Chapter 2 - Warehouse SeventeenI didn't sleep that night.
At 2:13 in the morning, I stood inside my office looking at the silver key.
My head of security, Marcus, stood across from me.
“Warehouse Seventeen hasn't been opened since the night Lily disappeared.”
“Who has access?”
“Only you.”
“Wrong.”
He looked confused.
“Sir?”
“Someone else has access.”
I held up the key.
“Daniel had this.”
Marcus stared.
“Daniel Mercer?”
“Yes.”
He went silent.
“You remember him?”
“Everyone remembers him.”
“Then why didn't anyone tell me he gave Grace a key?”
Marcus hesitated.
“I didn't know.”
I believed him.
Mostly.
“Get the cars ready.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
Marcus nodded.
Then stopped.
“What about Grace and the child?”
“They stay here.”
I turned toward the door.
A small voice came from behind me.
“No.”
I stopped.
Amara stood in the hallway wearing pajamas covered in tiny yellow stars.
Marcus nearly dropped his phone.
“Where is your mother?”
“Asleep.”
“How did you get here?”
She shrugged.
I looked at Marcus.
“Lock the upper floors.”
“Yes, sir.”
Amara walked toward me.
“I know where the key goes.”
I stared.
“You've never been to Warehouse Seventeen.”
She shook her head.
“Daddy showed Mommy.”
“Your father showed your mother.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
She thought.
“Before he went away.”
“Where did he take her?”
She pointed toward the north side of the property.
“The red door.”
There was no red door.
Not anymore.
But I remembered one.
A maintenance entrance beneath the old carriage house.
We went there.
Marcus followed.
Behind a stack of wooden crates was a faded red metal door.
My heart began pounding.
I hadn't seen it in years.
The lock accepted the silver key.
The door opened.
Inside was a narrow staircase.
Dust covered every step.
At the bottom was a room.
Old records.
Boxes.
A broken desk.
And a wall covered with photographs.
I stepped closer.
My breath stopped.
There was Lily.
Three years old.
Standing beside Daniel.
Another photograph.
Lily inside a car.
Another.
Lily holding a stuffed rabbit.
Six years earlier.
Someone had been watching her.
Someone had been documenting her.
Marcus whispered:
“Sir...”
I didn't answer.
On the desk was an envelope.
My name was written on it.
JULIAN.
I opened it.
Daniel's handwriting.
If you are reading this, I failed to protect Lily.
My hands shook.
Don't trust anyone who tells you she died.
I read the next line.
She was alive when I last saw her.
The room seemed to tilt.
Marcus stepped closer.
“Sir?”
I kept reading.
Your daughter was not taken for ransom.
She was taken because she saw something she was never supposed to see.
I looked at the photographs.
“What did she see?”
The final sentence answered.
Your father's secret.
I froze.
My father.
The man who had built the organization before me.
The man who taught me never to trust weakness.
The man who had died believing I would carry his empire.
What secret could have been worth taking his granddaughter?
Then I saw another photograph.
Lily was standing beside a woman.
The woman was younger.
But I recognized her.
Grace.
I turned slowly.
“Your mother knew my daughter.”
Amara nodded.
“Mama said Lily was nice.”
Grace appeared at the doorway.
Tears ran down her face.
“I tried to keep her safe.”
I stared at her.
“You knew Lily.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Daniel brought her to me.”
“Why?”
May you like
Grace's voice broke.
“Because he was trying to save her.”
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