Chapter 13 - THE SANCTUARY SAFE|
Three days passed.
Elena remained in a stable but unresponsive coma. Brain scans showed slight neural activity, but the doctors offered no promises.
On the fourth afternoon, while a private nurse watched over Elena, Adrian drove home to their lakefront estate for the first time since the accident.
The grand house was utterly silent.
He walked through the pristine kitchen where she had stood four days ago in her cream coat. He walked into her private dressing room upstairs.
The room smelled faintly of her favorite lavender perfume.
He walked to the back of her walk-in closet, moved aside a row of silk dresses, and revealed the heavy steel wall safe.
He reached out his hand, his fingers trembling as he pressed the electronic keypad: 0 - 9 - 1 - 4. Their wedding date. September 14th.
The lock clicked softly, and the heavy steel door swung open.
Inside lay three leather-bound journals and a small silver USB drive labeled For My Baby.
Adrian pulled out the USB drive with agonizing care, taking it to her vanity table. He plugged it into her personal laptop.
An audio file appeared on the screen. He clicked play.
Elena's soft, composed voice filled the silent dressing room:
May you like
"Hello, little one. Today you are nine weeks old. Your father is at work... or at least, that is what he tells me. He doesn't know about you yet. I wanted to give him a chance to remember who he used to be before I brought you into his world. But if you are listening to this, and I am not there with you... know that I loved you from the very first second your heart began to beat."
Adrian collapsed across her vanity table, sobbing so hard his body shook, clutching her lavender silk scarf to his face until the sun set over the lake.
