Chapter 10 - The Price of Silence

Adrian called Naomi. No answer. He called Rosa. Straight to voicemail.

His stomach dropped.

Hannah seized his wrist. “Don't run into a trap.”

“My daughter is in that house.”

“Then let me get officers there first.”

He forced himself to stay long enough for Hannah to dispatch a team. Celia gave them the name of a transport company and a warehouse address on the south side.

“That's where they took Evelyn,” she said. “I saw the order.”

“Why keep her alive?” Hannah asked.

“Because she has the original records. Marcus never found where she hid them.”

At the mansion, Adrian found Naomi tied to a chair in the pantry. Rosa had locked herself and Sophie inside the upstairs bathroom. Both were safe, but the door bore fresh dents from someone trying to force it.

Adrian held Sophie so tightly she protested.

“Daddy, you're squishing me.”

He loosened his arms and kissed her hair.

Rosa handed him a phone she'd found outside the bathroom. On its screen was a live video of Evelyn, sitting beneath a harsh ceiling light.

The drive back to the mansion seemed endless. Every red light felt personal. Hannah had warned Adrian not to call the kidnappers or agree to a trade without police support. He obeyed, though each mile cost him another piece of his composure. He pictured Sophie in the nursery, asleep beneath the painted blue moon, and remembered how often he'd told her monsters weren't real.

Naomi met him at the service entrance with a bruised wrist. She had fought off a man posing as an electrician after the security team tried to escort her away from the monitors. Rosa had locked Sophie in the bathroom and barricaded the door with a laundry cart. 'She kept asking whether I'd leave her,' Rosa said. 'I told her I wasn't going anywhere.' Adrian thanked her, then realized how small the words were beside what she'd done.

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The phone Rosa had recovered buzzed again. A distorted voice told Adrian to bring the missing documents by dawn. Evelyn appeared briefly on the screen, blinking beneath harsh fluorescent lights. She tried to say something before the camera moved. Adrian replayed the clip until he heard it: not a plea, but an instruction. 'Remember the bad painting,' she whispered. Then the screen went black.

A voice off camera said, “Bring the documents by dawn, Adrian. Or this is the last time you see her.”