Chapter 11 - the child who should not have been there)
Claire crossed the room in seconds.
She lifted Lily from the floor and held her so tightly the little girl cried harder.
"Mommy."
"I'm here."
Claire kissed her hair.
Her cheeks.
Her forehead.
"How did you get here?"
Lily could not answer.
She only clung to her.
Ethan picked up the phone.
The screen was cracked.
He called Claire's sister from his own phone.
No answer.
Marcus entered.
The moment he saw Lily, his face changed.
"How?"
Claire turned on him.
"You tell me."
"I don't know."
"Someone transported a toddler across state lines, through your security, into a locked wedding site."
Marcus looked genuinely stunned.
"Claire, I swear."
"Don't."
Lily buried her face against Claire's chest.
A notification appeared on the broken phone.
Video message.
Ethan pressed play.
Claire's sister appeared on-screen.
She was tied to a chair but conscious.
A distorted voice spoke.
Bring Eleanor's key to the eastern cliff.
Bring Vanessa.
No security.
No police.
Or the woman in the video dies.
The message ended.
Claire felt Lily trembling.
Ethan looked at Marcus.
"Lock every exit."
"Already done."
"No one leaves."
"Understood."
Vanessa appeared in the doorway.
She had heard enough.
"They want me too."
Claire looked at her.
"Why?"
Vanessa's face went pale.
"Because I know where Daniel hid the real key."
"You said it was missing."
"The tower key was a decoy."
Everyone stared.
Vanessa reached beneath the neckline of her red dress.
She pulled out a thin chain.
A small key hung from it.
Claire nearly screamed.
"You had it the whole time?"
"Daniel mailed it to me before he disappeared."
Richard stepped forward.
"Seventeen years."
Vanessa looked at him.
"You didn't deserve to know."
Claire wanted to hate her.
Maybe she did.
But there was no time.
"We have two keys."
Vanessa nodded.
"And Richard's fake one?"
"There's a third lock, but not a third key."
"What?"
"The third lock is opened from inside."
Claire stared.
"Someone has to already be in the chamber."
Richard's expression changed.
"No."
Vanessa looked at him.
"You figured it out."
Ethan frowned.
"What?"
Richard moved toward the chapel.
"Daniel."
Vanessa went still.
Claire followed the thought.
Daniel had disappeared.
His body had never been found.
The real key had been mailed away.
The chamber required someone inside.
"No," Vanessa whispered.
Richard looked at her.
"If the chamber has remained locked all these years..."
Vanessa's eyes filled.
"No."
"He couldn't survive there seventeen years," Ethan said.
Thomas had mentioned tunnels.
Hidden rooms.
Mountain access.
Claire looked at the floor plan.
"What if there's another way in?"
Vanessa stared at her.
"Daniel found the lower chamber."
Claire nodded.
"He may have found another entrance."
A radio crackled.
Then a voice.
"Movement near the eastern cliff."
Marcus turned.
Claire held Lily tighter.
Vanessa looked toward the door.
"They're waiting."
Ethan stepped closer to Claire.
"You're not going."
"My sister is tied to a chair."
"I'll go."
"They asked for me."
"They asked for the key."
Claire looked at Lily.
Every instinct told her to run.
Take her daughter.
Leave.
Never look back.
Then another notification appeared.
A live video.
Her sister.
A timer beside her.
Twenty minutes.
Claire looked at Marcus.
"Can you track it?"
"Trying."
"How long?"
"Too long."
Claire handed Lily to Ethan.
"No."
His voice was immediate.
"Ethan."
"No."
Claire touched Lily's hair.
"I need you to keep her safe."
"Claire."
"If I don't go, my sister dies."
Vanessa stepped forward.
"I'm going with her."
Ethan looked at both women.
"This is insane."
Vanessa gave him a humorless smile.
"Welcome to the family."
Claire kissed Lily.
Then she and Vanessa walked toward the eastern cliff.
May you like
Neither woman noticed Marcus quietly following fifty yards behind.
And none of them noticed Richard Ashford slipping into the chapel with the false key in his hand.
