Chapter 10 - The Night Adeline Disappeared
They returned to the estate at 3:04 a.m.
The front doors were open.
No guards visible.
Elias stepped from the SUV before it stopped completely.
“Rafael.”
“Teams sweep left.”
Rose, despite a freshly bandaged shoulder and direct medical instructions to rest, followed.
“You stay behind me.”
“No.”
“That wasn't a suggestion.”
“Neither was my answer.”
He almost argued.
Then remembered she was thirty, not eleven.
“Fine.”
Inside, the foyer was empty.
No bodies.
No signs of struggle.
That was worse.
Rafael's team spread through the first floor.
“Security room clear.”
“Kitchen clear.”
“East wing clear.”
Elias ran upstairs.
Evelyn's bedroom.
Empty.
The bassinet remained beside the bed.
Blanket on the floor.
Elias felt panic.
“Evelyn!”
No answer.
Bernadette's room.
Empty.
Vincent's guarded room.
Door open.
Two guards unconscious.
Alive.
Drugged.
Rose knelt.
“Sedative.”
“You recognize it?”
“Ashford used something similar.”
Elias's fists tightened.
“Vincent.”
Rose looked up.
“Don't decide yet.”
“He vanished with them twice.”
“And saved Evelyn once.”
“Maybe.”
“Your wife warned you about reactions.”
Elias hated how much Rose sounded like Rosalind.
A sound came from the hallway.
Bernadette emerged from a linen closet holding a brass candlestick like a weapon.
“Bernadette!”
She lowered it.
“Oh, thank God.”
“Where's Evelyn?”
“I don't know.”
“What happened?”
“Vincent came upstairs.”
Elias felt vindicated.
Then Bernadette continued.
“He was bleeding.”
Elias stopped.
“From where?”
“Side. Gunshot, I think.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me to take Evelyn and the baby into Rosalind's old passage.”
“What passage?”
Bernadette looked embarrassed.
“There are things about this house you don't know.”
“Apparently the list is infinite.”
She led them into Rosalind's dressing room.
Behind an antique mirror was a narrow staircase.
Elias stared.
“My wife had a secret tunnel?”
“She called it a passage.”
“That distinction is incredibly useful.”
Rose almost smiled.
They descended.
The tunnel connected the family wing to the greenhouse.
Halfway down they found blood.
Vincent's.
At the greenhouse exit, more blood.
Then footsteps.
Evelyn's slippers lay on the floor.
No Evelyn.
No baby.
Outside, tire tracks cut across wet gravel.
Elias closed his eyes.
“They took them.”
Bernadette nodded.
“Vincent was trying to protect them.”
“Where is he?”
Rose pointed toward the old tool shed.
A low groan came from inside.
They found Vincent against the wall.
Pale.
Blood soaking his shirt.
Alive.
Elias knelt.
“Who?”
Vincent opened his eyes.
“Took you long enough.”
“Who took them?”
“Matteo.”
Elias went still.
No.
Rosalind's notebook had said Matteo was clean.
“Impossible.”
“People change.”
“What happened?”
Vincent struggled to breathe.
“I saw Matteo enter Evelyn's room. He had a medical bag. Said the baby needed examination.”
“Evelyn trusted him?”
“No. She called for Bernadette.”
Vincent coughed.
“I confronted him. Two security officers came behind me.”
“Which?”
“Donovan and Price.”
Rafael transmitted names to teams.
Vincent continued.
“They were his. Not yours.”
“Where did they go?”
“North road.”
“Why didn't you call?”
“Signal jammer.”
Rose leaned close.
“Did Matteo say where?”
Vincent looked at her.
“Hello, Rosie.”
Rose's expression softened unexpectedly.
“You look terrible.”
“You always were charming.”
“You knew she was alive,” Elias said.
Vincent closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Most of her life.”
Elias nearly exploded.
Rose interrupted.
“Not now.”
She was right.
Again.
Elias hated it.
“Where would Matteo take them?”
Vincent whispered, “Ashford.”
