CHAPTER 6: THE RED DRESS
Ethan lowered the phone.
“Where is Conrad Vale?”
No one answered.
The official story claimed Conrad was recovering from heart surgery at his estate.
But his voice had been clear.
Strong.
And very close.
Ethan looked at Bianca.
“You took Ava.”
Bianca shook her head quickly.
“I only asked her to come with me.”
“Why?”
“She had something that belonged to my grandmother.”
“The paper?”
Bianca glanced toward Eleanor.
That glance told Ethan everything.
Eleanor stepped forward.
“My granddaughter made a mistake. Nothing more.”
“Taking a child is not a mistake.”
“She is still inside the hotel.”
“Then open the doors.”
Eleanor’s face hardened.
“No one leaves until the bat is found.”
Ethan stared at the surrounding guests.
They had come to drink expensive champagne and bid on stolen history.
Now they were prisoners of the same family they admired.
Arthur Bell stirred on the floor.
A hotel medic knelt beside him.
Ethan moved closer.
Arthur opened his eyes.
“The dressing rooms,” he whispered.
“What?”
“Behind the east stage.”
Dane heard him.
He immediately ordered two guards toward the eastern corridor.
Ethan ran before they could stop him.
Bianca followed.
“Wait!”
Ethan pushed through a velvet curtain and entered a hallway lined with mirrors.
Five dressing-room doors stood along the wall.
The first was empty.
The second contained coats.
The third was locked.
Ethan kicked it open.
Inside, a red light glowed above an old service elevator.
Ava’s small silver shoe lay on the floor.
Bianca stopped behind him.
“I didn’t bring her here.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I left her in the first dressing room.”
Ethan turned.
“Then someone was waiting for you to deliver her.”
Bianca’s face changed.
For the first time, she looked genuinely terrified.
The service elevator began moving upward from a lower level.
A digital number flashed above the door.
B2.
B1.
L.
The doors slowly opened.
Ava stood inside.
She was unharmed.
But she was not alone.
An elderly man in a wheelchair rested one hand on her shoulder.
May you like
Conrad Vale looked directly at Ethan.
In his other hand, he held the missing strip of paper.
