Chapter 17 - The White RoseMia did not scream.
That frightened Dominic more than any scream could have.
She picked up the white rose with both hands as if it were something dead. One thorn had been left on the stem. A bead of blood sat on it, bright and small.
Harper’s blood.
Mia looked at Dominic.
Her face had gone beyond fear into a place he recognized from mirrors after funerals.
“Find her,” she said.
Two words.
No pleading.
No tears.
A command.
Dominic turned the full force of the Vale estate inside out.
Doors sealed. Gates locked. Tunnels flooded with men. Cameras rewound. Staff counted. Every vehicle disabled except those under Daniel’s control. Federal agents shouted about jurisdiction until Dominic looked at them, and then they shouted less.
The footage showed the truth in pieces.
Harper asleep beneath the blanket.
Anna leaving for less than thirty seconds to get warm milk because Dr. Reeves asked for it.
The library lights flickering.
A panel behind the western bookshelf opening.
Small hands pulling the blanket back.
Harper sitting up, confused.
A woman in a black hood stepping from the passage.
Not Nathan.
Not Claire.
The woman knelt and showed Harper something.
The camera angle did not reveal it.
Harper climbed down.
The woman took her hand.
They vanished through the wall.
Mia watched the footage without blinking.
When it ended, she turned to Dr. Reeves.
“You asked Anna for milk?”
The doctor paled.
“I didn’t.”
Anna began crying. “He did. I heard his voice.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
A recording.
Nathan had used Dr. Reeves’s voice.
Lily stepped closer to the screen.
“Play the part where Harper sees something.”
Daniel rewound.
The hooded woman knelt. Her hand lifted.
For one frame, the object caught light.
A silver bird pendant.
Mia’s hand flew to her throat.
Her own pendant was still there.
Dominic’s gaze sharpened.
“Claire had one made?”
Mia shook her head slowly.
“No. Harper has a matching one. Smaller. I keep it in my jewelry box. She only wears it on birthdays.”
Daniel swore. “The woman used it to prove Mia sent her.”
Mia’s face crumpled for half a second.
Then she rebuilt herself.
“Where does that passage go?”
Dominic looked at the wall.
“I didn’t know it existed.”
Victoria spoke from the doorway.
“I might.”
Everyone turned.
Victoria’s face was grim.
“Aldo built several nursery exits after Elena became pregnant. He called them safety routes.”
Dominic’s voice was cold.
“Safety for whom?”
Victoria lowered her eyes.
“One leads to the chapel ruins.”
The old chapel stood half a mile beyond the north woods. Dominic’s grandfather had built it for a wife who died before it was finished. No one used it now except photographers who liked decay.
Mia walked toward the door.
Dominic blocked her.
“No.”
Her eyes flashed.
“Move.”
“You are injured.”
“My daughter is missing.”
“And I need you alive when I bring her back.”
Mia tried to step around him.
Dominic took her shoulders gently.
That gentleness broke something.
Mia began shaking.
“She already waited three days for me,” she whispered. “What if she thinks I didn’t come?”
Dominic’s hands tightened.
“She knows.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes,” he said. “I do.”
Mia looked up, furious.
“Because you know children now?”
Dominic took the blow.
“Because she made me promise. And Harper believes promises should be kept.”
Mia’s eyes filled.
Lily stepped forward.
“I’ll go with him.”
Dominic turned.
“No.”
Lily’s jaw set.
“Elena’s letter said not to put me in a cage.”
“This isn’t a cage.”
“Then don’t lock the door.”
For a moment, father and daughter faced each other across seventeen stolen years.
Dominic saw Elena in the tilt of her chin.
He hated and loved it instantly.
“Stay behind me,” he said.
Lily nodded.
Mia grabbed Lily’s hand.
“Bring her back.”
Lily squeezed once.
“I will.”
The north woods were black and wet from morning rain. Dominic, Lily, Daniel, and four guards moved without flashlights until the chapel ruins appeared between the trees, its broken stone walls silvered by moonlight.
A child’s voice echoed faintly.
“Mommy?”
Mia heard it from the estate through the open radio and collapsed to her knees.
Dominic moved faster.
Inside the chapel, Harper stood near the ruined altar in her yellow nightgown. Her hands were tied in front of her with white ribbon. She was crying but alive.
Beside her stood the hooded woman.
Claire Bennett.
Dominic aimed his gun.
Claire pushed the barrel of her own weapon against Harper’s shoulder.
“Don’t.”
Lily inhaled sharply.
Claire’s hood fell back, revealing wild hair and a face twisted by desperation.
“How did you get out?” Dominic asked.
Claire laughed.
“Nathan always had exits. He just didn’t think I’d learn them.”
Daniel whispered, “No shot.”
Harper saw Dominic.
“You promised,” she sobbed.
Dominic’s heart split.
“I’m here.”
Claire’s voice shook.
“Throw down the drive. Elena’s letter too.”
Dominic stared at her.
“You still think Nathan will protect you?”
“No.” Claire’s eyes burned. “I think everyone wants proof. Proof gives me value.”
Lily stepped beside Dominic.
Claire looked at her.
“And you. The lost daughter. Come closer.”
Dominic’s voice became deadly.
“Claire.”
“If I leave with her, Nathan deals. If I leave with the child, Mia obeys. If I leave with both—”
A shot cracked through the chapel.
Claire gasped.
Her gun fell.
Harper dropped to the floor screaming.
For one horrifying second, Dominic thought Lily had been hit.
Then Claire turned slowly.
Nathan Cross stood in the broken archway behind her, smoke rising from his gun.
He smiled at Dominic.
“I told you,” Nathan said. “She was never the prize.”
Claire collapsed beside the altar.
May you like
Nathan aimed at Lily.
“She is.”
