Chapter 12 - The Empty Bedroom
Grace reached Lily's room first.
The bed was empty.
The window stood open.
"Lily!"
Nathan ran in behind her. One guard lay unconscious on the terrace below, alive but bleeding from the head.
Grace made a sound Nathan would never forget.
Not a scream.
Something lower. Animal. Broken.
"He took her."
Maya grabbed the security tablet. "No vehicle left the main gate."
Nathan looked toward the old service road behind the estate.
"The tunnel."
His grandfather had built a maintenance tunnel from the wine cellar to a utility building near the south woods. Nathan had sealed it years ago.
Or thought he had.
They found the cellar door open.
On the floor lay Lily's little white sock.
Grace picked it up with shaking fingers.
"I'm going to kill him."
Nathan crouched in front of her. "You're going to get Lily back. That's the only thing that matters."
Grace looked at him. "If anything happens to her—"
"It won't."
"You can't promise that."
He swallowed. "No. But I can promise you're not doing this alone."
Victoria stood at the cellar entrance, pale and silent.
Then she said, "I know the foundry."
Nathan turned.
"My father used it for off-book meetings. There's a loading bay on the river side. Security cameras don't cover it."
Maya looked at her. "Why are you helping?"
Victoria's eyes filled. "Because I heard Lily crying when I hit Grace."
Grace stared at her with open hatred.
Victoria continued anyway. "I told myself I was just scaring them. Then Nathan walked in and I saw what I looked like. I saw my father."
Grace stepped close enough that Victoria backed into the wall.
"Do not make this about your redemption."
"I'm not."
"Good. Because you don't get one from me."
Victoria nodded.
"I know."
At 11:42, Nathan, Grace, Victoria, and Maya approached the abandoned Cole Foundry from four directions.
Nathan's phone rang.
Richard Ashford's voice came through.
"Bring my daughter inside."
Then Lily cried out in the background.
May you like
"Mommy!"
Grace started running before anyone could stop her.
