nodded.
“My father owned the land around it.”
At midnight, Mason insisted on surveillance.
But Elena refused to stay behind.
They reached the abandoned chapel just before twelve.
The place was dark.
Broken windows.
Rotting wooden benches.
A bell tower that hadn't worked in decades.
At twelve exactly, the chapel door opened.
A woman entered.
Gray coat.
Dark hair.
Older.
She looked exhausted.
Arthur stepped forward.
“Claire?”
The woman froze.
Then she turned.
Arthur collapsed against the nearest bench.
“Claire.”
Elena stared at her.
Something inside her recognized the woman before her mind did.
“Mom?”
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
She ran toward Elena.
They held each other.
Seventeen years disappeared in seconds.
Claire whispered:
“My little girl.”
Elena cried.
“You're alive.”
“I've always been alive.”
“Why didn't you come for me?”
Claire pulled away.
“I tried.”
“Then why?”
“Because every time I got close, someone found me.”
Arthur stepped forward.
“Who?”
Claire looked at him.
“Your father.”
“He's dead.”
“I know.”
“Then who is doing this now?”
Claire's expression changed.
“Your stepbrother.”
Arthur froze.
“What?”
“Your father's other son.”
Arthur stared.
“I don't have a brother.”
“You do.”
Claire opened a folder.
Inside were documents proving that Arthur's father had another child from an affair.
The child had been raised under another surname.
His name was Daniel.
Claire whispered:
“Daniel Vance has spent seventeen years fixing your father's unfinished business.”
Arthur shook his head.
“Why?”
“Because your father left him everything.”
Elena looked at the documents.
“Everything?”
“The companies. The money. The secrets.”
Claire pulled out one final photograph.
It showed Daniel standing beside Victoria.
Arthur stared.
“Victoria?”
Claire nodded.
“They've been working together.”
Victoria's face flashed through Elena's mind.
Her calmness.
Her warnings.
Her knowledge of the hidden rooms.
Everything suddenly made sense.
Arthur's voice hardened.
“Where is Victoria now?”
Claire looked away.
“Gone.”
Mason's radio crackled.
“Detective, we have a problem.”
“What?”
“Mrs. Vance has disappeared from the mansion.”
Arthur turned.
Then another message.
“Leo is missing again.”
Elena's heart stopped.
Claire whispered:
“They took him.”
A third message came.
This one from an unknown phone.
BRING MARA TO THE WALL BEFORE MIDNIGHT TOMORROW.
Beneath it was a photograph.
Leo.
Alive.
May you like
Tied to a chair.
And standing behind him was Victoria.
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