Chapter 22 - The Woman Behind the GlassMarcus blocked the nursery doors with a metal cabinet.
Adrian searched for another exit.
Victor approached the glass.
The woman in blue looked thinner than Celeste had ever been. Her hair had been cut short. A pale scar crossed her throat.
She pointed toward a microphone.
Victor pressed the button.
“Who are you?”
Her lips moved, but no sound emerged.
She touched the scar.
Someone had damaged her voice.
The woman wrote on the fogged glass.
CELESTE.
Victor did not move.
She erased the word and wrote again.
MARA LIES.
Behind him, Ethan began crying.
The woman placed both hands against the glass.
The doors shook under the weight of August’s men.
Adrian found a service hatch beneath a crib.
“It leads to the lower level.”
Victor lifted Ethan.
The woman behind the glass struck it desperately.
Lily found the release switch.
The door opened.
The woman stepped through.
Ethan stared at her.
She knelt but did not reach for him.
Instead, she hummed three notes.
Ethan finished the melody.
Victor’s chest tightened.
It was the private ending Celeste always added to the lullaby.
Only three people had heard it.
Victor.
Ethan.
And Celeste.
A gunshot tore through the nursery door.
Marcus returned fire.
The woman in blue pointed toward the hatch.
They descended into darkness.
At the bottom waited Mara.
She held a pistol.
The woman in blue stopped.
Mara raised the weapon.
Victor moved between them.
“Tell me which one of you is my wife.”
Mara looked at the silent woman.
“She is Celeste Ward.”
Victor waited.
Mara continued.
“But she is not the woman you married.”
The woman in blue shook her head violently.
May you like
Mara lowered the gun.
“She is the woman August trained to replace me.”
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