Chapter 9 - The North Lodge
Silvio called the hospital immediately.
No answer from the first guard.
No answer from the second.
His pulse spiked.
He called the third.
The man answered after four rings.
“Sir.”
“Where are the children?”
A pause.
Then confusion.
“With the nurse.”
“What nurse?”
“The transfer nurse.”
Silvio was already moving.
“There is no transfer.”
Silence.
Then the guard swore.
Silvio ran for the exit.
“Lock down the hospital.”
“They left six minutes ago.”
“With who?”
“Lucinda.”
Silvio stopped.
His sister.
Dean rose from the interview table.
“What happened?”
Silvio turned.
“They took the children.”
Dean’s face went white.
“Then Grant knows I talked.”
Silvio left before the detective could stop him.
At the hospital, surveillance showed Lucinda pushing Mia in a wheelchair.
Ethan walked beside her.
A male nurse accompanied them.
The nurse was not hospital staff.
The vehicle that collected them had false plates.
Silvio called Lucinda.
Straight to voicemail.
He called Grant.
Disconnected.
Silvio’s head of security pulled traffic camera data.
The van headed north.
Toward the lodge.
Silvio drove faster than he had in years.
Rain began falling.
The north lodge sat sixteen miles from the estate in dense woodland.
Arturo had used it for hunting weekends.
Nobody had lived there since Mateo died.
When Silvio’s vehicles reached the private road, the main gate was chained.
They cut through it.
The lodge appeared through the trees.
One light burned upstairs.
Silvio got out.
“Grant!”
No answer.
He entered through the rear door.
Gas.
He smelled it immediately.
“Everybody out unless you have respirators.”
Silvio covered his mouth and moved deeper inside.
A faint pounding came from upstairs.
He climbed.
The bedroom door was locked.
He kicked it open.
Lucinda lay on the floor.
Alive.
Barely conscious.
Silvio dragged her toward the window and broke the glass.
Fresh air rushed in.
Lucinda coughed violently.
“The kids.”
“Where?”
“He took them.”
“Who?”
“Grant.”
Silvio’s blood went cold.
“He forced me to bring them.”
“Where did he go?”
“I don’t know.”
Silvio grabbed her shoulders.
“Think.”
Lucinda gasped.
“He said he needed the original papers.”
“What papers?”
“Mateo’s.”
Silvio froze.
“Where are they?”
Lucinda coughed again.
“Father hid them.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Grant thinks the children know.”
Silvio stared at her.
“Why would Ethan and Mia know where Arturo hid documents?”
Lucinda’s eyes filled with fear.
“Because Father gave Mateo something for Ethan before he died.”
Silvio remembered Ethan carrying a small silver compass for years.
A gift from Arturo.
“His compass?”
Lucinda nodded.
Silvio stood.
His phone rang.
Grant.
Silvio answered.
Grant’s voice was calm.
“If you want the children alive, bring Dean Mercer.”
Silvio looked at Lucinda.
“Where?”
Grant laughed softly.
“You know where Mateo died.”
The line disconnected.
Silvio stared into the rain.
The marina.
May you like
Grant was taking Ethan and Mia back to the place where their father died.
And this time, he wanted every remaining witness there with them.
