Chapter 4 - The Uncle Who Signed the Lie
Sebastian reached the private airfield minutes before Vincent's jet was scheduled to depart.
Rain hammered the runway.
Two security officers stood beside the aircraft, while Vincent waited beneath the wing in a dark overcoat, carrying a leather briefcase.
He looked almost amused when Sebastian approached.
“I wondered how long it would take you.”
“Where is Isabella?”
Vincent sighed.
“Still asking the wrong question.”
Sebastian stopped a few feet away.
“You signed her death certificate.”
“I arranged for the certificate to be processed.”
“You paid to conceal her.”
“I prevented a crisis.”
Sebastian's fists clenched.
“She's the mother of my child.”
“And that child is the heir to a family whose enemies would use her against you.”
“Don't pretend this was about protecting Lily.”
Vincent's expression hardened.
“Isabella found the foundation ledger. She intended to hand it to investigators. She would have destroyed everything your father built.”
“By exposing theft?”
“By exposing people who kept this family alive!”
Sebastian took another step.
“You stole money meant for hospitals.”
“We redirected funds. There is a difference.”
“Not to the children who never received treatment.”
For a moment, Vincent said nothing.
Then he opened his briefcase and removed a thin folder.
“Your father knew about the transfers.”
Sebastian felt the words like a blow.
“My father is dead.”
“And he left me responsible for protecting the family.”
“My father would never have allowed you to hurt Isabella.”
Vincent gave a humorless laugh.
“You never understood him. He believed that love was a weakness enemies could exploit.”
Sebastian remembered his father sitting beside him after his first serious injury, warning him never to let affection dictate business decisions.
But he also remembered the man who had held his mother's hand in the hospital and wept when she died.
“You're lying.”
“Am I?”
Vincent withdrew a document.
It was a letter bearing his father's signature.
The letter authorized Vincent to manage confidential financial operations through a network of companies.
Sebastian studied it.
The signature appeared authentic.
But the letter did not authorize kidnapping, falsified medical records, or murder.
“You had authority over the accounts,” Sebastian said. “Not over people's lives.”
Vincent's expression darkened.
“Isabella was going to bring everything down.”
“So you erased her.”
“We gave her a chance to remain quiet.”
Sebastian went completely still.
“What does that mean?”
Vincent looked away.
The silence answered more than words.
Sebastian turned to Marco.
“Call the authorities. Tell them we have evidence of financial crimes, unlawful confinement, and falsified records.”
Vincent laughed.
“You think you can arrest your own uncle?”
“I think you can answer for what you've done.”
Two vehicles entered the airfield.
Investigators stepped out with a warrant.
Vincent's amusement vanished.
As officers approached, he leaned close to Sebastian.
“You don't know where she is.”
Sebastian grabbed his coat.
“Then tell me.”
Vincent's eyes flicked toward the jet.
“Blackwood was only the first stop.”
“Where did they take her?”
Vincent said nothing.
The officers pulled them apart.
As Vincent was escorted away, his briefcase fell open. Papers scattered across the wet runway.
Marco gathered them quickly.
Among the documents was a photograph of Isabella, taken in a hospital corridor.
On the back was a handwritten address.
WILLOWBROOK HOUSE — ROOM 12.
Beneath it, a note read:
Patient relocated after delivery. No outside contact permitted.
Sebastian took the photograph.
“Where is Willowbrook House?”
Marco checked his phone.
“An old private psychiatric facility outside the city. It closed to the public six years ago.”
Sebastian looked toward the dark horizon.
“Then somebody has been keeping it open.”
He returned to the estate before dawn.
Lily was asleep in Clara's room, watched by two trusted nurses.
Sebastian stood outside the door for a long time.
May you like
He had found the place where Isabella might have been held.
But he still did not know whether she was alive.
