Chapter 9 - CLAIRE
Victor stared through the glass.
“Say that again.”
Serena’s voice was barely audible.
“Lauren says Claire is alive.”
Victor felt anger before hope.
Hot.
Violent.
Protective.
“Do not play with me.”
“I’m not.”
“My wife died in a car crash.”
“A body was recovered.”
“I identified her.”
“You identified jewelry.”
Victor’s mind flashed backward.
The hospital.
The sheet.
The doctor telling him the damage was too severe.
The wedding ring.
Claire’s necklace.
A burn on a hand.
He had never seen her face.
His stomach turned.
“No.”
Serena continued.
“Your father’s people controlled the medical report.”
“My father was already dead.”
“His network wasn’t.”
Victor gripped the table.
“Where is Claire?”
“I don’t know.”
He slammed his palm against the glass.
“WHERE?”
Serena recoiled.
“I don’t know!”
Ruiz entered.
“That’s enough.”
Victor spun.
“She says my wife is alive.”
“I heard.”
“You knew?”
“No.”
Victor looked back at Serena.
“What proof?”
“She sent me a video.”
Victor went still.
Ruiz unlocked Serena’s evidence bag.
Her seized phone had already been processed.
Serena gave them a hidden cloud login.
Minutes later, a video appeared.
Timestamp: three weeks earlier.
A woman sat in a dim room.
Her hair was longer.
Her face thinner.
But Victor knew her instantly.
Claire.
Alive.
He forgot how to breathe.
The room tilted.
Lily grabbed his arm.
“Victor.”
He moved closer to the screen.
Claire looked directly into the camera.
She seemed drugged.
Confused.
Then a voice behind the camera spoke.
Lauren.
“Say his name.”
Claire’s lips barely moved.
“Victor.”
Victor broke.
He turned away, pressed both hands against the wall and lowered his head.
Three years.
Three years of grief.
Three years of Ethan growing up without his mother.
Three years of standing over an empty grave.
Lily’s eyes filled with tears.
“Victor…”
He looked at Ruiz.
“Find her.”
“We will.”
“No. Find her now.”
Ruiz’s voice remained calm.
“We need to identify the room.”
Daniel was already studying the video.
“There’s a sound in the background.”
“What?”
“A bell.”
They replayed it.
Faint.
Three chimes.
Then the low rumble of machinery.
Daniel isolated the audio.
Ruiz sent it to analysts.
Within an hour, they had a probable match.
An old Blackwood textile mill in Pennsylvania.
Closed for twelve years.
Victor knew the place.
His father used to take him there as a child.
Ruiz assembled a tactical team.
Victor insisted on joining.
Ruiz refused.
Victor went anyway.
Rain hammered the road as they approached the abandoned mill.
The buildings looked black against the evening sky.
Broken windows.
Rusting pipes.
One security light burning near the rear.
Ruiz ordered everyone out.
“Mr. Blackwood, stay in the vehicle.”
Victor opened the door.
Ruiz grabbed it.
“I am serious.”
“So am I.”
“If you walk in there and get shot, you become my paperwork.”
“If my wife is in there, you’ll need more paperwork to keep me out.”
Ruiz stared at him.
Then cursed.
“Stay behind me.”
They entered.
The first floor was empty.
The second held medical equipment.
Not old equipment.
New.
IV stands.
Monitors.
Locked cabinets.
Victor felt nauseated.
“Claire!”
Ruiz grabbed him.
“Quiet.”
A sound came from upstairs.
Metal scraping.
They followed it.
Third floor.
End of hall.
A reinforced door.
Ruiz’s team breached it.
Inside was a bedroom.
A real bedroom.
Books.
Clothes.
A bed.
A television.
And a woman standing by the window.
Victor stopped.
“Claire.”
She turned.
Her eyes widened.
For one second, neither moved.
Then Victor crossed the room.
He wrapped his arms around her.
Claire made a broken sound against his chest.
“Oh my God.”
He held her as if the world might take her again.
“I thought you were dead.”
She shook violently.
“They told me you died.”
Victor pulled back.
“What?”
“They told me the crash killed you.”
His face collapsed.
“And Ethan?”
Claire stared at him.
“Who’s Ethan?”
Victor felt his heart stop.
He searched her face.
“Our son.”
Claire went completely still.
Victor’s voice cracked.
“Claire, Ethan. Our baby.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“No.”
“You were pregnant.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
She shook her head harder.
“They told me I lost the baby.”
Victor could barely speak.
“You gave birth to him.”
“I don’t remember.”
Lily turned away, crying.
Victor held Claire’s face gently.
“He’s beautiful.”
Claire sobbed.
“Oh God.”
“He’s safe.”
Ruiz’s radio crackled.
Then chaos exploded downstairs.
Gunshots.
“CONTACT! SOUTH ENTRANCE!”
Ruiz pushed Victor and Claire behind the bed.
More shots.
Daniel shouted over the radio.
“Hospital security just called!”
Victor grabbed the radio.
“What?”
Daniel’s voice came through in bursts.
“Someone used your authorization code. Ethan was moved.”
Victor went cold.
“Moved where?”
“They thought you ordered it.”
“I DIDN’T!”
Claire stared at him.
Ruiz grabbed his own radio.
“Lock down every exit!”
Daniel’s next words destroyed the room.
“Lily’s mother is missing too.”
Lily went pale.
“Evelyn?”
Daniel continued.
“Security footage shows her leaving with Ethan.”
Victor stared at Lily.
Then the radio crackled again.
A woman’s voice came through the stolen channel.
Calm.
Familiar.
Lauren.
“Hello, sister.”
Lily stopped breathing.
Lauren laughed softly.
“You found Claire.”
Victor grabbed the radio.
“Where is my son?”
Lauren ignored him.
“Lily, I have Mom.”
Lily whispered, “Don’t hurt them.”
“Oh, I’m not going to hurt Ethan.”
Lauren paused.
“Not if you come home.”
Lily’s voice trembled.
“Home where?”
Lauren answered with an address Victor knew better than any place on earth.
Blackwood Manor.
His childhood home.
May you like
Then the connection died.
---
