CHAPTER 4: THEY CAME FOR THE LITTLE HEIRESS
The mansion plunged into darkness.
A second later—
BANG!
A window shattered somewhere upstairs.
Then another.
The scream came again.
“Somebody took the child!”
“No!” Rosa cried.
She reached for Mia.
But the little girl was gone.
The couch was empty.
For one terrifying second, nobody moved.
Then panic exploded.
“Mia!” Rosa screamed.
She stumbled through the darkness.
“Mia! Baby, answer Mommy!”
Adrian grabbed the flashlight from the desk drawer.
Its beam cut through the black room.
The couch was empty.
The stuffed rabbit lay on the floor.
One tiny shoe sat beside it.
Rosa's knees nearly gave out.
“She was right here…”
The front doors slammed somewhere in the mansion.
Boom!
Mr. Collins rushed to the window.
“Sir! A car just left the driveway!”
Adrian's face turned to stone.
“Security!”
No answer.
He tried his phone.
Nothing.
The signal was gone.
Someone had cut the power and jammed the phones.
This had been planned.
“Find my car keys,” he ordered.
But before anyone could move—
A tiny voice came from beneath the desk.
“Mommy?”
Everyone froze.
Adrian lowered the flashlight.
Two frightened brown eyes looked back at him.
Mia.
Curled beneath the desk.
Holding Bunny.
Rosa burst into tears.
“Oh, thank God!”
She pulled her daughter into her arms.
“I thought they took you!”
The little girl sniffed.
“A scary man came.”
“What man?”
“He looked at me through the window.”
The room went silent.
Then—
A loud crash came from the hallway.
BANG!
Someone had entered the library.
Adrian stepped in front of Rosa and Mia.
The door slowly creaked open.
A shadow appeared.
Everyone held their breath.
Then—
“Don't shoot!”
A young man stumbled into the room.
He was bleeding from his forehead.
One of the security guards.
“Sir… they're inside!”
“Who?”
“I don't know!”
“How many?”
“At least four.”
Another crash echoed downstairs.
Glass shattered.
A woman screamed.
Then came footsteps.
Heavy.
Fast.
Coming toward the library.
“Lock the door,” Adrian ordered.
The guard slammed it shut.
Mr. Collins pushed a cabinet against it.
Boom!
Something hit the other side.
Again.
Boom!
Rosa hugged Mia tightly.
“What's happening?”
Adrian didn't answer.
Because he already knew.
Someone had come for the little girl.
The true heiress.
Then—
A phone buzzed.
Everyone jumped.
It was Adrian's.
One bar of signal had appeared.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Who is this?”
Silence.
Then a woman's voice.
Smooth.
Cold.
Familiar.
“Hello, Adrian.”
His blood turned to ice.
“Vanessa.”
A soft laugh.
“You sound surprised.”
“What have you done?”
“Me? Nothing.”
Another crash hit the door.
Boom!
“Stop lying!”
“I warned you earlier, didn't I?”
Silence.
“When you discovered who those people really are…”
Adrian's hand tightened around the phone.
“You knew.”
“Of course I knew.”
“Who are these men?”
She laughed.
“You're asking the wrong question.”
Boom!
The door shook again.
“You should ask who sent them.”
Adrian's face hardened.
“Tell me.”
A pause.
Then—
“Your father.”
The room went still.
Even the pounding on the door seemed to disappear.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“My father is dead.”
“Not the one in the grave.”
Adrian stopped breathing.
Vanessa's voice softened.
“You never wondered why your father's coffin remained closed?”
A chill spread through him.
The funeral.
The closed casket.
The sudden cremation.
The rushed ceremony.
Things he had never questioned.
“You're lying.”
“Am I?”
Another pause.
Then she whispered:
“Your father has been alive for three years.”
The world seemed to tilt.
“No…”
“He's been hiding.”
“Why?”
“Because he discovered the truth about Mia.”
Rosa looked terrified.
“What truth?”
Vanessa laughed softly.
“Your daughter inherited something far more valuable than money.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The Hastings Trust.”
Adrian's eyes widened.
Impossible.
The Hastings Trust controlled almost twenty billion dollars in land and assets.
It could not be inherited by just anyone.
“Only a direct blood heir can control it,” Vanessa continued.
“Your grandfather changed the documents years ago.”
A terrible realization hit Adrian.
Daniel had no children.
He had never married.
If Mia truly was his daughter…
She was next in line.
A three-year-old child…
worth billions.
“Your father wants the trust back under his control,” Vanessa said.
“And Mia stands in the way.”
A loud crack split the room.
The door began to break.
“Why are you telling me this?” Adrian demanded.
Silence.
Then came a shaky breath.
“Because I didn't know they planned to hurt her.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“I knew your father wanted the child.”
“But I thought he only wanted custody.”
Another crash.
Wood splintered.
“I heard something tonight,” she whispered.
“What?”
“They're going to make the little girl disappear.”
Rosa gasped.
“No…”
Vanessa's voice trembled.
“For once in my life… I'm scared.”
Adrian had never heard fear in her voice before.
“Where are you?”
“At the old Greenbridge Hotel.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“Because I'm sending you something.”
A message arrived.
Photo attached.
Adrian opened it.
His entire body went cold.
The picture showed a man sitting in a dark room.
Thin.
Exhausted.
A beard covering his face.
But there was no mistake.
It was Daniel.
Alive.
Beneath the picture was a single sentence.
I escaped. They're coming.
Adrian nearly dropped the phone.
“Daniel…”
“Yes,” Vanessa said quietly.
“He's alive.”
Boom!
The library door cracked open.
A gloved hand reached through.
Rosa screamed.
The guard pulled his gun.
“Get back!”
The hand disappeared.
Then—
A voice from outside.
Deep.
Cold.
“Open the door and nobody gets hurt.”
Adrian recognized it instantly.
His face turned white.
Impossible.
He hadn't heard that voice in three years.
The phone slipped from his hand.
Rosa looked at him.
“Who is it?”
He could barely speak.
Because only one man had that voice.
Only one.
His father.
And the voice outside the door said again:
May you like
“Open the door, Adrian.
I came for my granddaughter.”
