Chapter 6 - THE SECRET IN THE YELLOW DRESS:
Lily looked down at her dress.
The faded yellow fabric had been replaced by clean pajamas when she arrived at the estate.
Her original clothes were stored inside an evidence bag.
Sebastian believed the final list was still hidden in the hem.
Adrian knew better.
The yellow dress had remained in the east wing.
The fire had begun in the west.
If the dress still existed, Sebastian did not possess it.
Adrian kept his face expressionless.
“I do not know what Eleanor hid.”
Sebastian studied him through the screen.
“You have never been a convincing liar.”
“I learned from you.”
The older man smiled.
“Bring the dress.”
“You release Lily first.”
“No.”
“Then you receive nothing.”
Sebastian moved behind Charles.
He placed a knife against the ropes binding the man’s chest.
Victoria gasped.
“Father, stop.”
Sebastian’s eyes shifted toward her.
“You chose strangers over your own family.”
“You kidnapped my husband.”
“I corrected your disobedience.”
Charles stared into the camera.
“Victoria, don’t give him anything.”
Sebastian struck him.
Victoria stepped toward the phone.
“Please.”
Her father ignored her.
He gave Adrian two hours.
Then the video ended.
Firefighters contained the blaze.
The yellow dress was recovered from the evidence room.
Adrian examined the hem.
A line of tiny stitches ran along the inside.
Miriam carefully opened them.
A narrow ribbon of waterproof fabric had been folded inside.
It contained names, dates, and patient numbers.
King Alexander appeared as Patient Seven.
Daniel Hart was Patient Nineteen.
Eleanor was Patient Thirty-One.
Hundreds of others followed.
Judges.
Journalists.
Military officers.
Activists.
Even members of Sebastian’s own family.
Victoria found her mother’s name.
Catherine Crowe had supposedly died in a car accident twenty years earlier.
According to the list, she had been taken to Blackwater Hospital.
“My mother knew,” Victoria whispered.
“She discovered what he was doing.”
Miriam searched the records.
Catherine was listed as deceased after nine months.
Victoria pressed a hand against her mouth.
All her life, Sebastian had told her that Catherine died instantly.
He had forced Victoria to attend memorial ceremonies while knowing the truth.
“My father killed her.”
Miriam looked away.
“We cannot be certain.”
“I am.”
Victoria’s grief hardened into something cold.
“I will help you destroy him.”
Adrian photographed the list.
Encrypted copies were sent to attorneys and trusted journalists with instructions to release them if Adrian failed to make contact before dawn.
Miriam remained hidden with the original.
Adrian, Victoria, and a tactical team prepared to enter the Winter Palace.
The palace stood above the capital on a snow-covered hill.
Its ceremonial halls had been closed since Alexander’s death.
Sebastian used the restoration project to create private tunnels beneath the building.
Victoria knew a forgotten entrance through the greenhouse.
Before leaving, Adrian opened Eleanor’s diary again.
One passage described the night she and Daniel uncovered Project Nightfall.
Daniel wanted to publish everything.
Eleanor feared the government would bury the evidence.
They planned to give copies to Adrian.
Before they could reach him, Samuel Rhodes warned Sebastian.
Adrian closed the diary.
Samuel’s betrayal had started everything.
Yet Samuel had also saved them at the station.
A doctor called from the hospital.
Samuel had survived.
Adrian spoke with him.
“I know about my father,” Adrian said.
Samuel was silent.
“You knew he was alive.”
“For several years.”
“Why did you never tell me?”
“Sebastian threatened Eleanor.”
“You chose his threats over my family.”
“Yes.”
“Then help me now.”
Samuel gave Adrian access codes used by Sebastian’s private guards.
He also revealed a tunnel beneath the chapel.
“Alexander designed it as an escape route,” Samuel said.
“Sebastian converted it into a holding area.”
“Is my father there?”
“I do not know.”
“Did you ever see him?”
“Once.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“When?”
“Eight years after the funeral.”
“How did he look?”
“Older.”
Samuel’s voice broke.
“But he recognized me.”
“What did he say?”
“He asked whether you and Eleanor were safe.”
Adrian could not speak.
Samuel continued.
“I told him yes.”
“Eleanor was already imprisoned.”
“I know.”
“You lied to a man who had lost everything.”
“Yes.”
Samuel began crying.
Adrian wanted to hate him.
Hatred would have been easier.
“Give me the tunnel route,” Adrian said.
Samuel described a hidden door behind the chapel organ.
The tactical team reached the palace shortly before midnight.
Snow covered the gardens.
The old greenhouse windows had been painted black.
Victoria led them through a maintenance hatch.
Inside, they found the housekeeper who had been taken with Lily.
She was unconscious but alive.
A guard had abandoned her after Lily was transferred.
The team entered the lower corridor.
Adrian heard distant voices.
They reached a surveillance room.
Monitors displayed chambers throughout the palace.
One showed Charles tied to the chair.
Another showed Lily sitting alone near a fireplace.
A third revealed a hospital bed.
A thin woman lay beneath white blankets.
Her hair was streaked with gray.
Her face was partially turned away.
Adrian stopped breathing.
The woman moved.
She turned toward the camera.
Despite eleven years of pain and lost time, Adrian recognized his sister.
“Eleanor.”
Miriam covered her mouth.
Victoria pointed toward the monitor.
“That chamber is beneath the chapel.”
Adrian reached for the door controls.
The screens suddenly went black.
Sebastian’s voice filled the room through hidden speakers.
“You have always arrived one step too late, Adrian.”
Steel shutters descended over every exit.
Gas began pouring through the ventilation system.
Victoria coughed.
The tactical officers pulled on masks.
Adrian covered his mouth.
A final monitor flickered on.
Lily was no longer near the fireplace.
She stood beside Eleanor’s hospital bed.
The child reached toward her mother.
Eleanor opened her eyes.
For one beautiful second, mother and daughter looked at each other.
Then Eleanor screamed.
“Lily, run!”
A masked doctor stepped into the chamber carrying a syringe.
Adrian struck the steel door until his hands bled.
The gas thickened around him.
Through the monitor, he watched the doctor raise the needle.
Lily backed into the wall.
May you like
Eleanor tore the medical line from her arm.
And beneath the chapel, a forgotten king opened a hidden door:
