Chapter 3 - The Ghost in the Rain
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At two o'clock in the morning, the Cross estate was completely silent.
Adrian was sound asleep in the master bedroom, dreaming of the luxury resort project he believed my silence was funding. Celeste was fast asleep beside him, dreaming of replacing my name on the deed of this house.
In the study, I pulled off my cream dress and changed into a tailored charcoal suit that had been stored inside the hidden wall compartment for four years. I pulled my dark hair back into a sleek, professional knot.
I didn't take a single piece of jewelry Adrian had bought me. I left the expensive handbags, the designer shoes, and the silk scarves hanging in the closets. None of it mattered. None of it belonged to the woman I actually was.
I walked over to the antique mantel clock. With practiced ease, I opened the rear casing, pulled the micro-SD card containing four years of ambient audio recordings, and slipped it into my coat pocket.
Then, I walked over to the floor-to-ceiling French doors that led out to the private stone terrace.
Adrian had locked the main study doors from the outside, assuming I was trapped. He had forgotten that when he bought this house, my father’s architectural firm was the one that had designed the emergency security overrides.
I pressed my thumb against the hidden reader concealed beneath the brass door latch. The lock disengaged with a sound no louder than a falling leaf.
I stepped out into the cool midnight air.
Rain lashed against the stone balustrade, but a large black umbrella was already opened over my head the second I crossed the threshold.
Dominic stood there in a rain-slicked trench coat, holding the umbrella with absolute discipline. Behind him, parked quietly on the muddy perimeter road beyond the tree line, sat two matte-black armored SUVs with running lights doused.
"Everything is packed, Ms. Vance," Dominic said quietly, stepping aside to let me walk down the stone steps. "Your father's board of directors is assembling in Manhattan. They have been waiting four years for your return."
I paused at the edge of the terrace and looked back at the grand, lit facade of the Cross mansion.
"He really thought I had nowhere else to go," I murmured.
"Arrogance makes small men blind, ma'am," Dominic replied.
May you like
I walked down the stairs, stepped into the back of the armored SUV, and pulled the door shut.
The vehicle glided away into the dark rain, leaving Adrian Cross’s world behind forever.
