Chapter 5 - The Message From the Airport Road
Victor ordered the driver to return to the mansion, but traffic near the airport had stopped completely.
A tanker had overturned across the highway.
Every lane was blocked.
Victor left the car and crossed the median toward a line of taxis moving in the opposite direction. His assistant followed, struggling to carry Victor’s briefcase.
“Sir, security can reach the house before we can.”
“Call Marcus.”
Marcus Dane had led mansion security for eight years. He had served beside Victor’s brother during their military training and was one of the few men Victor trusted without question.
The call connected.
“Mr. Hale?”
“Find Ethan. Do not inform Serena.”
A pause followed.
“Is there a threat?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Where are you?”
“Coming back.”
“I’ll secure the house.”
Victor ended the call.
His phone vibrated.
Lily’s name appeared on the screen.
He answered immediately.
“Lily?”
Only static responded.
Then he heard Ethan crying.
“Daddy?”
Victor’s chest tightened.
“Ethan, where are you?”
“In the wall.”
“What wall?”
“Mommy’s wall.”
The signal broke.
“Ethan?”
Lily’s voice came through for one second.
“Victor, Serena forged your signature. She’s sending him to Northbridge. Do not trust…”
The call ended.
Do not trust whom?
Victor called back, but Lily’s phone was unreachable.
A taxi stopped in front of him.
Victor opened the door.
“Marlow Estate,” he told the driver. “As fast as you can.”
His assistant climbed in after him.
Victor called Marcus again.
No response.
He opened the mansion’s security application. Every camera showed an identical frozen image recorded at 8:12 that morning.
Someone had disabled the live feeds.
Victor tried the nursery monitor.
The screen displayed Ethan sleeping beneath the blue blanket.
For three seconds, Victor felt relief.
Then he noticed the clock on the nursery wall.
It showed 6:40.
The image had been recorded hours earlier.
His assistant leaned toward the phone.
“That’s a loop.”
Victor looked at him.
“Contact the police.”
“Should we alert the board?”
“No.”
“The trust certification is tomorrow.”
“That is exactly why no one on the board can know yet.”
Victor opened the Hale Trust schedule.
At noon the following day, Ethan’s inheritance protection would become permanent. The clause had been created by Victor’s grandfather to prevent outsiders from gaining control of the family foundation through marriage.
Before activation, however, the legal spouse of the current trustee could assume temporary authority if the direct heir was declared endangered, unstable or removed from the trustee’s care.
Serena had encouraged Victor to delay the activation twice.
She said the legal documents were incomplete.
Conrad Vale had confirmed it.
Victor had accepted his advice.
His phone rang.
This time, Serena’s photograph appeared.
Victor answered but said nothing.
“Victor?” she asked. “Your office said the flight was canceled.”
“I’m still going to London.”
“You found another flight?”
“Yes.”
The lie came naturally.
Serena exhaled.
“Good. I didn’t want you to miss the meeting.”
“Where is Ethan?”
“With Lily.”
“You said he was asleep.”
“He woke up.”
Victor heard a car door close in the background.
“Are you leaving the house?”
“No.”
“Then what was that?”
Another pause.
“Delivery vehicle.”
Victor looked through the taxi windshield. The mansion was less than fifteen minutes away.
“Serena.”
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
The words tasted like ash.
She softened immediately.
“I love you too.”
Victor closed his eyes.
“What are you wearing?”
“My red dress. The photographer is coming back.”
He pictured the unknown photograph sent to his phone. Ethan in yellow beside the basement door.
“Send me a picture.”
“Now?”
“I want to see you both.”
Serena did not answer.
“Send it,” Victor repeated.
The call ended.
A photograph arrived thirty seconds later.
Serena stood in the marble hall with one hand on Ethan’s shoulder. He wore the yellow dress and stared at the camera.
Lily was visible in the background.
Victor enlarged the image.
Lily’s right hand rested against her blue uniform.
Two fingers were extended.
One finger was folded.
It was an old signal used by the household staff.
Two locked doors.
One hidden threat.
Victor looked at the image again.
Ethan’s shoes were covered in red dust.
The same red dust that covered the floor of Celeste’s sealed archive.
May you like
The taxi turned onto the estate road.
Ahead, a white medical transport van waited outside the gates.
