LOGIN“Eva!”Julian rushed inside with Leo and two security men behind him. He stopped when he saw Reed lying on the floor, Henderson bleeding beside the crate, and his wife struggling to free her legs.Henderson immediately lowered the gun and placed it on the concrete before raising both hands.“I didn't hurt her,” he said, his voice unsteady as he looked at Julian. “I swear I didn't hurt her. Please believe me.”Julian barely seemed to hear him. He crossed the room and knelt beside Eva, immediately reaching for the rope around her ankles.When he noticed the cut on her cheek and the blood staining her collar, his expression changed. He touched her face carefully, avoiding the injured skin, before examining her restraints.“Baby, look at me.” He cupped her face gently, searching her eyes for any sign of a more serious injury. “Can you hear me? Are you hurt anywhere else?”She tried to answer, but the moment she saw him, the fear she had been holding back threatened to overwhelm her. Her f
The footsteps stopped outside the warehouse door.Henderson stood in the middle of the room, still holding his phone. Eva watched him closely, noticing how his expression changed when he heard the voice from outside.He had been frightened before, but this was different. He looked like a man who had hoped someone would never come looking for him.“Henderson,” a man called from the other side of the door. His voice was calm, almost conversational. “Open up. It's cold out here.”“Reed.” Henderson swallowed. “What are you doing here?”“Isabella sent me. You know that.”Eva recognised the name immediately. Thomas Reed had driven Isabella for as long as she could remember. He was a quiet man who usually wore a grey coat, opened car doors for her and rarely spoke unless someone addressed him. She remembered seeing him in the garden at the estate, where he used to tip his hat to her whenever she passed.Then another memory surfaced, bringing with it a sudden sense of dread. She remembered th
Back at the estate, the morning had settled into an uneasy stillness. Two police officers stood in the hallway taking statements from the staff. Mrs. Harris kept pressing the same cup of tea into every hand that would take it.Isabella sat in the small sitting room with her lawyer beside her, hands folded in her lap, looking like a woman waiting for a train."You can't keep me here," she told Lucien when he came in. "Nobody has charged me with anything.""Nobody is keeping you." Lucien stood by the door with his arms crossed. "You can leave whenever you want. The gates are open.""Then I'll have my tea in my own room.""You'll have it here.""Lucien." She said his name gently, the way she used to when he was a boy who had broken something. "Your brother is grieving and frightened, and frightened people say terrible things. I don't blame him. I'm only asking you not to join him.""Where is Eva, Grandmother?""I have no idea.""You said that many times." Lucien didn't raise his voice. "S
Henderson stood over Eva with the tape in his hand, but he did not move.“Don't,” Eva pleaded, forcing herself to meet his eyes. “Please, not yet.”“I don't have much time, Eva.”“Then listen.” She took a slow breath, fighting the panic threatening to overwhelm her. “I saw your face when you read that message. I don't know what Isabella told you, but I know she's in a hurry to make sure I never leave this place.”Henderson's thumb pressed against the roll of tape.“Think about what you're doing, Henderson. If I die in this building, who do you think the police will investigate first? You. Your car is outside, and your fingerprints are on that crate. You brought me here, and you're the one standing over me. Isabella can deny everything while you take the blame for all of it.”“She promised me my family would be safe.”Eva watched him carefully. “She made that promise five years ago, too. What has she done for you since then, except keep you frightened enough to obey her?”Henderson loo
"Your husband's grandmother, Eva.""She didn't shout or threaten me. She simply listened while I explained what you had discovered. Then she told me to handle it."Henderson shook his head as though he could still hear the conversation. "Three days later, you left work late. It was raining, and you were driving home alone."Eva's breathing changed. Rain. The word brought a strange sensation with it, as though she had heard it in a dream that had followed her for years.Henderson continued speaking, unaware of the effect his words were having on her."I followed you onto the bridge. A truck was already there, waiting for the right moment. All I had to do was make sure you didn't see it until it was too late."Eva stared at him. The room seemed to move around her, and the concrete floor beneath her feet suddenly felt distant. She could hear rain striking a windscreen and see the wipers sweeping back and forth as the road blurred beneath the headlights.Then she saw another pair of headl
Eva woke to the smell of damp concrete and old rope.Her head ached, and when she tried to move, she felt the ropes binding her wrists behind her back. Her ankles were tied to the legs of a metal chair, and a strip of tape covered her mouth. Panic rose in her chest as she struggled to remember how she had ended up there, but all she could recall was leaving the sitting room and heading towards the kitchen.Then someone had grabbed her from behind.Her first thought was of her baby. She lowered her head as far as the ropes allowed and pressed her stomach against her knees, trying to calm herself. She had to be careful. Whatever these people wanted from her, she could not afford to put the baby at risk.She lifted her head and looked around the room. It was large and almost empty, with dusty windows high above her and wooden crates stacked against one wall. The concrete floor was cold beneath her feet, and the faint smell of rust suggested that the building had been abandoned for years.







