Chapter 13 - The Empty Bed
Room 314 belonged to a private neurological recovery center in Wisconsin.
Dominic's convoy reached it before dawn.
Clara remained at the mansion with Noah and Dr. Foster.
Dominic promised to call.
He did not.
At 6:17 a.m., Clara's phone finally rang.
She answered immediately.
"Dominic?"
Silence.
Then his voice.
"She's gone."
Clara sat down.
"What?"
"The room is empty."
"Was she there?"
"Yes."
Medical records confirmed a woman named Elaine Voss had been admitted twenty-three months earlier after severe head trauma.
She had arrived unconscious.
Her bills were paid through a private foundation.
She had difficulty remembering names.
For months, she could barely walk.
Six weeks earlier, her speech had improved.
Four days ago, she had started repeatedly saying one word.
Noah.
Then, twelve hours before Dominic arrived, someone transferred her.
"Who?"
"The paperwork says a family representative."
Clara knew the answer before she asked.
"Mrs. Hargrove?"
"No."
Dominic sounded worse.
"The signature says mine."
Someone had forged Dominic's authorization.
Elena had been moved again.
At the mansion, Mrs. Hargrove stopped cooperating.
"I warned you."
Mateo placed the forged transfer document in front of her.
"Who knew the facility?"
Mrs. Hargrove stared at the paper.
Then her face changed.
For the first time, Clara saw genuine fear.
"Get Noah out of this house."
Dominic was still on speakerphone.
"Why?"
Mrs. Hargrove stood.
"Because if Victor found Elena, he knows Noah can identify people from that night."
Clara's stomach dropped.
Mateo immediately ordered the estate security doubled.
Mrs. Hargrove grabbed Clara's arm.
"Listen to me."
Clara pulled away.
"No."
"You don't understand what that man does."
"I understand what you did."
Mrs. Hargrove's expression twisted with regret.
"I thought silence was safer than truth."
"You made a four-year-old believe talking would kill his father."
"I was wrong."
Clara looked at her.
"Yes."
An alarm sounded downstairs.
Not the house alarm.
The gate alarm.
Mateo's radio exploded with voices.
A delivery truck had rammed the outer security barrier.
Every guard moved.
Too many at once.
Clara realized it immediately.
"Distraction."
She ran toward Noah's room.
The door was open.
Dr. Foster lay unconscious in the hallway, breathing but unresponsive.
The window stood open.
A rope hung from the balcony.
And Noah was missing for the second time.
This time, he had not hidden himself.
May you like
Someone had taken him.
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