“Which facility?”
“Original rehabilitation center.”
Rose understood.
“No.”
Elias looked at her.
“What?”
“They closed it ten years ago.”
“Where?”
“Outside Kingston.”
“Distance?”
“Forty minutes.”
Rafael stood.
“We move now.”
Vincent caught Elias's wrist.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“Matteo isn't working for Samuel.”
Elias frowned.
“Then who?”
Vincent looked toward Rose.
“Your mother.”
Rose froze.
“My mother is dead.”
“No.”
Everything stopped.
Elena Rossi.
Hospice.
Death certificate.
Rosalind as emergency contact.
Another false death?
Rose shook her head.
“I saw the certificate.”
“So did Elias for Rosalind.”
Vincent coughed again.
“Rosalind helped Elena disappear.”
Rose stared.
“Why?”
“Because Elena discovered Samuel wasn't the only threat.”
“Who?”
Vincent tried to speak.
Pain overtook him.
Bernadette shouted for medical help.
Elias leaned closer.
“Who?”
Vincent opened his eyes.
“The person running Ashford now.”
“Samuel?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Vincent whispered one name.
“Henry.”
Elias froze.
“Henry Beaumont is dead.”
Rosalind's father.
Dead before the wedding.
Vincent laughed weakly.
“Apparently death is flexible in this family.”
Then he lost consciousness.
The ambulance team arrived.
Elias stood beside Rose.
Her face looked shattered.
“My mother is alive.”
“Maybe.”
“She let me believe she was dead.”
Elias had no comforting answer.
He knew exactly how that felt.
They left for Kingston.
The abandoned Ashford rehabilitation center sat behind chain-link fencing and dead trees.
Three-story brick building.
Windows covered.
Yet lights glowed inside.
Elias's team surrounded the property.
Rose studied the building.
“I was here.”
“When?”
“After Samuel took me.”
Elias looked at her.
“This was the basement?”
“Yes.”
She swallowed.
“They told everyone it was a recovery center.”
“For what?”
“Trauma.”
Her laugh was bitter.
“They created plenty of it.”
Inside, the building smelled of disinfectant despite supposedly being abandoned.
Recent use.
They found medical rooms.
Offices.
Old therapy spaces.
Then a locked ward.
A child's crying echoed faintly through the corridor.
Baby Rosalind.
Evelyn.
Elias moved faster.
“Wait,” Rose hissed.
Too late.
He rounded the corner.
Matteo stood at the end of the hall.
Gun lowered.
Not pointed.
Elias raised his.
“Where are they?”
“Safe.”
“I've heard that word too many times.”
“Elias—”
“Drop it.”
Matteo placed the gun on the floor.
Rose appeared beside Elias.
Matteo looked at her.
His face collapsed.
“Rose.”
She stared.
“You know me.”
“Yes.”
“From where?”
“Your mother.”
A door opened.
A woman stepped into the corridor.
Older.
Thin.
Gray threaded through dark hair.
Rose stopped breathing.
The woman's face was unmistakably hers.
Elena Rossi.
Alive.
Rose made one sound.
“Mom?”
Elena covered her mouth.
Tears immediately filled her eyes.
“Rosie.”
Rose's weapon lowered.
For a moment Elias forgot every conspiracy.
He watched a mother and daughter stare at each other across thirteen stolen years.
Then another person stepped from the room behind Elena.
A tall elderly man.
White hair.
Cane.
Elias recognized him from photographs in Rosalind's childhood albums.
Henry Beaumont.
Rosalind's father.
The dead man smiled.
“Elias.”
Elias raised his weapon again.
Henry sighed.
“You always were predictable.”
“Where is Evelyn?”
“Upstairs.”
“The baby?”
“Perfectly safe.”
“Why take them?”
“Because Samuel isn't the man you should fear anymore.”
Henry stepped closer.
“Samuel built the machine.”
His smile vanished.
“I perfected it.”
And in that moment, Elias understood that capturing Samuel Vance had not ended anything.
May you like
They had only removed the first mask.
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