Chapter 8 - THE NIGHT LUCAS DISAPPEARED
The night Lucas disappeared, I was washing bottles in the nursery sink.
It was 11:18 p.m.
Rain tapped against the windows.
A night nurse named Olivia was preparing the feeding supplies for the following morning.
Lucas had finally settled into a predictable routine.
He was gaining weight.
His color had improved.
He had begun making small, indignant noises whenever someone disturbed his sleep.
For the first time, he sounded like a healthy newborn discovering the world.
Then the lights went out.
The room went completely black.
Olivia cursed softly.
I reached for my phone.
"Lucas?"
No answer.
I moved toward the crib.
My hand touched the mattress.
Empty.
My heart stopped.
"Olivia?"
She turned on her flashlight.
The crib was empty.
The blanket lay twisted beside the pillow.
And the service door stood open.
I screamed.
"ADRIAN!"
Within seconds, the estate erupted.
Emergency lights came on.
Security personnel rushed through the corridors.
Adrian appeared barefoot, carrying a handgun.
"What happened?"
"Lucas is gone!"
The words struck him like a physical blow.
He looked into the crib.
Then toward the open door.
"Where's Marcus?"
Nobody answered.
Adrian turned toward his men.
"Find my son!"
I had never heard a voice like his.
It wasn't anger.
It was terror stripped of every disguise.
An alarm sounded near the rear driveway.
A guard reported that a maintenance vehicle had left through a secondary gate during the outage.
The vehicle's authorization code belonged to Marcus.
Adrian looked as though the world had tilted beneath him.
"Get the police," I said.
He turned toward me.
"My people can find—"
"No. Your people helped create this disaster. Call the police."
For a moment, I thought he would refuse.
Then he lowered his weapon.
He called emergency services.
An hour later, detectives filled the estate.
They collected security footage, interviewed staff, and examined the service door.
I sat in the nursery, shaking.
Lucas's blanket lay across my lap.
I kept hearing the small sounds he made when he slept.
I kept imagining him frightened.
Cold.
Hungry.
I remembered Grace.
And suddenly, I was back in the hospital, holding a child I couldn't save.
My breathing became shallow.
The room blurred.
I pressed my hand over my mouth.
Then Adrian entered.
He stopped when he saw me.
"Hannah."
I shook my head.
"I should have been watching him."
He came closer.
"No."
"I was only a few feet away."
"No."
"Someone took him while I was right there!"
Adrian knelt in front of me.
He took my hands.
"Listen to me."
I looked at him through tears.
"This is not your fault."
The words broke something inside me.
Because I had been waiting weeks to hear them.
Not just about Lucas.
About Grace.
I began sobbing.
Adrian pulled me gently into his arms.
For several minutes, we clung to each other.
Two parents who had lost children in different ways.
One permanently.
One, we prayed, temporarily.
At 2:43 a.m., my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered immediately.
"Hello?"
A man's voice spoke.
"Miss Brooks."
I froze.
"Who is this?"
"You've become very important to Adrian Vale."
My stomach tightened.
"Where's Lucas?"
"Safe for now."
"Let me hear him."
A pause.
Then a small, familiar cry.
Lucas.
I nearly collapsed.
"Please," I whispered. "He's just a baby."
"Then you should understand why cooperation is necessary."
"What do you want?"
The man laughed softly.
"Tell Adrian to stop investigating Isabel's death."
I looked toward the doorway.
Adrian stood there.
He had heard every word.
The caller continued.
"And tell him to transfer control of the FirstLight accounts back to their original administrator."
Adrian reached for the phone.
But I shook my head.
"Who are you?" I asked.
The voice became cold.
"You don't need my name."
Then the man added, "Bring the green notebook to the old Roosevelt Pier tomorrow night."
The call ended.
Adrian stared at me.
"Marcus."
I nodded.
He closed his eyes.
Then whispered, "I trusted him with my son."
An hour later, the detectives confirmed that Marcus Rourke had vanished.
His apartment was empty.
His phones were disconnected.
Several of his bank accounts had been drained.
And the vehicle used in Lucas's abduction had been found abandoned near an industrial park.
Inside was Lucas's blue knitted hat.
The one I had made for him.
I held it against my chest.
Adrian stood beside me.
For the first time since meeting him, I saw tears fall openly down his face.
"I'm going to bring him home," he whispered.
I looked at the hat.
Then at the man who had once believed money and fear could solve anything.
"Then we do it the right way," I said.
He nodded.
May you like
"No more secrets."
And for the first time, I believed him.
