Chapter 4 - THE NURSE WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
The SUV crossed the lawn with terrifying speed.
Sofia barely had time to scream.
Rebecca shoved her behind the stone fountain.
A split second later, the vehicle struck the garden bench, sending fragments of stone flying across the grass.
The impact threw Rebecca to the ground.
Sofia scrambled toward her.
“Rebecca!”
The SUV reversed.
Its rear tires tore through the flower beds.
Then the driver accelerated again.
Sofia grabbed Rebecca beneath the arms and dragged her toward the fountain.
“Get up!”
Rebecca struggled to breathe.
“My leg.”
Sofia looked down.
Blood was spreading across the nurse's gray pants.
Inside the mansion, Adrien heard the crash.
He rushed to the window.
What he saw made his heart stop.
“Sofia!”
He ran toward the garden doors.
Detective Bennett followed, already drawing his weapon.
Outside, the SUV turned sharply.
Its windshield was darkened.
The driver appeared to be preparing for another attack.
Bennett shouted.
“Police! Stop the vehicle!”
The SUV accelerated toward the gate.
Bennett fired at the rear tire.
The vehicle swerved, struck a stone pillar, and continued down the driveway on a damaged wheel.
Within seconds, it disappeared beyond the property.
Adrien reached Sofia.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
“Rebecca needs help.”
Bennett called for an ambulance.
Sofia knelt beside the injured nurse.
“Stay with me.”
Rebecca gripped her wrist.
“Don't trust the old records.”
“What?”
“The records were changed. The hospital, the funeral, everything.”
Her breathing became ragged.
Sofia leaned closer.
“Where is my mother?”
Rebecca struggled to speak.
“Blackwood.”
Sofia frowned.
“What's Blackwood?”
Rebecca's eyes widened.
“Not a hospital. A place where they keep people who aren't supposed to exist.”
Then she lost consciousness.
The ambulance arrived nine minutes later.
Rebecca was rushed to the hospital with a fractured leg and internal injuries.
Bennett ordered the Valmont estate secured.
Investigators recovered pieces of the SUV's damaged headlight and fragments of its license plate.
The attack had been deliberate.
Someone had tried to kill two women in broad daylight.
And one of those women had just revealed that Claire Valmont might still be alive.
Inside the mansion, Sofia sat wrapped in a blanket.
Her hands wouldn't stop shaking.
Adrien placed a glass of water beside her.
“You saved her life.”
Sofia shook her head.
“She saved mine.”
“You were brave.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“I was terrified.”
Adrien sat beside her.
“Being brave doesn't mean you weren't afraid.”
Sofia stared at the floor.
“I thought I was going to die.”
Adrien's eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
“And all I could think was that I'd finally found people who might love me.”
Her voice cracked.
“And I was going to lose them before I even knew if they were mine.”
Adrien couldn't speak.
He reached for her hand.
This time she held on.
That afternoon, Bennett returned with preliminary information.
The SUV had been found abandoned near an industrial district.
It had been stolen two days earlier.
The driver was gone.
But investigators discovered a partially burned document inside the vehicle.
It contained the name Blackwood Residential Center.
Bennett spread the remaining fragments across the table.
“Blackwood was a private neurological rehabilitation facility in rural Pennsylvania. It closed in 2015.”
Adrien frowned.
“I've never heard of it.”
“Most people haven't. It operated under several corporate names.”
“Who owned it?”
Bennett hesitated.
“That's where things become complicated.”
He placed another document beside the first.
The facility's largest investor had been a private company called Vesper Holdings.
Eleanor went pale.
Adrien noticed immediately.
“Mother?”
She looked at the paper.
“Vesper.”
Sofia turned toward her.
“You know it?”
Eleanor nodded slowly.
“It was Vivian's company.”
Adrien slammed his fist against the table.
“Of course it was.”
Bennett continued.
“Vesper Holdings purchased Blackwood in 2002, shortly before Claire's accident.”
Sofia felt cold.
“So Vivian owned the place where my mother was kept.”
“Potentially,” Bennett answered. “We still need to verify who controlled the facility and when.”
Adrien stood.
“I'm going there.”
Bennett shook his head.
“Not alone.”
“Then come with me.”
“We need warrants, records, and a coordinated investigation.”
Adrien looked furious.
“My wife may have spent years imprisoned in a facility owned by my sister.”
“And if we rush in without evidence,” Bennett replied, “we could destroy our chance to find out what happened.”
Sofia looked toward the window.
For the first time, she understood that wealth did not guarantee safety.
The Valmont mansion had gates, cameras, guards, and lawyers.
Yet someone had driven a vehicle straight into its garden.
The same powerful people who had once hidden her might still be operating.
And they were afraid.
That thought gave her strength.
If they were afraid, it meant the truth mattered.
That evening, Eleanor invited Sofia into the old nursery.
The room had been preserved almost exactly as it had been in 2004.
A white wooden bed stood against the wall.
Stuffed animals lined a shelf.
A painted moon smiled above the window.
Sofia stepped inside.
Her breath caught.
She recognized the moon.
She remembered lying beneath it.
She remembered counting its stars.
And suddenly she remembered something else.
A woman sitting beside the bed.
Not Claire.
Not Eleanor.
Vivian.
The woman had been wearing a pearl necklace.
She had leaned over the little girl and whispered:
If you tell Daddy what you saw, Grandma will get hurt.
Sofia backed toward the door.
Eleanor noticed.
“What is it?”
Sofia pressed a hand against her mouth.
“I remember her.”
“Who?”
“My aunt.”
Eleanor stiffened.
Sofia looked toward the bed.
“She told me not to tell Daddy something.”
“What something?”
Sofia closed her eyes.
The memory came in broken pieces.
A hallway.
A woman's scream.
A glass breaking.
A man carrying a black medical bag.
Then Claire's voice.
Don't touch my daughter!
Sofia opened her eyes.
“I think I saw what happened to my mother.”
Eleanor's hand flew to her chest.
Before she could answer, Sofia's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She hesitated.
Then answered.
A woman's voice spoke softly.
“Isabella?”
Sofia froze.
“Who is this?”
The woman began crying.
“My baby.”
Sofia's knees weakened.
The voice was faint, damaged, and trembling.
But something inside her recognized it.
“Mom?”
The woman sobbed.
“I'm so sorry.”
Sofia clutched the phone.
“Where are you?”
A long silence followed.
Then the woman whispered:
May you like
“Don't let Adrien take you to Blackwood. Your father knows more than he's telling you.”
The call ended.
