Chapter 12 - THEY TOOK LILY
Claire’s scream shook the mansion.
“Lily!”
Evelyn ran from the bathroom.
“She was here thirty seconds ago.”
Grant found the open service elevator.
A security badge lay on the floor.
Rebecca’s.
Claire’s face changed.
“She took her.”
Grant called Lucas.
Within minutes, every Bennett vehicle was being tracked.
One SUV had exited through the north gate four minutes earlier.
Its GPS was disabled almost immediately.
Claire grabbed her coat.
Grant stopped her.
“You’re not going.”
“She has my daughter.”
“Exactly.”
“And I lost her once.”
“You didn’t lose her.”
Claire looked at him.
“I am not standing in this house while someone takes her again.”
Grant knew better than to argue.
They left together.
In the SUV ahead of them, Lily sat strapped into the rear seat.
Rebecca drove.
Arthur sat beside her.
Lily was crying silently.
“Where’s Daddy?”
Rebecca gripped the wheel.
“He doesn’t want you anymore.”
“That’s a lie.”
Rebecca looked in the mirror.
The child’s voice was stronger now.
That infuriated her.
“Your mother came back.”
“She changed everything.”
Lily wiped her cheeks.
“She’s my mommy.”
Rebecca slammed her palm against the steering wheel.
“I was there for two years!”
Arthur turned.
“Keep driving.”
“I fed her.”
“I dressed her.”
“I sat beside Grant.”
“I fixed everything Claire left broken.”
Lily whispered.
“You hurt me.”
Rebecca looked at her reflection.
“I was teaching you.”
“No.”
The word was small.
But certain.
“You hurt me.”
Arthur turned toward Lily.
“That’s enough.”
Rebecca’s face tightened.
“Don’t speak to her.”
Arthur laughed.
“Now you protect the child?”
Rebecca stared at him.
Something had changed.
Lily saw it.
Even monsters could fear bigger monsters.
Arthur pointed toward the road.
“We’re going to the airfield.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“That wasn’t the plan.”
“The plan changed.”
“You said we would hide until the investigation cooled down.”
Arthur removed a passport from his coat.
“I am leaving.”
Rebecca stared.
“What about me?”
Arthur said nothing.
She understood.
He had never intended to save her.
He had used her exactly as she had used Lily.
Rebecca slowed the vehicle.
Arthur noticed.
“Keep driving.”
“No.”
“Rebecca.”
“You’re abandoning me.”
“You created this mess when you stayed close to Grant.”
“You told me Claire had to disappear.”
“I told you we had a problem.”
“You cut the brakes.”
Arthur turned cold.
“And you handed me the wrench.”
Lily’s eyes widened.
Rebecca realized the child had heard everything.
Arthur realized it too.
Silence filled the vehicle.
Then Lily reached toward the small emergency button hidden beside her adaptive seat.
Grant had installed it after the accident.
Rebecca never knew.
Lily pressed it once.
A silent distress signal transmitted directly to Grant’s phone.
Twenty miles behind them, Grant’s screen lit up.
LILY EMERGENCY LOCATION ACTIVE.
Claire saw it.
“Where is she?”
Grant looked at the map.
May you like
His blood ran cold.
“The mountain road.”
