CHAPTER 4 — The Chase Through Blackwood Manor
Emergency lights flashed red throughout the mansion.
Security alarms screamed.
Outside, rain crashed against the windows as lightning split the sky.
Roman raced upstairs with four guards.
"Find Celeste!"
The mansion had become a maze of shadows.
Servants screamed.
Doors slammed.
Security cameras blinked offline one after another.
Someone was deleting the recordings.
In the surveillance room, technicians stared helplessly.
"Sir!"
"They're hacking the entire system!"
Roman slammed both hands onto the desk.
"Who?"
A technician swallowed.
"The access code belongs to..."
He froze.
"...Dr. Malcolm Voss."
Roman spun around.
But the therapist was no longer in the basement.
"He escaped too."
Meanwhile...
Noah stayed beside Clara in the medical room.
Doctors rushed around her.
She looked weak but refused to rest.
She grabbed Noah's wrist.
"Listen carefully."
"You must protect Amelia."
Noah frowned.
"Why?"
Clara looked toward the door to make sure no one was listening.
Then she whispered,
"Because Amelia isn't the only witness."
Noah blinked.
"What do you mean?"
Clara reached into the torn lining of her old jacket.
She pulled out a tiny flash drive wrapped in plastic.
"I recorded everything."
Noah's breathing stopped.
"The night Evelyn died."
Outside...
Celeste sped through the estate in a black SUV.
One hand gripped the steering wheel.
The other clutched her phone.
"Answer!"
Finally...
A voice came through.
"Is it done?"
Celeste shouted,
"They found Clara!"
The man on the phone stayed strangely calm.
"Then leave the country."
"I can't!"
"They have every airport!"
There was a long silence.
Then the man spoke four chilling words.
"Then eliminate the witnesses."
Celeste's face hardened.
She turned the SUV around.
Not toward the highway.
Toward Blackwood Manor.
Back at the mansion...
Amelia suddenly looked toward the front window.
For the first time in years...
...she spoke in a complete sentence.
"Daddy..."
Roman turned instantly.
Amelia's voice trembled.
"She's coming back."
Roman rushed to her.
"Who?"
Amelia pointed through the rain.
"The lady..."
"...who pushed Mommy."
At that exact moment...
The front gates exploded inward.
Celeste's SUV smashed through the iron entrance at full speed.
Guards jumped out of the way.
The vehicle raced straight toward the mansion.
Toward the front doors.
Toward Amelia.
Roman screamed,
"EVERYBODY DOWN!"
The SUV crashed through the glass entrance in a deafening explosion.
Marble shattered.
Crystal chandeliers crashed from the ceiling.
Smoke filled the grand hall.
When it finally cleared...
The SUV sat destroyed in the center of the mansion.
Its driver's door hung open.
Empty.
Celeste had disappeared.
Then, from somewhere upstairs...
A child's terrified scream echoed through the mansion.
Noah looked up.
His face turned white.
"Amelia..."
Roman's blood froze.
The little girl was gone.
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Only her cracked music box remained on the marble floor...
...still playing the haunting lullaby Evelyn used to sing.
