Chris's POV
That morning at the Rowan residence, Chris had gone to Selina's room to check if everything was already set as planned.
He inserted the key into the lock and pushed the door open, expecting silence, perhaps the sight of her curled up in a defeated pose on the bed. But the room was still.
His eyes darted around. The bed was untouched. Closet half open. The window was wide open. Curtains swaying like they were waving goodbye.
Chris’s chest tightened. “Selina?” he called, stepping in.
Nothing.
His blood ran cold. “Selina!”
He turned and bolted down the hallway.
“She’s gone!” he barked, storming into the dining room where Mrs. Helena and Madison were seated with coffee and smug satisfaction.
Mrs. Helena blinked. “What?”
“She’s not in her room.”
“That’s impossible,” She snapped. “I locked her in. Myself.”
“Well, unless she turned to mist and vanished, you missed something.”
Madison’s face paled. “She couldn’t have gone out through the window, could she?”
“She did.”
Mrs Helena stood abruptly, nearly knocking over her teacup. “Show me.”
They all rushed back to the room, footsteps echoing like drum beats.
Mrs Helena stared in horror at the open window, the slight scuff marks on the glass, the way the curtain flapped as if laughing at her.
“She climbed out,” Chris muttered, running his hands through his hair. “She jumped the fence.”
“How is this possible? I had her glass laced. That dose was supposed to have her totally knocked out all night” Madison whispered.
Chris paced the room like a man on the verge of losing it, raking a hand through his already disheveled hair.
“She didn’t know,” he muttered. “There’s no way she knew about the lawyer. The inheritance. We were careful.”
“But then why run?” Helena snapped. “Why disappear in the middle of the night? And through the damn window?”
Madison leaned against the vanity, arms folded tight across her chest, voice brittle. “Maybe… maybe she did know. Maybe she heard us.”
Chris suddenly stopped moving, eyes narrowing as the memory clicked into place.
“Wait!. Remember? We caught her near the study that night."
Helena looked like the color drained from her face. “You think she heard the whole thing? Us… planning everything?”
Suddenly, a wail pierced the air.
“Mummy!”
It was Landon, sobbing in a high-pitched voice.
He stood by the doorframe, pajama shirt clinging to his tiny frame, tears streaking down his cheeks.
“ Where’s my mummy?” he asked, looking around the room desperately.
Chris looked like he’d been struck. He crouched. “She just went out, buddy. She’ll be back.”
“You’re lying!” Landon sobbed. “You’re always mean to her!” He turned and fled down the stairs, wailing loudly.
Chris turned sharply to Madison. “Take Landon. Now!. Calm him down.”
Madison blinked. “Me? I, I don’t know how to…”
“You were so eager to play best friend and stepmother,” he snapped. “Now act like it.”
Madison stammered, then turned stiffly and left the room.
Chris abruptly turned to Mrs. Helena; "If she heard everything, then we are screwed"
Chris stormed into the study, slamming the door shut behind him. His breath was ragged, chest heaving as the panic tried to claw its way to the surface. He snatched his phone off the desk, thumb flying across the screen as he dialed Selina's number.
But her line was dead and he heard a voicemail instead.
He cursed and slammed the phone down, then snatched it up again. This time, he called Arturo—his most trusted man.
“Find her,” he barked the second the call connected. “Selina. She’s on foot, probably bruised, scared. Check hospitals, motels, clinics, everywhere. And Arturo…”
“Yes, boss?”
“If she tries to contact a lawyer named Harrison Vale, I want to know before she even walks through his door. Got it?”
"Sure, boss", he replied and Chris hung up.
Next, he dialed a private number from memory. He’d only ever used it once, when the arrangements were first made.
It rang once. Then again.
Finally, a smooth voice answered. Calm. Detached. Professional.
“Dr. Voss.”
Chris exhaled sharply, rubbing his forehead. “It’s me. The situation’s changed.”
A pause.
“What kind of change?”
“She’s gone,” Chris hissed. “Selina escaped. We locked her in last night after the drug kicked in, but she’s not here."
There was a faint rustle of papers on the other end. “Was she showing signs of psychosis?”
“No,” Chris snapped. “At least, not the way you mean.
On the other end, the doctor's voice came through, clipped and deadly calm. “Let me get this straight. You drugged her last night, locked her in her room, and now you’re telling me she vanished into thin air?”
Chris’s voice was raw. “Yes. We thought she was out cold. We did everything the way we discussed. Subtle, controlled, gradual. She wasn’t supposed to put the pieces together. But something spooked her.”
“Or someone did,” the doctor muttered.
Chris flinched.
“She didn’t just vanish. She had help or she planned this.” Dr. Voss’s voice dropped into something colder than anger.
“And if she has even a whiff of what you were trying to do, if she even breathes the psychiatric hospital to a lawyer or the press–then we’re all going under.”
“I’m handling it. I’ve got people watching every damn road in and out of town.", Chris replied.
“You listen to me very carefully, Christopher,” Voss finally said, voice like ice cutting through fog. “You brought me into this. I bent rules for you. Fabricated records. Adjusted prescriptions. I risked everything. My reputation, my license, my career.”
Chris swallowed hard. “I know. That’s why…”
“I’m not finished.” The doctor’s tone sharpened like a scalpel. “If this snowballs into an investigation, if anyone comes looking at my records or at our conversations, I will not go down alone. Do you understand me?”
Chris froze.
“If this becomes a mess I can’t clean, I will throw you and your mother under the bus so fast your neck will snap. Don’t call me again until she’s either found--or silenced.”
Click.
Chris stared at the phone.
The call was over. The alliance was broken. The cracks were spreading, and for the first time in a long time, Chris felt powerless.
