Chapter 10 - A Mother's PriceNadia insisted Daniel would not attend Vivian's meeting alone. She arranged surveillance and warned him not to discuss evidence. “You want answers,” she said. “I want people alive.”

Vivian chose a greenhouse outside the city, a place Claire had loved as a child. She stood between rows of orchids with a paper cup of tea.

“Claire was going to expose the foundation,” Vivian said. “She thought the transfers were theft. She didn't see the good we were doing.”

“By locking people in rooms?” Daniel asked.

“By protecting an organization from a scandal that would destroy thousands of legitimate services.”

“You stole money and threatened families.”

“I did what was necessary to contain a reckless accusation.”

“Where is my wife?”

Vivian looked toward the glass ceiling. “Alive the last time I saw her.”

Daniel fought the urge to lunge across the table. “When?”

Even the greenhouse had once felt like a safe place. Claire used to buy dying plants there because she couldn't stand seeing them thrown away. Daniel looked at the empty pots and thought of the patience with which she'd tried to save things everyone else had given up on.

“Eight days ago.”

“Where?”

“A place you won't find unless I help.”

She slid him a folder. In exchange for information, she wanted immunity, the return of her foundation board seat, and a written promise that Leo would never testify.

“You don't bargain with a child's safety,” Daniel said.

Vivian's mask cracked. “Claire said exactly that.”

Outside, a car engine revved. A black sedan crashed through the greenhouse gate, showering the aisle with glass. Daniel threw himself behind a stone planter. Vivian screamed and stumbled.

Nadia's team moved fast, but the car reversed and fled. A shattered piece of steel clattered beside Daniel's hand: a license-plate frame marked with the recovery center's logo.

Vivian stared at it, terrified. “Vale,” she whispered. “He knows I spoke to you.”

Then she grasped Daniel's sleeve.

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“If Marcus finds Claire first, you'll never see her again.”