Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN WHO RAISED ROSE
Ivy could not breathe.
Ellen held the gun with both hands.
“Everyone move away from her.”
Julian reached slowly toward his holster.
“Put it down.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“They followed us.”
“Who?”
Ellen looked toward the ceiling.
“The people who took Ivy from Thomas.”
Thomas stared at his wife.
“You know who they are?”
“I found out six years ago.”
“You never told me?”
“You were gone.”
“I was searching for her.”
“And I was raising her.”
Ellen’s voice broke.
“I fed her, held her through nightmares, sat beside her when she was sick, and lied every day because the truth would have brought them to our door.”
Ivy’s eyes filled with tears.
“Margaret’s note said not to trust you.”
“Margaret never forgave me.”
“For what?”
“For refusing to hand you back.”
Ellen lowered the weapon slightly.
“Three weeks after you came to live with me, Margaret told me your real identity. She wanted to hide you in Europe. I refused. You had already been moved, drugged, and abandoned too many times.”
“Then why the gun?”
“Because Sebastian isn’t the only person hunting you.”
The red lights flashed faster.
From the stairway came the sound of cutting metal.
Someone was breaking through the chapel door.
Julian ordered the officers to take defensive positions.
Ellen handed him the gun.
“It belonged to one of the men who attacked our house this morning.”
“You were attacked?”
“I stopped him before Ivy woke up.”
Ivy stared at her.
“You said the broken window was from a storm.”
“I didn’t want you frightened.”
“I was already frightened. I just didn’t know why.”
Ellen touched her cheek.
“I wanted you to have one ordinary day.”
Above them, metal crashed.
The chapel entrance opened.
Boots descended the stairs.
Julian turned off the chamber lights.
Everyone hid behind the cabinets.
Five armed figures entered wearing black uniforms without insignia.
Their leader spoke into a headset.
“Both subjects are confirmed inside.”
Subjects.
The same word Sebastian had used when speaking of Celeste as an asset.
Julian waited until the intruders passed the first cabinet.
Then the officers attacked.
Gunfire erupted.
Glass shattered. Bullets struck the stone walls. Thomas pulled Ivy to the floor while Celeste dragged Ellen behind the surveillance desk.
One intruder reached the central case and removed the Vale birth certificates.
Arthur struck him with a metal lamp.
The man fell.
Another grabbed Ivy.
Celeste seized the attacker’s arm.
“Let her go!”
He turned the weapon toward Celeste.
Ivy bit his hand.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Julian tackled him.
Within minutes, three intruders were restrained. One escaped through the chapel. The leader was wounded but conscious.
Julian removed the man’s mask.
Thomas recognized him.
“He was at the motel.”
“Thirty-two years ago?” Ellen asked.
Thomas shook his head.
“No. He hasn’t aged.”
The man looked no older than forty.
Celeste knelt beside him.
“Who sent you?”
He smiled through bloodied teeth.
“Your mother.”
“Miriam Vale?”
The smile widened.
“No.”
“Eleanor?”
“You still think Eleanor stole you.”
“Who sent you?”
The man’s gaze moved to Ivy.
“Rose already knows.”
Ivy stepped backward.
“I have never seen you.”
“Not with those eyes.”
“What does that mean?”
The man began convulsing.
Foam appeared at his lips.
Julian called for medical assistance, but seconds later the intruder went still.
A capsule had been hidden inside one of his teeth.
The escaped attacker had taken a black storage drive from the surveillance room.
Celeste examined the remaining files.
One folder had been left open on the desk.
Inside were photographs of Ivy taken throughout her childhood.
At school.
At Ellen’s house.
At the hospital.
In the park.
Someone had watched her for years.
The newest photograph had been taken that morning.
On the back, a handwritten message read:
Rose will remember at thirteen.
May you like
Celeste looked at Ivy’s birth certificate.
Her thirteenth birthday was five weeks away.
