Chapter 14 - The Empty Cradle
Adrian’s scream shook the room.
He ran through the garden door without a weapon, without shoes, and without waiting for security.
Daniel followed.
Elena remained beside Isabella, who tried to rise from the bed.
“You cannot move.”
“They took my daughter.”
“You have just given birth.”
“They took her!”
Isabella pushed Elena away and stood.
Pain tore through her body, but she held the bedpost until the room stopped spinning.
Elias appeared at the door.
“There is a vehicle leaving through the lower gate.”
“How do you know?”
“I heard the engine.”
Elena wrapped a coat around Isabella.
“You cannot run.”
“Then help me walk.”
They moved through the western corridor.
Smoke rolled across the ceiling. Firefighters had entered through the front hall, but the estate was still chaos.
Outside, Adrian reached the lower road as a black vehicle accelerated toward the forest.
Daniel raised his gun but did not fire.
“The baby is inside.”
Adrian ran to an abandoned security vehicle and started the engine. Daniel climbed beside him.
Isabella emerged from the villa as they drove away.
“Adrian!”
He saw her in the mirror but did not stop.
Elena held Isabella upright.
“We need another car.”
Elias pointed toward the greenhouse.
“There is an old service vehicle behind it.”
They found the keys beneath the dashboard. Elena drove while Isabella sat in the passenger seat, one hand pressed against her abdomen.
Elias guided them along a maintenance road.
“Where are they taking her?” Isabella asked.
“To Saint Aurelia’s.”
“The maternity center where Catherine gave birth?”
“It was closed publicly twenty-five years ago. Margaret continued using the lower levels.”
The road divided.
The black vehicle’s tracks disappeared in the darkness.
Elias directed Elena toward the river.
“Why there?” Elena asked.
“There is an underground entrance beneath the old bridge.”
Isabella’s phone rang.
The number was hidden.
She answered.
Margaret’s voice came through.
“Your daughter is healthy.”
“Bring her back.”
“I saved her from the fire.”
“You arranged the fire.”
“I arranged a distraction.”
“Where is she?”
“With people who understand her value.”
“She is not an heir. She is not a blood sample. She is my child.”
“She is the future of everything Sebastian created.”
“You tried to make her disappear.”
“Only from you.”
Isabella’s grip tightened around the phone.
“You will never raise her.”
“Catherine said the same thing about you.”
The call ended.
Ahead, headlights appeared through the trees.
Adrian’s vehicle had stopped beside the old bridge.
Daniel stood near the riverbank, examining blood on the ground.
Adrian approached Isabella.
“The vehicle was abandoned.”
“Where is she?”
“There is a tunnel entrance beneath the bridge.”
Isabella moved toward it.
Adrian caught her arm.
“You cannot go underground in your condition.”
“Do not tell me what I cannot do while our daughter is down there.”
“Isabella.”
“You kept secrets because you thought you were protecting me. Do not make the same mistake again.”
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then he removed his coat and placed it over her shoulders.
“We go together.”
The tunnel beneath the bridge led to an elevator.
A fingerprint scanner glowed beside the door.
Elias pressed his hand against it.
Access denied.
Daniel tried.
Denied.
Isabella placed her palm against the glass.
The light changed to green.
The elevator opened.
Inside was a cradle.
Empty.
A small white blanket lay inside it.
Pinned to the blanket was a card.
Welcome home, Isabella.
The elevator descended automatically.
When the doors opened again, they faced a bright hospital corridor.
Dozens of rooms extended in both directions.
Behind the nearest window, a newborn slept beneath a warming light.
It was not Isabella’s daughter.
Behind the next window was another baby.
And another.
Every room contained a child.
Adrian stared in horror.
“What is this place?”
Elias looked older than he had moments before.
“Sebastian’s real inheritance.”
A speaker activated above them.
A woman began singing a lullaby.
It was the same lullaby Isabella’s adoptive mother had sung to her throughout childhood.
At the end of the corridor, Margaret stepped into view.
She was holding Isabella’s baby.
But she was not alone.
Beside her stood Laura Bennett.
May you like
Isabella’s mother.
The woman who had supposedly died nine years earlier.
