Chapter 4 - THE CHILD WHO REMEMBEREDThe estate went into lockdown.
Every gate closed.
Every vehicle checked.
Every employee questioned.
Leo's bedroom window was open.
There was a tiny muddy footprint on the sill.
Vincent stared.
“Find him.”
Daniel's voice came through the radio.
“Nothing.”
Vincent's control cracked.
“Find him!”
Maeve grabbed his arm.
“Listen.”
He turned.
“What?”
“Don't search the obvious places.”
“What do you mean?”
“The person who took him wanted us to think he escaped through the window.”
She pointed toward the floor.
“There are no matching footprints.”
Vincent stared.
She was right.
Someone had staged the scene.
“Then where?”
Maeve closed her eyes.
“Where would a child feel safe?”
Vincent thought.
The old greenhouse.
Sarah had spent hours there with Leo.
They ran.
Leo was inside.
Sitting beneath a table.
Bunny in his lap.
He wasn't alone.
A man stood behind him.
Vincent raised his weapon.
The man turned.
Daniel.
Vincent froze.
“What are you doing?”
Daniel smiled.
“Protecting him.”
Maeve stepped forward.
“From whom?”
Daniel looked at her.
“From Vincent.”
Silence.
Vincent's eyes hardened.
“What did you say?”
Daniel lowered his gun.
“Everything you've been told is a lie.”
He revealed the truth.
Vincent's father had not only built the criminal network.
He had secretly created a second organization designed to protect the family.
Daniel had worked inside it.
Sarah had discovered both.
Brenda had infiltrated it.
Thomas betrayed it.
Evan investigated it.
And Leo had witnessed the final confrontation.
The accident had not been random.
Sarah's vehicle had been sabotaged.
Evan had tried to stop it.
He survived.
Then disappeared because someone wanted Vincent to believe he was dead.
Leo saw everything.
But the trauma caused him to stop speaking.
Daniel had been protecting him ever since.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because someone in your inner circle was watching.”
“Who?”
Daniel looked at Maeve.
“Her.”
Vincent's blood went cold.
Maeve stared at him.
“What?”
Daniel continued.
“Maeve wasn't hired by Brenda.”
Silence.
“She was hired by Sarah.”
Vincent looked at her.
“You knew my sister?”
“Yes.”
“Before she died?”
“Yes.”
“Why did she send you here?”
Maeve's eyes filled.
“She told me to protect Leo.”
“And investigate?”
“Yes.”
Vincent couldn't speak.
Maeve pulled an old photograph from her pocket.
Sarah.
Maeve.
Leo.
Together.
On a hospital rooftop.
Six months before Sarah died.
Vincent stared.
“You were friends.”
Maeve nodded.
“She trusted me.”
“Then why hide?”
“Because she knew someone inside your family would come for me too.”
Vincent's voice broke.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because she asked me not to.”
He looked at Leo.
The boy stepped forward.
He touched Vincent's hand.
Then Maeve's.
And finally pointed toward the greenhouse door.
May you like
Someone was standing there.
Brenda.
Related Stories
