Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO VANISHEDThe SUV tore through the streets of Chicago.
Lily remained on the floor between the seats.
Thomas covered her with his body.
The guards fired through partially opened windows.
People screamed outside.
Cars swerved.
Horns blared.
Lily could hear nothing clearly except one sound.
Her own heartbeat.
“Stay down!”
Thomas shouted.
Another impact shook the SUV.
Lily grabbed the seat.
“Thomas!”
“I’m here.”
“Who are they?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not true!”
Thomas looked at her.
For one second, Lily saw something in his eyes.
Guilt.
She grabbed his jacket.
“You know something.”
Before he could answer, the SUV turned sharply into a covered parking structure.
A security gate slammed shut behind them.
The attackers’ vehicles disappeared from sight.
Thomas immediately shouted into his radio.
“Lock the entire structure!”
Several armed Blackwood guards appeared.
Lily remained frozen.
Her hands were covered in tiny cuts from shattered glass.
Thomas helped her sit.
“Are you hurt?”
Lily looked at him.
“You lied to me.”
Thomas stared.
“About what?”
“You know who they are.”
“I don’t.”
“You knew Serena was dangerous.”
“That doesn’t mean I know who those men were.”
Lily pointed toward the street.
“They knew I was in this car.”
Thomas said nothing.
That was answer enough.
“Someone told them.”
“Yes.”
“Someone inside Blackwood security.”
Thomas nodded slowly.
Lily leaned against the seat.
The danger was much bigger than Serena.
She had been foolish to think Serena was acting alone.
Thomas’s phone rang.
Victor.
Thomas answered.
“We were attacked.”
Lily heard Victor’s voice become dangerously quiet.
“Is Lily alive?”
“Yes.”
“Bring her to me.”
Thomas looked around.
“Sir, there may be a breach.”
“I said bring her to me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Victor ended the call.
Thirty minutes later, Lily entered a private hospital entrance surrounded by armed guards.
The entire building seemed locked down.
Victor stood near the elevator.
The moment he saw Lily, he walked toward her.
She expected him to ask questions.
Instead, his eyes moved across her face.
Her hands.
The cuts.
The torn clothing.
“Are you hurt?”
Lily looked at him.
“No.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“Good.”
It was only one word.
But Lily noticed something.
Victor looked relieved.
He led her through a secured hallway.
“Ethan?”
“Sleeping.”
“Can I see him?”
“Later.”
Lily stopped.
“Victor.”
He turned.
“I need to see him.”
Victor looked at her for a long moment.
Then nodded.
He opened a door.
Ethan lay inside a private hospital room.
His tiny arm was wrapped in a cast.
Machines quietly monitored him.
Lily’s eyes filled with tears.
She walked slowly toward the bed.
“Hi, baby.”
Ethan moved.
His eyes opened slightly.
When he saw Lily, his lips trembled.
Then he reached toward her.
Lily immediately took his hand.
“I’m here.”
Ethan made a small sound.
Lily began crying.
“I’m here.”
Victor stood silently behind her.
For several minutes, no one spoke.
Then Ethan fell asleep again.
Lily carefully released his hand.
Victor led her into the hallway.
“You were attacked.”
Lily nodded.
“Thomas told you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Victor looked at her.
“Why what?”
“Why did they come after me?”
Victor’s face hardened.
“That’s what I’m trying to find out.”
Lily stared at him.
“Do you believe me now?”
Victor hesitated.
That hesitation was shorter this time.
“Yes.”
Lily stopped breathing.
“What?”
“I believe you.”
Her eyes filled with tears again.
Victor continued.
“Not because of the attack.”
Lily waited.
“Because Serena disappeared.”
Lily stared at him.
“What?”
“She left the mansion.”
“When?”
“Before the attack.”
Lily felt cold.
“Where did she go?”
Victor looked at Thomas.
Thomas stepped forward.
“We don’t know.”
Victor’s expression darkened.
“Her phone is off.”
“What about her car?”
“Gone.”
Lily whispered, “She knew.”
Victor nodded.
“She knew we were investigating.”
“Then she ran.”
“Maybe.”
Lily looked at him.
“You don’t think so.”
Victor was silent.
“No.”
Lily waited.
Victor finally spoke.
“I think she was never who she said she was.”
Thomas handed Victor a folder.
Lily watched as Victor opened it.
“What is that?”
Thomas answered.
“Serena’s real identity.”
Lily stared.
“You found it?”
Thomas nodded.
“Part of it.”
Victor read.
Then his face changed.
“What?”
Lily asked.
Victor closed the folder.
“Her name may not be Serena Montigue.”
Lily felt a chill.
“Then who is she?”
Thomas looked toward Victor.
Victor answered.
“Years ago, there was a woman named Elena Varga.”
Lily had never heard the name.
“She disappeared from Eastern Europe.”
“Why?”
Victor looked directly at Lily.
“Because the police believed she was involved in the death of her husband.”
Lily stared.
“Serena killed someone?”
Thomas answered quietly.
“The case was never solved.”
Lily looked toward Ethan’s room.
The baby slept peacefully.
Unaware.
Victor continued.
“After that, Elena disappeared.”
“And became Serena?”
“Possibly.”
Lily shook her head.
“How could nobody know?”
Victor’s eyes became dark.
“Someone helped her.”
The hallway became silent.
Then Thomas received another call.
He answered.
“What?”
Victor watched him.
Thomas listened.
Then slowly lowered the phone.
“What is it?”
Victor asked.
Thomas looked at Lily.
“Margaret is missing.”
Lily’s heart stopped.
“No.”
“She left the mansion.”
“When?”
“An hour ago.”
“Did Serena take her?”
Thomas shook his head.
“We don’t know.”
Lily suddenly remembered Margaret.
The frightened expression.
The secret.
“She saw something.”
Victor looked at Lily.
“What?”
“Margaret saw Serena hurt Ethan.”
Thomas froze.
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know until Serena came to her room.”
“What did Serena say?”
“She knew Margaret had seen.”
Victor immediately turned toward Thomas.
“Find her.”
Thomas nodded.
Victor’s voice became colder.
“Every police camera. Every Blackwood contact. Every airport. Every train station.”
Thomas moved away.
Lily stood alone with Victor.
“You think Serena took her.”
Victor looked at her.
“I think Serena is running.”
“Then why would she take Margaret?”
Victor did not answer.
Lily whispered, “Because Margaret has proof.”
Victor stared at her.
“What proof?”
Lily remembered Margaret’s terrified face.
She did not know.
But somewhere, somehow, Margaret had captured something.
And Serena knew it.
Meanwhile, Margaret sat in the back of a small taxi.
She was not with Serena.
She had escaped.
Barely.
Her hands shook as she looked through the window.
Chicago rushed past.
She had one destination.
A place Serena would never expect her to go.
Margaret had spent decades working for the Blackwood family.
She knew Victor’s secrets.
She knew his enemies.
And she knew one person Victor trusted more than anyone.
His dead mother’s younger sister.
A woman who had walked away from the Blackwood family years ago.
A woman named Eleanor Blackwood.
Margaret whispered to the taxi driver.
“Please hurry.”
But she did not know that a dark sedan had been following her for twelve blocks.
Inside sat Serena.
She watched Margaret through the windshield.
May you like
Then smiled.
“Keep following.”
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