Chapter 3 - The Bullet Through the Study Window
Mara and Adrian struck the floor as glass rained over them.
A bullet buried itself in the wall where Adrian had been standing.
Security alarms screamed throughout the mansion.
Adrian rolled over Mara, shielding her as a second bullet shattered a lamp.
“Stay down.”
He pulled a firearm from beneath his desk.
Mara stared at it.
“You keep a gun in your study?”
“Since my wife died, I keep one in every room.”
The answer carried more meaning than she understood.
Security officers rushed inside.
Adrian pointed toward the gardens.
“East roofline. At least two hundred yards.”
His head of security, Marcus Dane, moved toward the broken window.
“The shooter is gone.”
Adrian looked down at Mara.
A thin cut crossed her cheek.
“You moved before the laser reached me.”
“I saw it.”
“No,” he said. “You reacted before you saw it.”
Mara pushed herself up.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Marcus turned from the window.
“Sir, the new staff member should be questioned.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“She just saved my life.”
“That could have been the purpose. Gain your trust, create confusion.”
Mara looked at Marcus.
He was in his early forties, broad-shouldered, with a scar near his right ear. The moment she saw it, nausea rose in her throat.
Another memory.
A hospital corridor.
A man holding her arms.
A needle.
A voice saying, She remembers too much.
Mara staggered.
Adrian caught her.
“What happened?”
She stared at Marcus.
His face remained calm.
“Have we met?” she asked.
Marcus did not blink.
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“I would remember.”
Celeste arrived with the twins behind her.
She seized Noah before he could enter the damaged room.
“What happened?”
“Someone fired through the window,” Adrian said.
Celeste looked at Mara in his arms.
“And she happened to be here?”
“She pushed me down.”
“How heroic.”
Mara stepped away from Adrian.
The twins slipped past Celeste and ran toward her.
Noah saw the blood on Mara’s cheek.
“You’re hurt.”
“It’s only a scratch.”
He hugged her.
Adrian stared.
Noah rarely touched anyone except his brother.
Celeste noticed that too.
That evening, security searched the property and found a single brass casing near the abandoned conservatory. There were no fingerprints, no footprints and no camera footage.
Someone had disabled six outdoor cameras for exactly four minutes.
Marcus blamed a software failure.
Adrian did not believe him.
He instructed Mrs. Finch to move Mara into a bedroom closer to the family wing.
Celeste objected.
“She was hired as a maid, Adrian. Not as your personal bodyguard.”
“She may be a target.”
“Why would anyone target a maid?”
Adrian looked at Mara.
“That is what I intend to discover.”
After midnight, Mara received a message on the hidden phone Jonas had given her.
LEAVE THE HOUSE NOW.
She called him.
He answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
“At Hawthorne House.”
“I told you never to go there.”
“You also told me you didn’t know who I was.”
Silence.
Mara pressed the phone tighter to her ear.
“Jonas, a man tried to shoot Adrian Hawthorne today.”
“Then you need to leave before the next bullet is aimed at you.”
“Who am I?”
“You are not safe.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It is the only one that matters.”
Mara looked toward the bedroom door.
“Two boys recognized my scar.”
Jonas inhaled sharply.
“They called me their mother.”
“You must not listen to them.”
“Why?”
“They were very young when she disappeared. Children build memories out of longing.”
“And the song?”
“What song?”
“The lullaby.”
The line went silent.
Mara’s heart pounded.
“You know it.”
Jonas finally spoke.
“Did you sing it?”
“Not all of it.”
“Never finish that song in front of Adrian Hawthorne.”
“Why?”
“Because it will prove you are Lillian.”
Mara stopped breathing.
Jonas continued quickly.
“And if Adrian knows, the people who buried you will return to finish the job.”
The call ended.
Mara stood alone in the darkness.
Behind her, the bedroom door moved.
Ethan stood in the hallway wearing blue pajamas.
“Who were you talking to?”
“No one.”
“You said Mommy’s name.”
Mara knelt beside him.
“Ethan, what happened to your mother?”
His expression changed.
“Daddy says she died in the sky.”
“What do you remember?”
May you like
Ethan looked over his shoulder.
Then he whispered, “She didn’t get on the plane.”
