CHAPTER 3 – THE GIRL WHO VANISHED
CHAPTER 3 – THE GIRL WHO VANISHED
For one endless second, the corridor remained frozen.
Then chaos erupted.
Women screamed.
Guards drew their weapons.
The emergency lights flickered red across the polished marble floor.
The seven-tier wedding cake stood exactly where it had been.
But Lily Porter had disappeared.
Grace's scream echoed through the mansion.
"Lily!"
She rushed into the darkness, nearly slipping on scattered frosting, but two security guards caught her before she reached the ballroom doors.
Vincent Moretti didn't move.
His eyes slowly swept across the hallway.
He wasn't looking for Lily.
He was looking for the mistake.
Whoever had taken the little girl had only seconds.
That meant they had planned everything.
"The doors."
His calm voice cut through the panic.
"Seal the estate."
Within moments, massive iron gates slammed shut outside.
Luxury cars carrying senators, judges, celebrities, and business leaders found themselves trapped inside the Moretti estate.
Guests began murmuring.
Something was terribly wrong.
Meanwhile...
Lily wasn't unconscious.
A rough hand covered her mouth as someone dragged her through a narrow maintenance corridor hidden behind the ballroom walls.
She kicked wildly.
The man whispered harshly,
"Stop fighting."
She recognized the voice.
Not Adrien.
Not Vincent.
One of the wedding security guards.
His name tag had read...
Mason.
She remembered because earlier he'd secretly slipped her an extra chocolate cookie from the kitchen.
Why was he kidnapping her?
He pushed open an old storage room.
The door slammed behind them.
Only then did he remove his hand.
Lily gasped for air.
"Please don't scream," Mason said.
"I'm trying to save your life."
Elsewhere...
Vincent stood beside the untouched wedding cake.
His attention shifted to Carmine.
"Count."
"What?"
"The guards."
Carmine immediately checked his radio.
"Twenty-one."
Vincent frowned.
"There should be twenty-two."
Silence.
One guard was missing.
"Mason," Carmine whispered.
Vincent's expression hardened.
"Find him."
Adrien folded his arms.
"This has become ridiculous."
"One frightened child disappears during a power outage."
"It happens."
Vincent turned slowly.
"No."
"It never happens in my house."
Adrien's confident smile weakened for the first time.
Inside the storage room...
Mason locked the heavy steel door.
Lily backed into a stack of flour sacks.
"You kidnapped me."
"I know."
"My mom will be scared."
"I know."
"You lied."
"I had to."
His hands trembled.
Not from fear of Lily.
From fear of someone else.
He pulled a small envelope from inside his jacket.
"I've been trying to get this to Mr. Moretti."
Lily looked inside.
Photographs.
Dozens of them.
Security camera stills.
The cake.
The pantry.
Celeste.
Adrien.
A man Lily had never seen before.
Each photograph was timestamped.
4:15.
4:16.
4:17.
Someone had secretly documented everything.
"You took these?"
Mason nodded.
"I was assigned to watch the cake."
"But then I realized..."
"They weren't protecting it."
"They were using it."
Lily looked closer.
One photograph made her stomach twist.
It showed Adrien lifting the third tier.
Inside...
A small silver cylinder.
Exactly where the voicemail had warned.
Back in the ballroom...
Guests were becoming restless.
Television reporters had begun recording.
The mayor approached Vincent.
"Is everything alright?"
Vincent smiled politely.
"My fiancée misplaced something."
The mayor laughed awkwardly.
"I hope you find it."
Vincent answered,
"I intend to."
His eyes never left Adrien.
Suddenly...
A waiter rushed into the ballroom.
"Mr. Moretti!"
"What?"
"The maintenance hallway..."
"What about it?"
"The electronic lock was activated from inside."
Vincent started walking immediately.
Adrien remained perfectly still.
Too still.
Vincent noticed.
"You aren't coming?"
Adrien smiled.
"I'll comfort the guests."
"No."
Vincent's voice became ice.
"You'll come with me."
Three minutes later...
The steel door swung open.
Inside...
The room was empty.
No Lily.
No Mason.
Only scattered photographs covering the floor.
And one message written across a flour sack with a child's finger.
DON'T TRUST THE LAWYER.
Vincent picked up the nearest photograph.
His eyes widened.
Because the final image showed something impossible.
May you like
Celeste herself...
placing the silver object inside the wedding cake.
