Chapter 3
Adrian read Vivian's message three times.
Then he ran.
I followed him out of the study, down the long hallway, and into Lily's bedroom.
The bed was empty.
Her blanket lay on the floor.
The window curtains moved softly in the air conditioning.
"Lily!"
Adrian's voice cracked.
I checked the bathroom.
Empty.
The dressing room.
Empty.
Then I heard a tiny sound.
A muffled sob behind the wardrobe.
I dropped to my knees.
"Lily?"
A little hand appeared beneath the sliding door.
I opened it.
She was crouching among her dresses, clutching the stuffed rabbit Elena had given her.
"Daddy said no hiding," she whispered.
Adrian fell to his knees beside me.
"No, sweetheart. You can hide when you're frightened. But please tell us where you are."
Lily looked from him to me.
"Vivi said bad men were coming."
A cold sensation spread through my body.
"What men?" Adrian asked.
"She said they'd take me if I talked."
Adrian closed his eyes.
When he opened them, he looked older.
"Nobody is taking you."
He lifted Lily into his arms.
For once, she didn't resist.
She buried her face against his shoulder.
I checked my phone.
There was a message from Vivian.
"Stay out of things you don't understand."
Then another.
"You have no idea what Elena was involved in."
I showed Adrian.
His jaw tightened.
He called Daniel.
"Seal the private elevator. Do not allow Vivian into the apartment without my authorization."
Daniel answered immediately.
"Sir, Mrs. Cross left through the service entrance ten minutes ago."
Adrian stared at the phone.
"Was she alone?"
"Yes. But she took a large suitcase."
We found the wardrobe in the guest suite standing open.
Vivian's passport was gone.
So were her jewelry boxes.
And a black leather briefcase she normally kept locked.
Adrian looked at me.
"She's running."
I wished it were that simple.
Vivian didn't run from problems.
She made other people pay for them.
Within an hour, Detective Marcus Price arrived.
Dr. Reeves had already contacted child protective services regarding Lily's injuries, and Adrian had called the police himself.
Detective Price was tall, calm, and careful with his questions.
He asked Adrian to explain the missing security footage.
He photographed Vivian's threatening messages.
Then he interviewed me separately.
I told him everything I had witnessed.
The golf club.
The scratches.
The bruises.
The way Lily had been terrified of her stepmother for months.
He listened without interrupting.
Then he asked about Elena.
I told him about the phone call.
The key.
The warning.
He leaned forward.
"Why didn't you tell Mr. Cross before today?"
"Because I thought Vivian was watching me."
"Why?"
I hesitated.
Three weeks after I started working at the penthouse, I found my bedroom door open.
Someone had searched my belongings.
The small brass key had been moved.
The next morning, Vivian asked whether I had brought any important personal items into her home.
Her smile had been so cold that I couldn't sleep for two nights.
I told Detective Price.
He wrote it down.
"Do you still have the original voicemail from Elena?"
I froze.
The voicemail.
For three years, I had avoided listening to it because hearing Elena's frightened voice made me feel helpless.
But I had never deleted it.
"It's on my old phone."
"Where is it?"
"At my apartment in Brooklyn."
He nodded.
"I'd like you to preserve it."
Adrian entered the room carrying Lily.
"I'll take Maya there."
Detective Price looked at the child.
"Mr. Cross, I strongly recommend that Lily stay somewhere secure tonight."
Adrian nodded.
"I have a property outside the city."
Lily clung to him.
"Not the big house."
His face changed.
"What big house?"
"The one with the blue door."
I looked at Adrian.
He looked at me.
Vivian had taken Lily to a country property twice without informing me.
Both times, Lily returned withdrawn.
The second time, she had refused dinner and cried whenever someone mentioned the word basement.
Adrian gently touched her hair.
"Sweetheart, who took you to that house?"
"Vivi."
"Was anyone else there?"
She nodded.
"A man."
"What man?"
She pressed her lips together.
Then she whispered, "The man who tells Mommy not to sing."
Adrian nearly lost his grip on her.
I stepped closer.
"Which mommy, Lily?"
She looked at me.
And hummed Elena's lullaby.
Detective Price immediately asked Adrian to stop questioning her.
He explained that a trained child interviewer needed to speak with Lily without adults unintentionally influencing her answers.
Adrian agreed.
But I could see the fear in his eyes.
That night, he arranged for us to stay at a secure apartment owned by his company.
Daniel assigned two guards.
Dr. Reeves checked on Lily again.
She fell asleep holding my hand.
Adrian stood in the doorway for a long time.
Then he whispered, "I've been blind."
I didn't answer.
He looked at me.
"You saw it happening."
"I saw signs. I didn't know how far she'd gone."
"Why didn't you leave?"
I glanced at Lily.
"Because she couldn't."
His eyes filled.
He turned away.
Later, when Lily was sleeping, Adrian drove me to Brooklyn with Daniel accompanying us.
My old phone was in a kitchen drawer.
Its battery was dead.
I found the charger.
When the screen finally lit up, I opened the saved voicemail.
Elena's voice filled the kitchen.
"Maya, please listen carefully. If anything happens to me, don't trust Vivian. She's been using my name to access money from the foundation, and I think she's found out that I know."
Adrian gripped the counter.
The recording continued.
"There's something else. Something worse. I heard her talking about Adrian's insurance policy. I need to show him what I found before it's too late."
Then Elena began to cry.
"I've hidden copies where only my mother would think to look. The key is for the locker. Please keep it safe."
A door slammed in the background.
Elena gasped.
Then a familiar female voice spoke.
"Who are you talking to?"
The recording ended.
Adrian stared at the phone.
His expression was terrifyingly empty.
He recognized that voice.
May you like
So did I.
It was Vivian.
