Chapter 3 - THE RABBIT’S SECRET
Adrian carried Lily to the private sitting room beside the library.
Dr. Samuel Warren, the family physician, arrived twelve minutes later.
He listened to Lily’s lungs and checked her oxygen level.
“She will recover.”
His expression remained grave.
“Another ten minutes in that room could have been fatal.”
Adrian looked through the glass doors.
Celeste and Marcus were being guarded in the kitchen.
Neither had been allowed to leave.
Nora sat beside Lily.
She held the little girl’s hand while the doctor prepared a breathing treatment.
Adrian approached the cream-colored rabbit.
It had belonged to Lily since the night her mother died.
Isabelle Vale had purchased it during a family trip to Boston.
For three years, Lily had refused to sleep without it.
“May I look at your rabbit?”
Lily shook her head.
“Mommy said nobody could open him except me.”
“When did she say that?”
“The last night she was home.”
Adrian felt the room tilt beneath him.
Isabelle had died in a highway accident the following morning.
She had left the estate before sunrise after telling Adrian she needed to visit the foundation office.
Her vehicle had gone through a barrier during heavy rain.
The police called it an accident.
Adrian had never questioned it.
Lily touched the stitches.
“Celeste knew something was inside.”
“How?”
“I heard her talking to Mr. Marcus.”
Lily’s breathing treatment hissed softly.
“She said Mommy stole proof from them.”
Nora carefully examined the rabbit.
“These stitches are new.”
Lily nodded.
“Celeste took him yesterday.”
“She gave him back before dinner.”
Adrian asked for a pair of scissors.
Lily hesitated.
Then she placed the rabbit in Nora’s hands.
Nora cut through the new thread.
The stuffing had been disturbed.
Hidden beneath the fabric was a narrow empty pocket.
Nothing remained inside.
Celeste had already removed whatever Isabelle had hidden.
Adrian looked toward the door.
“Search Celeste’s room.”
The security chief left immediately.
Lily reached into the rabbit again.
Her fingers found something deeper beneath the stuffing.
She pulled out a folded strip of paper.
The message was written in Isabelle’s handwriting.
Adrian recognized it instantly.
The words were faded but readable.
“If anything happens to me, do not trust the woman with the white rose.”
Nora looked at Adrian.
Celeste had worn a white rose in her hair the first night Isabelle met her.
Adrian unfolded the rest of the paper.
May you like
On the final line was a number.
“Vault 317.”
