Chapter 5: The Empty Bedroom
Victor reached the staircase before the emergency lights came on.
"Adrian!""
His voice thundered through the mansion.
Marcus was already running ahead of him. Two security officers emerged from the corridor near the family wing, drawing their flashlights as they moved.
Victor reached his son's bedroom and found the door open.
The curtains were blowing through the open window.
The bedside lamp lay shattered on the carpet.
Adrian was gone.
For one terrible second, Victor couldn't breathe.
Then he saw the stuffed fox lying beside the bed, one of its button eyes torn loose.
"Lock down the estate!"" he shouted.
"Nobody leaves. Check every exit, every vehicle, every service tunnel!""
Marcus spoke into his radio.
"All units, initiate lockdown. Possible child abduction. Search the family wing immediately.""
Victor rushed to the window.
Outside, the garden stretched into darkness. The security lights along the perimeter had gone out, leaving only the distant glow of the main road.
A narrow service ladder stood beneath the window.
Someone had placed it there deliberately.
Victor turned toward the guards.
"Who was assigned to this corridor?""
One officer swallowed.
"Daniel Price, sir.""
"Where is he?""
"We haven't located him.""
Victor grabbed the nearest flashlight and swept it across the room.
The desk drawer stood open.
The school papers were scattered across the floor.
And on the pillow lay a folded note.
Victor snatched it up.
The handwriting was Celeste's.
If you want your son back, stop looking for enemies inside your own family.
Beneath the sentence was an address.
A disused property outside the city that belonged to one of Victor's holding companies.
Marcus appeared in the doorway, breathless.
"Sir, we've found the east gate open. The electronic lock was disabled from inside the control system.""
"Can you track the override?""
"We're trying.""
"Do it faster.""
Victor held up the note.
"Someone wants me at this address.""
Marcus read it.
"It could be a trap.""
"My son is missing.""
"I understand, sir. But if they know we're investigating, they may be watching every move we make.""
Victor stepped closer.
"Then give them something to watch.""
He took out his phone and called his private driver.
"Prepare the black car. No police escort. No visible security.""
Marcus caught his arm.
"Victor, you cannot go alone.""
"I'm not going alone. You're coming with me.""
"And the police?""
"Call them from a secure line. Tell them we have a possible kidnapping and give them the address. But nobody moves until we know whether Adrian is there.""
Marcus nodded and hurried away.
Victor turned back toward the bedroom.
Something was wrong.
The note had been left on the pillow, where it would be impossible to miss. The open window, the ladder, and the disabled cameras were all deliberate.
Someone wanted him to panic.
Someone wanted him to make a mistake.
And if Celeste had truly taken Adrian, she knew exactly which mistake he would make.
He would go wherever she told him.
Victor folded the note and slipped it into his pocket.
Then he noticed a small object beneath the overturned bedside table.
A silver cuff link.
Not his.
He crouched and picked it up.
The metal bore an engraved crest: a falcon above three crossed swords.
Victor recognized it immediately.
It belonged to Daniel Price, the missing security officer.
Three years earlier, Daniel had been investigated for selling confidential information about the estate. Victor had dismissed the allegations after Thomas assured him that the evidence was unreliable.
Now Daniel had disappeared at the exact moment Adrian was taken.
Victor's hands tightened around the cuff link.
Another betrayal.
Another man he had trusted.
And another decision he had made because someone else told him what to believe.
"Marcus!"" he called.
His head of security returned.
Victor showed him the cuff link.
"Find Daniel. I want his financial records, his communications, and every visitor he's had in the last six months.""
Marcus stared at the crest.
"That's his, sir.""
"I know.""
"Do you think he's involved?""
"I think everyone gets the chance to explain themselves. But nobody gets another chance to disappear.""
Twenty minutes later, Victor and Marcus drove through the mansion gates.
The black sedan moved along the wet road without headlights for the first few hundred yards. Rain had begun to fall, tapping against the windshield like impatient fingers.
Victor kept Adrian's stuffed fox on his lap.
He had found it beside the bed and could not bring himself to leave it behind.
Marcus glanced at him.
"Sir, I have to ask. If Celeste is responsible, what happens when we find her?""
Victor looked through the windshield.
"I ask where my son is.""
"And after that?""
"After that, she answers for every second he spent believing I didn't want him.""
Marcus fell silent.
They reached the abandoned property at 12:26 a.m.
It was an old country residence that Victor's company had purchased for redevelopment. The house had been empty for almost four years, its windows boarded and its drive overgrown with weeds.
A single light glowed in an upstairs room.
Victor got out before the car had fully stopped.
"Stay behind me," Marcus warned.
They approached the front door.
It stood open.
Inside, the air smelled of damp wood and dust. Their footsteps echoed through a long hallway littered with plaster and broken tiles.
Then Victor heard a sound.
A child's voice.
"Dad?""
He ran toward it.
"Adrian!""
The voice came from a room at the end of the corridor.
Victor pushed open the door.
His son sat in a wooden chair beneath a hanging bulb, his wrists bound with soft cloth. He was frightened but conscious, his face pale and wet with tears.
Victor dropped to his knees.
"Adrian. I'm here.""
The boy lunged toward him as soon as Marcus cut the restraints.
"Dad, I thought you weren't coming.""
Victor pulled him into his arms.
"I will always come for you.""
Adrian clung to his jacket.
"She said you chose Celeste. She said you signed the papers.""
"What papers?""
"The ones that say I have to live somewhere else.""
Victor looked at Marcus.
"Get him outside. Call the police. Tell them we've located the child.""
Marcus helped Adrian stand.
Then the boy caught Victor's hand.
"Dad, wait.""
Victor turned.
Adrian pointed toward the far corner of the room.
"There was another man here.""
Victor's blood ran cold.
"Who?""
"I don't know his name. He wore a dark coat. He said I shouldn't tell you he was here.""
"Where did he go?""
Adrian pointed toward a second door.
"He left when he heard the car.""
Victor crossed the room and opened it.
Beyond the doorway was a narrow staircase leading to a cellar.
A fresh trail of muddy footprints descended into the darkness.
Marcus drew his weapon.
"Stay with Adrian.""
Victor ignored him.
He took the flashlight and moved down the steps.
At the bottom, he found a small office furnished with a desk, a laptop, and several filing cabinets.
The laptop screen was still glowing.
A video conference window showed a man seated in a dark room.
The camera was off, but the microphone remained active.
Victor leaned toward the screen.
"Who are you?""
Silence.
Then the man spoke.
"You should have stayed out of this, Victor.""
Victor recognized the voice.
His heart seemed to stop.
It was Thomas Reed.
But Thomas was supposed to be under guard at the mansion.
Victor stared at the screen.
"How are you calling me from here?""
Thomas gave a quiet, humorless laugh.
"That's the wrong question.""
"What have you done with my son?""
"I didn't take him.""
"Your messages say otherwise.""
"I told you, Victor. You don't understand what you've found.""
Victor stepped closer to the laptop.
"Then tell me.""
Thomas's voice lowered.
"The guardianship papers aren't the real objective. They're only the first step.""
"What is the real objective?""
Thomas hesitated.
Then he said something that made Victor's blood run cold.
"They aren't trying to take Adrian away from you.""
A pause.
"They're trying to make it legally impossible for you to protect him.""
The screen went black.
Behind Victor, a door slammed shut.
Marcus shouted his name.
May you like
Then the cellar lights died.
And somewhere in the darkness, a phone began to ring.
