Chapter 8 - THE NIGHT ELENA DISAPPEARED
Elena vanished before sunset.
Her room was empty, her phone lay broken beside the bed, and Mia's stuffed rabbit had been left on the pillow.
The guards swore nobody had entered the suite.
I believed them.
Whoever had taken Elena knew the house better than most of my employees.
I ordered every exit sealed and sent Rocco to search the grounds. Mia sat in my study, gripping my hand so tightly her fingers turned white.
"Will Mommy come back?"
I knelt before her.
"Yes."
It was a promise I had no right to make, but I would have torn the city apart to keep it.
Mia suddenly looked toward the window.
"Miss Vivien said the blue car was a secret."
I turned sharply.
"What blue car?"
"The one that comes when the lights go sleepy."
Our security cameras switched to night mode at the same time every evening. During that brief transition, a vehicle could cross the rear service road without triggering the usual alert.
I ordered the recordings recovered.
A blue sedan appeared on the footage at 6:12 p.m.
Its license plate belonged to a vehicle registered to a charity foundation controlled by Vivien.
We traced the car to an abandoned estate outside the city.
I took six men and left immediately.
Inside the estate, we found Elena tied to a chair in a locked basement room. She was bruised but conscious.
I cut her restraints.
"Where is Vivien?"
Elena shook her head.
"She wasn't here."
Then she grabbed my sleeve.
"Arthur came. He said he knew where Mia's birth records were hidden. He took my mother's letters."
My stomach tightened.
"Did he say where he was going?"
Elena nodded weakly.
"He said the child would finally learn who her father was."
I froze.
Mia's father had died before she was born, or so Elena had always believed.
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But Arthur's words suggested something else.
And the person who could answer that question was already heading toward the airport.
