Chapter 3 - The Woman in the Car
Nora watched the security footage seventeen times.
On the eighteenth, Roman reached over and paused it.
He stopped before touching the laptop when Nora flinched.
His hand withdrew.
That tiny movement hurt more than it should have.
Because Adrian never withdrew.
Adrian had always made her fear feel like an insult against him.
Roman treated it like information.
“She could be a hostage,” Nora said.
“Possibly.”
“Or she could be helping him.”
Roman did not answer.
Nora looked at him.
“You think she is.”
“I think assumptions get people killed.”
“She’s my mother.”
“That’s why you shouldn’t be the person making the assumption.”
Nora hated him for being right.
For four years she had hidden from Adrian Cross because she believed she knew exactly what he wanted.
Her.
Now she realized she had never understood anything.
Roman ordered Elias to trace the SUV.
Within an hour they had a route.
Within two, they had a destination.
An abandoned medical facility thirty miles north of the city.
Nora insisted on going.
Roman refused.
She insisted again.
Roman refused again.
Then Nora walked toward the front door.
Roman caught up without touching her.
“What are you doing?”
“Going myself.”
“You don’t have a car.”
“I have feet.”
“It’s thirty miles.”
“I’m very motivated.”
For one second, Roman looked as though he might actually smile.
He didn't.
“You stay inside the vehicle.”
“Fine.”
“You follow every instruction Elias gives you.”
“Fine.”
“You do not play hero.”
Nora stared at him.
“Isn’t that your job?”
Something almost amused flickered in his eyes.
“Unfortunately.”
They left twenty minutes later.
The facility was empty.
Almost.
In a basement room they found a chair, fresh coffee, medical supplies, and photographs.
Dozens of photographs.
Every one of Nora.
Working at Blackmere House.
Buying groceries.
Walking to her apartment.
Sleeping beside the window.
Nora stared at that final picture until nausea rose in her throat.
Roman silently turned it facedown.
Then Elias called from the next room.
“You need to see this.”
A wall safe had been left open.
Inside was a stack of old documents.
Roman took the first.
His face changed.
Nora stepped beside him.
At the top was a Blackmere Foundation letterhead.
Below it:
SUBJECT: ELEANOR VALE
Her mother.
Roman read quickly.
“What does it say?”
He hesitated.
“Roman.”
“She worked for my father.”
“Doing what?”
“Financial compliance.”
Nora laughed once without humor.
“My mother was an accountant?”
“She discovered money moving through shell charities.”
“What kind of money?”
Roman looked at her.
“Enough to destroy powerful people.”
Another document contained Adrian Cross’s signature.
Nora recognized it immediately.
Her stomach twisted.
Roman kept reading.
Then suddenly stopped.
“What?”
He handed her the page.
Nora saw her own name.
Not Nora Vale.
Eleanor Vale dependent: Naomi Eleanor Mercer.
She stared.
“My name is Naomi?”
“Apparently.”
Nora shook her head.
“No. Adrian gave me the name Nora after—”
She stopped.
After the funeral.
After he had taken control of everything.
Roman found another document.
This one carried his father’s signature.
Protective relocation authorized.
Then a second note beneath it.
Subject compromised. Daughter to be separated immediately.
Nora’s hands began shaking.
“He didn't rescue me.”
Roman looked at her.
“Cross?”
“He told me someone killed my mother. He said people were coming for me. He changed my name.”
Her voice cracked.
“He isolated you.”
“Yes.”
Roman understood before she finished.
“He wasn't hiding you from them.”
Nora felt tears burn.
“He was hiding me from her.”
Footsteps sounded upstairs.
Elias drew his weapon.
Roman immediately moved Nora behind him.
A door slammed.
Then another.
They rushed upstairs.
Outside, tires screamed across wet pavement.
A black SUV disappeared through the trees.
On the front steps sat a small wooden box.
Nora recognized it.
Her childhood jewelry box.
Inside lay a silver bracelet she had given her mother when she was nine.
Beneath it was a phone.
It rang.
Nora stared.
Roman answered instead.
“Cross.”
A man laughed.
“Nora still hides behind powerful men, I see.”
Her blood went cold.
Roman's face became unreadable.
“Where is Eleanor?”
“With me.”
Nora lunged for the phone.
“Mom?”
Silence.
Then breathing.
A woman began crying.
“Nora?”
Her knees gave out.
Roman caught her elbow, then released it the instant she steadied herself.
“Mom?”
“Oh, baby.”
Nora covered her mouth.
Eleven years vanished.
She was sixteen again.
“Why didn't you come for me?”
The crying stopped.
“Nora, listen carefully.”
A sound interrupted her.
Adrian.
“Enough.”
Nora’s mother screamed.
The line crackled.
Then Eleanor shouted something desperately before the call ended.
Only four words.
“Don't trust a Blackmere.”
Nora slowly lowered the phone.
Roman stood inches away.
Neither spoke.
Then Nora looked at the documents bearing his father’s signature.
At Roman.
At the man who had promised she was safe.
May you like
And for the first time, she wondered whether Blackmere House had ever been her sanctuary.
Or whether Adrian had deliberately driven her straight into the place her mother had spent eleven years trying to escape.
