Chapter 1 - The Live Feed
Ethan stared at the phone until the image blurred.
Amelia was alive.
Seven years of funerals, grief, and empty rooms collapsed into one impossible picture.
On the screen, Victor stepped closer to the hospital bed.
The syringe in his hand caught the fluorescent light.
Lily clutched Ethan’s sleeve.
“He does this when Mommy wakes up.”
Ethan looked down sharply.
“You’ve seen him before?”
Lily nodded.
“Aunt Nora took me there once.”
Nora stopped crying.
Ethan turned toward her.
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“Why?”
Nora swallowed.
“Victor wanted Amelia to see Lily.”
Ethan felt sick.
“Why would he do that?”
“To keep her cooperative.”
Lily whispered:
“He told Mommy if she tried to leave, I would disappear.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
He took the phone from Lily and handed it to security chief Marcus Reed.
“Trace that feed.”
Marcus immediately connected the device to the mansion’s security network.
Dr. Hayes stepped closer.
“If Victor is about to inject Amelia with something, we don’t have much time.”
Ethan looked at Nora.
“Where is she?”
Nora hesitated.
One security officer tightened his grip on her arm.
Ethan’s voice became colder.
“You already helped steal seven years of my daughter’s life.”
“Do not make me ask twice.”
Nora broke.
“Blackwood Recovery Center.”
Marcus frowned.
“That facility closed five years ago.”
“Publicly.”
Nora looked terrified.
“Victor kept the lower wing operating.”
“It’s under an old rehabilitation license.”
“Only six people know.”
Ethan grabbed his coat.
Marcus moved with him.
“Sir, we should contact police.”
“We are.”
Ethan called Detective Sarah Collins.
She had previously handled corporate security cases involving the Blackwood family.
He gave her the address and the live feed.
Her answer was immediate.
“Do not enter until officers arrive.”
Ethan looked at the screen.
Victor had placed one hand on Amelia’s wrist.
The syringe was inches from her IV line.
“I’m not waiting.”
He ended the call.
Lily ran after him.
“Daddy.”
That word stopped him.
Not sir.
Not Mr. Blackwood.
Daddy.
Ethan turned.
Lily’s face was wet with tears.
“Bring Mommy home.”
He crouched and took her face gently in both hands.
“I will.”
“You promise?”
Ethan had spent seven years believing promises were dangerous because life could destroy them.
But this one felt different.
“Yes.”
“I promise.”
He left Lily with Dr. Hayes and two security officers.
Nora was placed in a locked guest room until police arrived.
Ethan, Marcus, and four members of the private security team reached Blackwood Recovery Center twenty-three minutes later.
The building stood behind an abandoned medical campus outside the city.
Half the windows were dark.
One service entrance glowed beneath a single security lamp.
Police vehicles approached without sirens.
Detective Collins stepped from the first car.
“You disobey instructions very efficiently.”
Ethan looked toward the building.
“My wife is inside.”
Sarah nodded once.
“Then stay behind us.”
They entered through the lower service corridor.
The air smelled of bleach and damp concrete.
A security guard surrendered almost immediately.
Another ran and was caught near the elevators.
Sarah demanded the location of Room 14.
The guard stared at Ethan.
Then at the officers.
“Victor said nobody was supposed to know she was here.”
Ethan grabbed the man’s jacket.
“Where is Room 14?”
“Lower east wing.”
They ran.
A camera above the corridor blinked red.
Victor knew they were coming.
When they reached the final hallway, the door to Room 14 stood open.
The bed was empty.
The IV line hung loose.
Fresh blood marked the white sheet where the needle had been ripped away.
Ethan stopped breathing.
Then Marcus saw something on the floor.
The syringe.
Unused.
Beside it was Amelia’s hospital bracelet.
And written across the wall in black marker were four words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE DRUNK IT.
May you like
Victor had taken Amelia.
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