Chapter 8 - the choice no mother should make)
Claire read the note three times.
Come with your daughter.
Or Thomas dies.
Ethan tore it from her hands.
"No."
Claire looked at him.
"We don't even know if Thomas is alive."
"Then we find him."
"How?"
"Police. Federal investigators. Everyone."
"And if whoever took him sees them coming?"
Ethan paced across the lodge room.
"Lily is not going anywhere near Saint Orison."
"I agree."
He stopped.
Claire continued.
"But whoever wrote this expects her."
"So?"
"So we make them believe she's there."
Ethan stared at her.
"No."
"We use a decoy."
"No."
"We already have private security."
"Claire."
"We control the guest list. We control the vehicles. We control the rooms."
"We don't control whoever is inside this."
She knew he was right.
That was the worst part.
Marcus entered after knocking once.
"I found something."
He placed a laptop on the table.
Security footage from Thomas Vale's property appeared.
A figure entered at 2:13 in the morning.
Face hidden.
Height average.
Dark clothing.
Nothing useful.
Then Marcus switched cameras.
A vehicle appeared on a distant road.
Black SUV.
The license plate was unreadable.
"But watch this," Marcus said.
The vehicle stopped.
A second person approached from the trees.
They exchanged something.
Then the second person entered the passenger side.
Ethan leaned closer.
"Can you enhance it?"
"Not enough."
Claire looked at the silhouette.
Something about the movement felt familiar.
"Again."
Marcus replayed it.
The person walking from the trees had a slight limp.
Claire remembered someone.
Richard.
After a skiing injury years earlier, Ethan's father occasionally favored his left leg.
"No."
Ethan saw it too.
"That's not proof."
Marcus said nothing.
"Where is Richard?" Claire asked.
"His helicopter left yesterday."
"Went where?"
"Denver."
"Can you confirm he was on it?"
Marcus did not answer.
Ethan picked up his phone.
His father did not answer.
Claire sat slowly.
"What if Richard took Thomas?"
"Then why tell us to cancel the wedding?" Ethan asked.
"Maybe to make himself look innocent."
Marcus closed the laptop.
"Or there are still two groups involved."
Claire looked at him.
"Vanessa warned me away. The kidnapper wants me there."
"Unless Vanessa is playing both sides."
Ethan looked toward the window.
"We move Lily tonight."
Claire nodded.
Her sister would take Lily to a secure property outside New York.
No one connected to the wedding would know where.
Then Claire would return to Saint Orison and pretend her daughter had arrived.
It was dangerous.
But less dangerous than allowing the real Lily anywhere near the cliffs.
For the next two weeks they prepared.
Federal investigators quietly entered the case.
Thomas remained missing.
Richard appeared again, denying involvement.
Vanessa vanished.
The wedding was publicly confirmed.
Three hundred guests were reduced to seventy.
Security tripled.
Claire almost canceled a dozen times.
Then she read her mother's journal again.
A final sentence she had overlooked changed everything.
The truth will only come out if the Ashfords gather at Saint Orison willingly.
Claire showed Ethan.
He stared at the words.
"She wanted something to happen there."
"Yes."
"At a family gathering."
"Maybe."
Ethan looked worried.
"Claire, our wedding is exactly that."
"I know."
Three days before the ceremony, Lily was moved under guard.
Claire watched the car disappear down the private road.
She cried after it was gone.
Ethan held her.
For the first time in weeks she allowed herself to lean against him.
"I hate this," she whispered.
"So do I."
"I don't know if I trust you."
"I know."
"But I want to."
"I know that too."
Claire looked up.
"If you've hidden anything else from me, tell me now."
Ethan was quiet.
Her heart sank.
"There is one thing."
"Of course there is."
"My father offered me money to leave you."
Claire stared.
"When?"
"After Lily was born."
"Why?"
"He said our family histories were too complicated."
"How much?"
"Fifty million."
Claire almost laughed.
"And?"
"I told him I'd rather be poor."
She looked around the luxury lodge suite.
"You seem to be handling poverty bravely."
Ethan smiled for the first time in days.
Then his expression became serious.
"I chose you, Claire."
"I need you to keep choosing me when it costs more than money."
"I will."
That night, at 1:17 in the morning, an alarm sounded.
Claire ran to Lily's temporary nursery.
The crib was empty.
The window was open.
On the floor lay a pale pink shoe.
Claire screamed.
Marcus rushed in.
Ethan followed.
Claire picked up the shoe.
Then Marcus's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
"What?"
He listened.
Then looked at Claire.
"Lily's safe."
Claire nearly collapsed.
"Your sister confirmed. Lily never left the secure house."
Claire stared at the shoe.
"Then whose room is this?"
Marcus looked toward the open window.
"Someone wanted us to believe they could reach her."
Claire turned the shoe over.
Something was written inside.
May you like
In black ink.
Tomorrow, bring the real child.
