Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN BEYOND THE GLASS
The broken window exploded inward, scattering fragments across the carpet. Claire fell over Lily, shielding her with her body. Atlas hit the frame so hard that the remaining glass trembled.
The woman in the pale coat was gone.
Grant drew his weapon. "Seal the grounds!"
Guards flooded the library. Mara pulled Claire and Lily behind a stone pillar while Atlas stood in the broken window, barking into the snow. His injured hip nearly buckled, but he remained between the child and the trees.
Victor did not move.
He stared at the shattered glass with an expression that frightened Claire more than the attack.
"You know her," Grant said.
Victor looked at him. "Yes."
"Name."
"Miriam Cole."
Claire felt the key in her pocket grow suddenly heavy.
Miriam Cole had signed the letter that brought Claire to Whitmore House.
Grant turned to her. "You said you never met her."
"I didn't. I only saw the name on the letter."
Mara moved to the broken window. She examined the snow beneath it. There were no footprints.
"She left before we could reach her," Mara said. "Or she was never standing there."
Grant looked at the cameras around the estate. "Check every feed."
The security room reported that the woman had appeared on none of the cameras. The lens outside the gate had captured only a dark blur. The one near the library had gone offline thirty seconds before the window broke.
Someone inside the estate had disabled it.
Victor was escorted away again, but this time he did not smile. He kept looking at Atlas.
"The dog is not protecting Lily from the people outside," he said. "He is protecting her from the people inside."
Grant slammed the door.
Claire carried Lily to the servants' wing while two guards followed. Lily was quiet, her face pressed into Claire's shoulder. Atlas walked beside them, his paws leaving dark marks where snow had melted from his fur.
In their apartment, Claire locked the door and placed a chair beneath the handle. She knew the chair would not stop anyone at Whitmore House. It made her feel less helpless anyway.
Lily sat on the bed and stared at the silver bracelet.
"Did my first mommy give this to me?"
Claire sat beside her. "I don't know, baby."
"Are you my mommy?"
The question broke Claire.
She pulled Lily into her lap. "Yes. Nothing can change that."
Atlas lowered his head beside them.
For the next hour, Claire told Lily stories about the day she was born. She told her about the rain against the hospital windows, the little red hat, and the way Lily had opened her eyes when Claire first held her. She did not mention Rose. She did not mention the bracelet or the woman in the photograph.
But Lily was three, not foolish.
"Why are the men looking for me?"
"Because some people are bad."
"Can Atlas bite them?"
"Only if he has to protect us."
Lily considered this. "He doesn't like the basement man."
Claire remembered Victor's explanation. She wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe no one inside the house had ordered the attack.
Then someone knocked.
Atlas rose.
Claire held Lily behind her.
"Who is it?"
"Mrs. Bennett? It is Anna from the kitchen."
Claire knew Anna. The young cook had worked at the estate for three years. She opened the door only as far as the chain allowed.
Anna stood in the corridor holding a cup of warm milk.
"I thought Lily might need this."
Atlas stared at the cup.
Anna's hand began to tremble.
Claire noticed the smell.
It was faint, hidden beneath cinnamon and milk, but it was the same sharp chemical scent Lily had identified on the intruder.
"Put it down," Claire said.
Anna blinked. "What?"
"Put the cup on the floor."
Anna's face changed.
Atlas pushed against the door.
Claire shut it and locked the bolt. A second later, something struck the wood. Anna screamed in the hallway.
Guards rushed from the stairwell. Claire heard boots, shouting, and the sound of a struggle. When she opened the door, Anna was on the floor with one guard holding her wrists.
The cup lay broken beside her.
Mara arrived and knelt near the milk. She touched a drop with a gloved finger and smelled it.
"Sedative," she said. "Strong enough to put a child unconscious within minutes."
Anna began crying. "I did not put it there. I swear."
The guard found a small packet stitched inside her apron.
Mara opened it. Inside was a photograph of Lily sleeping.
On the back, written in black ink, were the words:
BRING HER TO THE GREENHOUSE BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
Claire felt a coldness deeper than winter move through her.
Grant arrived without a coat, his face hard. He looked at Anna, then at the photograph.
"Who gave you this?"
Anna shook her head. "No one. I found it in my locker."
"Who has access to your locker?"
"Everyone in the kitchen."
Mara held up the photograph. "The image was taken from the servants' courtyard. There is no camera at that angle. Someone was standing close enough to see Lily through the window."
Claire pulled Lily into the apartment.
Grant looked at her. "You and Lily are moving to the panic room."
"Where is it?"
"Under the library."
Claire hesitated. The library was where the window had broken. The thought of returning made her stomach twist.
"It is the safest place in the house," Grant said.
"Then why did someone know to attack the library?"
Grant had no answer.
Atlas gave a low warning growl.
This time, he was looking at the hallway.
The guards turned. Nothing moved.
Then the lights went out.
Someone screamed in the darkness.
Claire heard Lily call her name. She grabbed her daughter and crouched. A heavy body crashed into the corridor wall. A guard shouted. Another shot echoed, followed by the smell of smoke.
Atlas barked once.
The emergency lights flickered on.
The hallway was empty except for a guard lying unconscious near the stairwell. His access card was gone.
Grant pulled Claire and Lily toward the main corridor. "Now."
They moved quickly. Atlas stayed behind them, limping but determined. As they reached the library, Claire saw something on the floor beneath the broken window.
A pale blue camera lens.
It was not a camera.
It was a small recording device shaped like a button.
Mara picked it up. "This was planted inside the window frame."
Grant's phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen.
An unknown number had sent a video.
Grant opened it.
The image showed Lily touching Atlas in the courtyard on the day they met.
The camera angle came from outside the gates.
A second clip showed Claire carrying Lily into the servants' apartment.
A third clip showed Grant standing at the window, watching them.
Then the screen went black.
White letters appeared.
YOU HAVE TWELVE HOURS TO RETURN WHAT BELONGS TO US.
Under the message was a photograph of a red blanket.
The blanket Claire had kept since Lily's birth.
The blanket Rose had told her never to lose.
Lily saw the image.
She began to cry.
"That is where the star was hidden."
Grant looked at Claire. "What star?"
Claire knew then that Rose had not hidden a bracelet in the blanket.
May you like
She had hidden something inside it.
Something someone was willing to invade a fortress to recover.
