Chapter 8 - The Trap at St. GabrielFederal agents locked down Eli’s floor.
Every rational part of her knew that.
Instead she handed him to a security officer.
“Do not let anyone except Dominic take him.”
Then she ran into the smoke.
The basement stairwell was already hot.
“Mara!”
Dominic shouted from below.
She covered her mouth.
“Clara’s down there!”
He appeared through the smoke.
“What?”
“Noah said the cage was downstairs.”
Dominic’s face changed.
“The wine cellar.”
They ran.
The Vale mansion basement was larger than Mara’s entire apartment building.
Storage rooms.
Mechanical systems.
A private gym.
Climate-controlled archives.
A wine cellar hidden behind oak doors.
Smoke had entered but flames had not.
Dominic activated the lock.
Rejected.
Again.
Rejected.
“Someone changed the code.”
Mara picked up a fire extinguisher.
Dominic looked at her.
“You planning to persuade it?”
“Move.”
She smashed the keypad.
Nothing.
Dominic grabbed a decorative iron stand and drove it into the lock until the frame cracked.
Together they forced the door open.
Behind rows of wine bottles was a second door.
Steel.
“Noah drew bars,” Mara whispered.
Dominic found the release hidden beneath a shelf.
The steel door opened.
The smell hit them first.
Sweat.
Disinfectant.
Stale air.
A woman lay on a narrow cot.
Thin.
Pale.
Hair cut unevenly.
For one horrifying second Mara thought they were too late.
Then the woman moved.
“Clara?”
Her eyes opened.
“Who…”
Mara rushed forward.
“I’m Mara. Noah sent us.”
At Noah’s name, Clara began crying.
“He remembers me?”
Dominic knelt.
“I’m Dominic Vale.”
Clara recoiled so violently she struck the wall.
“No!”
“I’m not Julian.”
She stared.
Then saw the difference.
“Oh God.”
Dominic looked around.
Medical supplies.
Sedatives.
A portable camera.
Stacks of printed photographs.
“What did they do to you?”
Clara’s voice was weak.
“I found Noah hiding in the corridor. He showed me a recording.”
“Which recording?”
“Not Elise’s.”
Clara pointed toward a small camera.
“His.”
Noah had recorded Dr. Pike threatening him.
Clara tried to take Noah to police.
Grant intercepted her before she reached the gate.
Julian decided a disappearance would create fewer questions than a dead employee.
So they fabricated theft accusations and kept Clara hidden.
“For eighteen months?” Mara whispered.
“Sixteen.”
“How did nobody find you?”
Clara laughed weakly.
“Who searches a billionaire’s wine cellar for missing people?”
Dominic’s face went gray.
“My staff…”
“Grant controlled security. Harrow controlled household access. Pike controlled Noah.”
Clara looked at him.
“You controlled nothing.”
The words struck.
Dominic did not defend himself.
Smoke thickened.
“We need to move.”
He lifted Clara.
They reached the stairwell as flames entered the basement corridor.
Mara climbed first.
Halfway up, an explosion shook the house.
The lights died.
Clara screamed.
Dominic nearly fell.
Mara grabbed his shoulder.
“Keep moving!”
They emerged into the kitchen.
Firefighters were entering through the east doors.
Noah stood outside in the rain.
When he saw Clara, he tore away from the guard.
“Clara!”
His voice stopped everyone.
Clara slid from Dominic’s arms and dropped to her knees.
“Noah.”
He ran into her.
She held him.
“I’m sorry,” he sobbed.
“No. No, sweetheart.”
“I bit you.”
Clara laughed through tears.
“You saved me.”
Mara stared.
Noah had attacked Clara too.
Not to drive her away.
To stop her from drinking something Pike had given her.
The attacks had never been random.
Every nanny had been targeted at a specific moment.
One reached for Noah’s medicine.
One opened a locked drawer.
One answered a private phone.
One nearly discovered the service passage.
Noah’s violence was crude communication from a terrified child who had learned that adults ignored whispers but reacted to blood.
Sirens filled the estate.
Federal agents arrived before midnight.
Grant Mercer was arrested.
Clara gave a statement.
Dominic turned over Elise’s files.
But Julian, Pike, and Harrow were gone.
At 2:40 a.m., Mara sat beneath a blanket in an ambulance while Noah slept against Dominic’s chest.
Her phone rang.
St. Gabriel.
She answered.
“Miss Bennett?”
“Yes?”
“This is Dr. Reeves.”
Mara stood.
“What happened?”
“Eli’s condition deteriorated unexpectedly. We’re moving him to intensive monitoring.”
“I’m coming.”
Dominic looked up.
Mara’s face must have revealed everything.
He stood immediately.
“I’ll drive.”
“You need to stay with Noah.”
“He’s coming.”
“No.”
Dominic’s voice softened.
“Mara. Let me help.”
She wanted to refuse.
Then Noah woke.
He looked at her.
“Eli sick?”
She nodded.
Noah climbed down from Dominic’s arms and took Mara’s hand.
“Go.”
Thirty minutes later Mara reached the hospital.
Eli looked impossibly young beneath the machines.
She held his hand.
“You’re not allowed to do this.”
His eyes opened.
“Bossy.”
She laughed and cried at the same time.
A cardiologist explained that Eli needed surgery sooner than anticipated.
The financial authorization remained incomplete.
Mara stared at the doctor.
“Schedule it.”
“Miss Bennett—”
“Schedule it.”
She had no idea how.
She would sell the car.
Borrow.
Beg.
Anything.
Behind her Dominic spoke.
“The Vale Foundation will cover it.”
Mara turned.
“No.”
“The foundation exists for exactly this.”
“I’m not taking charity because I helped your son.”
“You aren’t.”
“It looks like it.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“My wife died trying to stop people from stealing money intended for children like your brother. You think the correct way to honor her is to leave that money sitting in an account while he gets sicker?”
Mara had no answer.
Dominic continued.
“No conditions. No debt. No favor.”
Eli opened one eye.
“I vote billionaire.”
Mara looked at him.
“You’re supposed to be weak.”
“Still smarter than you.”
Dominic almost smiled.
Then his phone rang.
His expression changed.
An agent had found Julian’s abandoned vehicle near Waukegan.
Inside were bloodstains.
Pike’s medical bag.
And a photograph of Mara leaving St. Gabriel.
Written on the back were five words:
YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME.
Mara looked toward Eli’s room.
May you like
Julian was no longer trying to erase evidence.
Now he was coming after her.
Related Stories
