Chapter 3
The sleek black SUV tore down the Pacific Coast Highway, the rain lashing against the windshield mirroring the tempest raging inside Kiernan’s mind. He had bypassed the local police entirely. If Rhea had managed to fake Sarah's death, she had systemic power. The police could already be on her payroll. He couldn't trust anyone but himself and the boy shivering in the passenger seat, wrapped tightly in Kiernan’s heavy cashmere overcoat.
"Are you warm enough, buddy?" Kiernan asked, keeping his eyes on the winding, slick road.
Perrin nodded slowly, holding the little stuffed dog Kiernan had retrieved from the hidden room. "I'm okay, Dad. Are we running away from the bad lady?"
"We're getting to a safe place," Kiernan promised, his jaw clenched so hard his teeth ached. "But Perrin, I need you to be very brave for me. I need you to think back to what you heard. When did Rhea talk about Mommy?"
Perrin sniffled, rubbing his nose. "It was when you went to London. Rhea locked me in the dark room because I broke her vase. I was crying, and I put my ear to the wall. She was talking to a man with a scary voice."
"What did she say?" Kiernan prompted gently, though his knuckles were white on the steering wheel.
"She said, 'The money is in the account. Make sure she stays sedated. If she remembers who she is, we are both dead,'" Perrin recited the words with chilling, innocent accuracy. "Then the man asked if he should get rid of her. And Rhea laughed. She said, 'No, keeping her alive in the cage is my revenge.'"
Kiernan felt his stomach hollow out. The cruelty was unfathomable. Sarah, his brilliant, radiant Sarah, had been locked in some kind of cage for three years while he had been manipulated into proposing to her betrayer.
"Did she say where, Perrin? Did she name a place?"
Perrin furrowed his brow, squeezing his stuffed dog. "She called it... the Iron Garden."
Kiernan slammed on the brakes, the SUV skidding slightly before stabilizing on the shoulder of the highway. He threw the car into park and turned to his son, his breath catching. "The Iron Garden? Are you absolutely sure?"
"Yes, Dad. What is it?"
"It's an old psychiatric hospital," Kiernan whispered, pulling out his encrypted smartphone. "Up in the mountains. It was shut down a decade ago for malpractice. My company bought the land last year to redevelop it... and Rhea was the one who handled the acquisition."
"Is Mommy there?" Perrin asked, his large blue eyes wide with hope.
"I think she is," Kiernan said, dialing a number he hadn't called since his days in the Marine Corps. The line rang twice before a gruff voice answered.
"Kiernan. It's three in the morning," Vance muttered on the other end.
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"Vance, I need a tactical loadout and a secure location for my son," Kiernan said, his voice stripped of all emotion, pure steel remaining. "Sarah is alive. And I'm going to war to get her back."
"I'll text you coordinates," Vance replied without hesitation. "Bring the boy. We hunt at dawn."
