Chapter 7: The Vanishing From Inside the Mansion
“Lily!” Richard roared.
He ran through the hall, checking every room.
“Lily! Answer me!”
Rosa groaned on the floor. “Sir…”
Richard knelt beside her. “Where is she?”
“A man… delivery uniform… back door…”
Richard shouted to the officers, “Lock the gates!”
One officer ran outside. “The rear gate is open!”
Richard turned on Monica. “You gave them the code.”
Monica sobbed. “No!”
Carter, handcuffed, laughed from the foyer. “Andrew always had codes.”
Richard punched him so hard an officer had to pull him back.
“Mr. Hale, stop!”
Richard pointed at Carter. “He knows where she is.”
Carter spat blood. “I know many things.”
Monica whispered, “Andrew won’t hurt her.”
Richard turned slowly. “How do you know?”
“Because…” Monica swallowed. “Because Lily is the key.”
“To what?”
“To Grace’s final account.”
Richard stared. “What account?”
Monica looked at the blue box. “Grace moved the evidence into a trust. The files unlock only with Lily’s voice and your fingerprint.”
Richard’s voice shook with rage. “You tortured my daughter for weeks because you needed her voice?”
“I was trying to make her say the phrase!”
“What phrase?”
Monica cried, “I don’t know! Grace changed it before she died!”
Richard’s phone buzzed.
A video call.
He answered.
Lily appeared on screen, crying in the back seat of a van.
“Daddy!”
Richard nearly broke. “Baby, listen to me. I’m coming.”
Andrew’s voice spoke off camera. “She’s safe for now.”
Richard shouted, “Show your face.”
Andrew leaned into frame.
He looked like Richard’s shadow—same eyes, same jaw, but crueler.
“Hello, brother.”
“Let her go.”
“Bring the blue box to the old glass factory.”
“I’ll bring police.”
“Then Lily disappears like Grace.”
Lily cried, “Daddy, don’t come! He has a gun!”
Andrew smiled. “Smart girl.”
Richard’s voice dropped. “If you touch her—”
Andrew interrupted, “One hour. Alone.”
The screen went black.
Monica whispered, “Richard, don’t go.”
He looked at her. “If Lily dies, every breath you take after tonight belongs to me.”
Then the house phone rang.
Rosa, barely conscious, answered it.
May you like
Her face went white.
“Sir… it’s Miss Grace’s voice.”
