Chapter 5 - THE VERMONT CLINIC
The clinic was gone.
Not abandoned.
Demolished.
A luxury lodge now stood on the property.
Records from the old facility had supposedly been destroyed after the owner filed bankruptcy.
Rebecca Sloan found that suspicious.
Adrian found it infuriating.
Roman Pierce found one surviving nurse.
Claire Donovan.
Sixty-two.
Living in New Hampshire.
She refused to meet Adrian.
Agreed to meet Elena.
That fact mattered.
Elena traveled with Rebecca.
No Adrian.
Claire opened the door only after seeing Nora’s photograph.
She began crying immediately.
“That’s her.”
Elena froze.
“You knew Nora?”
“I held her when she was born.”
Claire confirmed Evelyn arrived under an alias.
Healthy pregnancy.
Terrified.
Accompanied by Margaret Castillo.
Elena’s mother.
“Why my mother?”
Claire shook her head.
“I thought they were family.”
They were not.
At least not by blood.
Margaret had worked years earlier as a private caregiver for Grace Kane—Adrian’s mother.
Connection.
The Kane family.
Margaret knew Evelyn through Grace.
When Evelyn needed help disappearing, she called the one woman outside Adrian’s mafia structure who had known his mother.
“Did Evelyn leave with Nora?” Elena asked.
“No.”
“Why?”
Claire looked down.
“Someone arrived.”
“Who?”
“A man.”
“Name?”
“He said he was family.”
Description:
Early fifties then.
Tall.
Gray at temples.
Expensive coat.
Gold ring.
He had documents.
Medical authorization.
He told Evelyn Adrian had discovered the plan and men were coming.
Evelyn panicked.
She decided Nora had to leave separately with Margaret.
“What happened to Evelyn?”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“She left with him.”
“Willingly?”
“At first.”
That phrase changed everything.
“What does that mean?”
“Ten minutes later I saw them arguing outside.”
Claire wanted to intervene.
Then two vehicles arrived.
Men she did not recognize.
The stranger forced Evelyn into one.
Not violently enough to attract patients.
Firmly enough that Claire understood it was not voluntary.
“What did he look like?”
Rebecca later presented family photographs.
Claire pointed immediately.
Victor Kane.
Adrian’s godfather.
Not blood family.
But close enough to be called Uncle Victor.
The man who taught Adrian how to shoot.
The man who stood beside Adrian’s father through twenty years of business.
The man who held Adrian’s shoulder at Evelyn’s funeral while Adrian watched an empty coffin lowered into the ground.
Victor was seventy now.
Still chairman of the Kane Family Foundation.
Still invited to dinner twice a month.
When Adrian heard the identification, he said nothing.
That frightened Roman.
“Boss.”
“Where is Victor?”
“Foundation office.”
“Do not touch him.”
Roman paused.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to know who else moves when he learns I know.”
Adrian invited Victor to dinner.
No accusation.
No unusual security.
Victor arrived carrying a bottle of wine Evelyn once liked.
The cruelty of that almost broke Adrian’s restraint.
Nora wandered into the dining room.
Victor stopped.
His face changed.
Small.
Almost invisible.
But Adrian saw.
“You’ve met Elena’s daughter?”
Victor recovered.
“No.”
Nora looked up.
Then at his hand.
Gold ring.
She frowned.
Adrian watched.
Victor smiled.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
Nora stepped backward.
That was unusual.
She feared almost nobody.
Adrian’s voice stayed casual.
“What?”
Nora looked at him.
“Same ring.”
Every adult stopped.
Adrian crouched.
“Same as what?”
Nora touched her locket.
“Picture.”
There was no ring visible in the photograph of Evelyn holding baby Nora.
Unless another photograph existed.
Nora opened the locket.
Then tugged at the inner edge.
A second compartment sprang loose.
Everyone froze.
Behind Evelyn’s photograph was another tiny image.
Victor Kane standing beside Evelyn outside the Vermont clinic.
May you like
And written beneath him:
IF ADRIAN FINDS NORA, DO NOT TRUST THIS MAN.
