Chapter 25
The address Olivia sent led Sarah to a derelict industrial area on the outskirts of the city.
An abandoned chemical plant, its windows dark and broken like empty eye sockets.
A gaping hole in the chain-link fence was the only entrance.
Darkness beckoned from within.
Fear, cold and primal, coiled in Sarah’s stomach.
But Lily.
Lily was in there.
Her love for her daughter, a fierce, protective inferno, burned away the fear.
She slipped through the fence, her heart pounding against her ribs.
The air inside was thick with the smell of decay and something acrid, chemical.
“Lily?” she called out, her voice a trembling whisper.
Silence.
Then, a rustle in the shadows.
Before Sarah could react, something hard slammed into the back of her head.
Stars exploded behind her eyes.
Darkness.
Ethan returned to the mansion late in the afternoon.
He had been finalizing the legal transfer of his assets.
The house felt… too quiet.
An uneasy feeling settled in his gut.
Sarah and Lily should have been back from preschool hours ago.
He called Sarah’s phone.
Straight to voicemail.
Panic, sharp and instant, flared.
Not again. Please, not again.
He remembered.
In their previous life, he had discreetly placed a small, untraceable GPS tracker in one of Lily’s favorite teddy bears. A precaution.
He had done the same this time. A habit born of paranoia, of a desperate need to protect them.
He pulled up the tracking app on his phone.
His blood ran cold.
The tracker showed Lily’s location.
The abandoned chemical plant.
Abduction.
He didn’t hesitate.
He ran to his car, his mind a maelstrom of fear and rage.
Olivia.
It had to be Olivia.
Her desperation. Her hatred.
He pushed the car to its limits, racing towards the plant.
The place looked even more ominous in the fading light.
He saw signs of recent activity. Tire tracks.
He spotted two thuggish-looking men guarding the main entrance.
Olivia’s hired muscle.
He circled the perimeter, his eyes scanning for another way in.
A broken window. High up. But climbable.
He was a man possessed.
Driven by a primal need to save his family.
Inside, the silence was heavy, oppressive.
Then, he heard it.
A small, muffled sob.
Lily.
“Mommy…” Lily’s voice, choked with tears. “Mommy, wake up…”
Ethan followed the sound, his heart pounding.
He found them in a vast, cavernous room.
Lily, tied to a chair, crying.
And Sarah.
Lying on the cold concrete floor.
Unconscious. A dark stain of blood matting her hair.
Restrained with heavy ropes.
Rage, pure and murderous, surged through Ethan.
He rushed to Lily, quickly untying her.
“Daddy!” she sobbed, throwing her arms around his neck. “Mommy won’t wake up!”
“Shhh, sweetie, it’s okay,” Ethan soothed, his voice trembling. “Daddy’s here. Mommy will be okay.”
“Touching…”
Olivia’s voice echoed from the shadows.
She stepped into the dim light, a cruel smile on her face. A gun in her hand.
“What a touching family reunion.”