Chapter 6 - What Grace SawGrace spent one night in the hospital.
He threw himself sideways.
The bullet struck the bedroom door.
Lily screamed.
Owen slammed Evelyn against the wall, but she drove her elbow into his throat and fired again.
The second bullet grazed his arm.
“Run, Lily!”
The little girl ran.
Barefoot again.
Through the private hallway.
Down the servants’ staircase.
Evelyn followed.
She knew Blackwood Mansion almost as well as Alexander did.
But not as well as Grace.
And Grace had taught Lily every safe room in the house.
Lily reached the laundry corridor and ducked behind a cabinet.
She pressed the hidden button Grace had once shown her.
A panel opened.
Lily crawled inside.
Evelyn’s footsteps passed.
The girl covered her mouth.
Three minutes later, Owen triggered the emergency alarm.
Police surrounded the mansion.
Evelyn disappeared.
Alexander arrived twenty-eight minutes later.
He found Lily sitting beneath the kitchen table wrapped in a police blanket.
She ran into his arms.
For the first time since Grace vanished, Alexander held the little girl and felt something close to terror.
Not corporate fear.
Not financial fear.
The raw fear of losing someone.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
Lily clung tighter.
“Mommy said you’d keep me safe.”
Alexander closed his eyes.
“I will.”
Owen survived.
Security footage showed Evelyn escaping through the same underground passage Marcus had used.
Meaning she possessed another key.
Detective Hayes issued warrants nationwide.
By morning, Evelyn Shaw was wanted for attempted murder, conspiracy, kidnapping, fraud, and financial crimes.
But Alexander cared about one charge.
Grace.
He returned to Theodore’s archive and stayed there until sunrise.
He read everything.
At seven fifteen, he discovered Catherine Blackwood’s history.
She had married Richard Blackwood in 1989 after he disappeared from the family.
Sebastian was born two years later.
Richard became increasingly violent.
Catherine eventually tried leaving him.
Then came the fire.
Official records said Catherine died.
Richard disappeared again.
Sebastian, seventeen at the time, inherited nothing.
He was sent to boarding school through an anonymous trust.
The trust had been funded by Evelyn.
Alexander found another cassette.
His father’s voice.
Charles Blackwood.
“I met Catherine today.”
Alexander’s hand froze.
Tape dated 2008.
Two years after Catherine supposedly died.
“She’s alive. Evelyn arranged the fire. They needed Richard to believe Catherine was dead.”
Another man asked, “Where’s Richard?”
“We don’t know.”
“And Sebastian?”
“Catherine refuses to see him.”
“Why?”
Long pause.
“Because Sebastian helped his father hurt her.”
Alexander stopped the tape.
The villain was not as simple as he had believed.
Catherine was alive because she had escaped an abusive husband.
Evelyn helped her.
At some point, however, Evelyn and Sebastian became allies.
Why?
Grace knew.
That was why she had been taken.
Alexander’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Silence.
Then breathing.
“Grace?”
A whisper.
“Alexander.”
He stood so fast the chair fell.
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
Her voice was weak.
“I got his phone.”
“Sebastian?”
“Yes.”
“Can you see anything?”
“Stone walls. Water. Trains every few minutes.”
Alexander signaled Detective Hayes.
“Grace, listen carefully. Are you underground?”
“Yes.”
“Any signs?”
“There’s… an old Blackwood logo.”
Alexander searched the tunnel map.
Train line.
Water.
Blackwood property.
There were three possibilities.
Grace suddenly gasped.
“What?”
“He’s coming.”
“Grace—”
“If I don’t make it—”
“No.”
“Listen to me.”
Alexander’s voice hardened.
“You are making it.”
Silence.
Then Grace whispered, “Take care of Lily.”
The line went dead.
Alexander stared at the phone.
Detective Hayes already had analysts tracing the call.
“We got a tower.”
“Where?”
“South district.”
Alexander looked at the map.
Only one Blackwood tunnel entered the south district near rail tracks and water.
The old Whitmore pumping station.
Police arrived in force.
Alexander stayed close behind.
The pumping station had been abandoned for thirty years.
Inside, they found stairs descending toward a subterranean maintenance tunnel.
Shots erupted before police reached the bottom.
Sebastian had armed men.
Detective Hayes shoved Alexander behind concrete.
“This is exactly why civilians stay outside.”
Alexander ignored her.
Then he heard Grace scream.
He ran.
A bullet struck the wall inches from his head.
He turned a corner and saw Sebastian dragging Grace toward a steel door.
“Stop!”
Sebastian raised his gun.
Alexander froze.
Grace’s hands were free.
She had cut the rope.
She swung a broken metal pipe.
It struck Sebastian’s wrist.
The gun fell.
Alexander crossed the distance in seconds.
He hit Sebastian once.
Hard.
Sebastian crashed into the wall.
Grace stumbled.
Alexander caught her.
For a second neither spoke.
She touched his face as if confirming he was real.
“Lily?”
“Safe.”
Grace broke.
Alexander held her while police cuffed Sebastian.
After three days underground, Grace Bennett finally saw daylight.
Lily met the ambulance at Blackwood Mansion.
She ran so fast one slipper flew off.
“Mommy!”
Grace dropped to her knees despite the medics protesting.
Mother and daughter collided in the driveway.
Alexander stood several feet away.
He had spent forty-eight hours searching tunnels, reading family secrets, and fighting enemies inside his own house.
Yet this was the first moment he felt victory.
Then Sebastian began laughing from the police car.
Alexander turned.
Sebastian leaned toward the window.
“You think this ends because you found her?”
Alexander walked closer.
Sebastian smiled through bloodied lips.
“You saved the witness.”
His eyes shifted toward Grace.
“But you still don’t know what she witnessed.”
Grace went pale.
Sebastian whispered through the glass.
“Tell him about the murder.”
Alexander looked at Grace.
She stared at the ground.
May you like
And for the first time since he had found her, Alexander saw something worse than fear in her eyes.
Guilt.
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