Chapter 4 - The Woman Cole Was Supposed to Protect Was the Key to the Red Room
They escaped the estate.
Cole brought Claire to a secure apartment.
She sat by the window.
He stood across the room.
“You need to sleep.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because every time I close my eyes, I think about my mother.”
Cole sat beside her.
“You've spent your whole life believing she was dead.”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
“Now I don't know.”
He looked down.
“I know what that's like.”
“How?”
“My mother disappeared when I was seventeen.”
Claire turned.
“Your mother too?”
“Yes.”
“Did you find her?”
“No.”
“Do you think she's alive?”
“I don't know.”
They sat in silence.
For the first time, Claire saw the loneliness behind his wealth.
The empire.
The security.
The power.
None of it had given him family.
Her phone rang.
Lily.
Her roommate.
Claire answered.
“Where are you?”
“I'm safe.”
“You disappeared.”
“I know.”
“You're scaring me.”
“I'll explain.”
Lily lowered her voice.
“Claire, someone was in our apartment.”
Claire froze.
“What?”
“I came home and things were moved.”
“Did they take anything?”
“One thing.”
“What?”
“Your mother's old photograph.”
Claire's heart sank.
Cole stood.
“Pack your things.”
“Why?”
“We're moving.”
“Again?”
“Yes.”
The next destination was one of Cole's private mountain properties.
While driving, Claire asked:
“Do you know who Victor is?”
Cole shook his head.
“Not personally.”
“But your family does.”
“Yes.”
“What does he want?”
“Something my father stole.”
“What?”
Cole hesitated.
“The original ownership records.”
“Of the Mercer empire?”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“Of everything.”
The records proved that the Mercer fortune was not originally theirs.
It belonged to a group of families who had been forced out by corruption.
Catherine had discovered the records.
She intended to return the money.
Victor wanted it for himself.
Cole's father wanted it destroyed.
Claire asked:
“Then why did my mother disappear?”
“She took the records.”
“What?”
“She escaped with them.”
“And she never came back?”
“She was caught.”
Claire's heart stopped.
“What happened?”
Cole looked at the road.
“She survived.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Her mother had been alive.
For years.
Somewhere.
And nobody had told her.
Then Cole said:
“She was released under one condition.”
“What condition?”
“She could never contact you.”
Claire turned toward him.
“Why?”
“To keep you alive.”
The words broke her.
She cried silently.
Cole reached over.
He took her hand.
She let him.
“I'll find her,” he said.
“You promise?”
“Yes.”
The phone rang.
A message.
An image.
Catherine.
Alive.
Older.
Standing outside a hospital.
Underneath:
May you like
FIND THE RED ROOM. THEN YOU GET YOUR MOTHER BACK.
---
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