Chapter 3 - THE MEN AT THE GATE
Ethan moved immediately.
He locked the blue room door and carried Sophie toward the private staircase at the rear of the house.
“Who are those people?”
Celeste hurried after him.
“Security contractors.”
“For what?”
“To take Sophie to the airport.”
Ethan stopped so suddenly Celeste nearly ran into him.
“You hired men to remove my daughter from my home?”
Richard appeared behind them.
“They work for me.”
That admission settled something inside Ethan.
He no longer viewed Richard as a friend who had made a terrible mistake.
He viewed him as a threat.
Ethan pulled out his phone.
Richard smiled.
“You won’t get a signal.”
Ethan checked the screen.
No service.
The mansion’s internal network had also gone offline.
Celeste stared at Richard.
“You said they were only driving us.”
Richard ignored her.
Downstairs, the front bell sounded.
Then again.
Then someone began pounding on the heavy oak doors.
Sophie buried her face against Ethan’s shoulder.
“Daddy, I don’t want them to take me.”
“They won’t.”
Ethan led her through the service hallway.
Claire had designed much of the renovation herself.
She had insisted on keeping the mansion’s original servants’ passages.
Richard had mocked her for it.
Now those passages became Ethan’s advantage.
He reached the old linen closet and opened a concealed door.
Celeste followed.
Richard tried to enter.
Ethan blocked him.
“You stay out.”
“Ethan, listen to me.”
“No.”
“You need me.”
Ethan nearly laughed.
“I needed you twelve years ago when I called you my brother.”
“Right now, I need you away from my daughter.”
He slammed the panel shut.
Celeste stared at him in the narrow passage.
“I didn’t know Richard planned this.”
“You bought the tickets.”
“I was trying to get Sophie somewhere safe.”
“By locking her inside luggage?”
Celeste’s eyes filled with shame.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Ethan’s voice sharpened.
“What does that mean?”
Celeste looked down.
“I told her we were leaving.”
“She ran.”
“I panicked.”
Ethan said nothing.
There was no excuse he wanted to hear.
They reached a hidden staircase leading to the garage wing.
Then Sophie spoke.
“Daddy.”
She held something in her small palm.
A folded piece of paper.
“I took this from Celeste’s purse before she put me in there.”
Ethan opened it.
It was not an airline itinerary.
It was a bank transfer confirmation.
Twenty million dollars.
Recipient listed under a Swiss company.
And beneath the transaction was a handwritten note.
DELIVERY ONLY AFTER THE GIRL ARRIVES.
Ethan looked at Celeste.
Her face turned white.
“I’ve never seen that before.”
May you like
A crash echoed from the mansion entrance.
The front doors had just been forced open.
