Chapter 2 - The Baby Behind the Yellow Door
Adrian listened to the recording three times.
Each time, Thomas’s final words sounded less possible.
Evelyn may still be alive.
Grace sat across from him at the small kitchen table while Emma fed Lily pieces of mashed banana.
The ordinary scene made the information feel even more unreal.
“How could Evelyn be alive?” Adrian asked.
“I saw a body.”
“You saw a covered body.”
“I identified her necklace.”
“Thomas said the necklace had been removed before the attack.”
Adrian stared at Grace.
“From Evelyn?”
“He believed someone at the clinic replaced it with a duplicate.”
“Who was in the convoy?”
“Thomas, the driver, two guards, Evelyn, and Lily.”
“Where are the others?”
“The driver and guards were reported dead.”
“Reported by whom?”
“Marcus.”
The pattern became impossible to ignore.
Marcus arranged the route.
Marcus confirmed the bodies.
Marcus supervised the investigation.
Marcus redirected every suspicion toward Grant Mercer.
Adrian had given the traitor authority over the truth.
He looked toward Lily.
His daughter had fallen asleep against Emma’s rabbit.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
Grace looked ashamed.
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Three days after the crash. I called the mansion.”
“Who answered?”
“Marcus.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“I said I needed to speak to you about Lily. He told me grief had made me unstable. That night, two men followed me home.”
“Why stay in Chicago?”
“My mother owned this house under another name. No one connected it to me.”
“You work in my home.”
“I returned six months later because I needed to watch Marcus.”
Adrian understood.
Grace had placed herself inside the danger to monitor it.
“You brought Emma to the memorial.”
“I had no choice. The sitter canceled.”
Emma looked up.
“I told him because Lily cried when the flower picture came on TV.”
Grace covered her face briefly.
Children destroyed secrecy through innocence.
Adrian took out his phone.
No signal.
He checked again.
The device had been jammed.
A car moved slowly past the house.
Then another.
Grace stood.
“They found us.”
Adrian drew the pistol hidden beneath his jacket.
“Take the children to the basement.”
“There is no basement.”
“Back room?”
Grace pointed toward a pantry.
“Trapdoor beneath the shelves. My mother used it during tornado warnings.”
Adrian lifted Lily and placed her in Grace’s arms.
“Do not come out until I call your name.”
“What will you do?”
He looked toward the front window.
“What I should have done eight months ago.”
The first man entered through the rear door.
Adrian heard the lock snap.
He moved into the hallway and waited.
The attacker came around the corner with a suppressed weapon.
Adrian struck his wrist against the wall, forced the gun down, and drove him into the floor.
A second man fired through the kitchen window.
Glass exploded.
Adrian rolled behind the island and returned fire.
The house filled with smoke and splintered wood.
Then another shot came from outside.
The second attacker dropped.
Adrian turned.
A man stood across the street holding a rifle.
Thomas Kane.
His left shoulder hung lower than the right. A scar crossed one side of his face. He looked like someone who had survived by refusing death repeatedly.
Thomas entered through the broken door.
“You took your time,” Adrian said.
Thomas almost smiled.
“I was making sure Marcus followed you.”
“Did he?”
“Not personally.”
“Where is he?”
“Back at the memorial, pretending to be concerned.”
Adrian opened the pantry trapdoor.
Grace emerged with the children.
The moment she saw Thomas, she began crying.
“You’re alive.”
“Barely.”
Emma ran to him.
Thomas knelt and hugged her.
Lily stared at the scar on his face.
Then she smiled.
Thomas’s eyes filled.
Adrian watched him carefully.
“You knew where they were.”
“Yes.”
“You left Grace alone.”
“I drew Lucian’s men away.”
“You could have contacted me.”
“I did not know whether Marcus had already turned you.”
Adrian absorbed the insult because it was deserved.
His loyalty to Marcus had become so complete that even honest men feared approaching him.
Thomas placed a folder on the table.
“Lucian owns a private rehabilitation hospital outside Lake Geneva.”
Adrian opened it.
Patient admissions.
False names.
Unregistered security payments.
One female patient had entered eight months earlier under the name Eva Hill.
Age twenty-nine.
Severe trauma.
Memory impairment.
No family contact permitted.
A photograph was attached.
The woman’s face was swollen.
Hair partially shaved.
But Adrian knew her.
Evelyn.
His knees nearly failed.
“She’s alive.”
Thomas nodded.
“She survived the crash. Lucian took her from the scene before official responders arrived.”
“Why keep her alive?”
“She knew about financial records linking Lucian to federal judges, port contracts, and your father’s death.”
Adrian looked up.
“My father died of cancer.”
Thomas’s expression did not change.
“That is what Lucian wanted you to believe.”
The conspiracy stretched backward through Adrian’s entire life.
His father.
His inheritance.
His criminal empire.
Evelyn.
Lily.
Marcus.
Every path led to the same man.
Adrian closed the file.
“We go to the hospital.”
Thomas shook his head.
“Not yet.”
“My fiancée is alive.”
“And guarded by men who expect you.”
“I am done waiting.”
“If you rush in, Lucian moves her or kills her.”
Adrian stared at him.
“What do you suggest?”
“We make Lucian believe Lily is still hidden and you suspect nothing.”
“Marcus saw me leave.”
“Then return to the memorial.”
Grace looked horrified.
“You want him to walk back into that room?”
Thomas nodded.
“And embrace the man who buried his daughter alive.”
Adrian looked down at Lily.
He had spent eight months learning to survive grief.
May you like
Now he would have to perform it.
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