Chapter 13 - THE LAST ABDUCTION
Noah was not at school.
He was safe at Whitmore House under police protection.
That meant the photograph was not about taking Noah.
Adrian realized it first.
“Elena.”
He turned.
She was gone.
Her phone lay on the courthouse floor.
Security footage showed Elena leaving through a side exit.
Alone.
Then Adrian saw why.
A message had appeared on her phone moments earlier.
COME ALONE OR NOAH LEARNS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO GRACE.
Elena believed Celeste had information about her dead sister.
She went.
Police traced the vehicle.
An abandoned chapel outside the city.
Elena stood inside when Celeste appeared.
“You always were predictable.”
Elena turned.
“What happened to Grace?”
Celeste smiled.
“She regretted betraying you.”
Elena’s face tightened.
“She tried to retract her statement.”
“What did you do?”
“I reminded her what would happen to her medical care.”
Elena stared at her.
“You let her die.”
“No.”
“Her disease killed her.”
“You used treatment to control her.”
Celeste shrugged.
“Everyone has a price.”
Elena’s expression changed.
“No.”
“Everyone has something they love.”
“That’s different.”
Celeste stepped closer.
“You think so?”
“Yes.”
“Because a price is something you sell.”
“Love is something you protect.”
Celeste laughed.
“And yet love brought you here.”
“No.”
Elena reached into her coat.
Celeste tensed.
Elena removed her phone.
The screen showed an active call.
Detective Sloan.
“You brought me here.”
Sirens sounded outside.
Celeste’s confidence vanished.
She ran toward the rear door.
Adrian entered from the opposite side.
Celeste stopped.
For the first time, she was trapped between the two people whose lives she had manipulated most.
“You ruined everything.”
She hissed at Elena.
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
“I survived you.”
Police entered.
Celeste was arrested again.
This time there would be no Bellamy judge.
No private release.
No convenient disappearance.
As officers led her away, she turned toward Adrian.
“You think this ends with me?”
Adrian said nothing.
“Your father built this system.”
“Your family benefited from it.”
“You cannot expose me without destroying your own name.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Then the name deserves to be destroyed.”
Celeste finally understood.
May you like
He was willing to lose everything.
And that made him impossible to control.
