Chapter 6 - What Elise Hid Inside the Pink Rabbit

Maria used a seam ripper from Helen Kade’s sewing drawer.

Inside Captain Bun’s stuffing was a narrow plastic capsule no longer than a finger. It contained a microSD card wrapped in wax paper.

Helen stared at it. “Thomas never told me.”

“He may not have known,” Maria said.

Dimitri inserted the card into an isolated laptop.

There were forty-three files.

Most were spreadsheets.

Adrian understood them immediately.

Payments moved from Cross-owned construction companies to shell vendors, then from those vendors into accounts controlled by public officials, union intermediaries, and private investigators. Some transactions were familiar; Adrian had approved ugly things in the name of protecting contracts.

Others were not.

The unknown transfers totaled nearly eighty million dollars.

Victor Hale’s initials appeared beside many of them.

Elise had annotated the spreadsheets herself.

V.H. creating independent network.

Not Adrian-approved.

Ask A. directly?

Then, three weeks before her death:

Do not ask A. Victor monitors his office.

Adrian read the sentence again.

Elise had been afraid of him, yet she had also considered warning him.

That contradiction hurt more than a simple accusation would have.

Another folder contained photographs of meetings Victor had attended with men Adrian recognized from rival organizations. A third contained copies of land deeds and offshore entities.

The final file was a video.

Elise appeared seated in what looked like a hotel room. She wore the blue sweater Adrian remembered from their last dinner together.

The date stamp was the afternoon before the crash.

“If you are watching this,” she began, “I either found the courage to leave or I ran out of time.”

Adrian leaned against the storage wall.

Elise looked directly into the camera.

“I love my husband. That is not the same as trusting the world he built.”

Maria lowered her eyes.

Elise explained that Victor had used Adrian’s criminal network as camouflage for his own. He had been selling protected information, manipulating investigations, and creating debts in Adrian’s name. When Elise discovered irregularities in the family charitable accounts, Victor threatened her.

“He said Adrian would never believe I was innocent once he saw the evidence arranged against me.”

Adrian’s throat tightened.

Would he have believed her?

Six years ago, furious and suspicious, surrounded by men who treated doubt as weakness?

He could not honestly say yes.

Elise continued.

“I am taking Sophie to Catherine. I will send copies of these files to federal investigators once Sophie is safe. I am not telling Adrian where we are until I know Victor cannot use him to find us.”

The video ended before she said anything about the route.

Dimitri exhaled.

“Kade told the truth. Elise was leaving, but not because she planned to disappear forever.”

“She planned to expose Victor,” Maria said.

Adrian closed the laptop.

For years he had imagined Elise’s final hour as an argument stretched into tragedy. Now he saw a woman trying to navigate two dangers: Victor’s conspiracy and Adrian’s capacity for retaliation.

He had not killed her.

But he had helped create a world in which she could not safely ask him for help.

That distinction offered no comfort.

Helen brought coffee none of them drank.

When they returned to Chicago, Maria found Lena building a tower on the library carpet. Lena looked at Adrian’s face and pushed one wooden block toward him.

“You look sad again.”

“I am.”

“Did you find Sophie?”

“Yes.”

Lena brightened. “Can she come for dinner?”

Maria started to intervene.

Adrian sat on the floor instead.

“I don’t know if she wants to.”

Lena considered this. “You should ask nice.”

He almost laughed.

That afternoon, Ruth Calder called.

Sophie had read Adrian’s written answer.

She wanted a meeting.

One hour. Ruth’s office. Maria present. No guards inside.

Dimitri objected.

Adrian agreed immediately.

Before the call ended, Ruth added, “She has something she wants to give you.”

At St. Agnes the next morning, Adrian entered without a coat despite the cold. He left his phone, weapon, and security detail outside.

Maria sat beside him.

Sophie entered with Ruth.

Up close, the resemblance to Elise was devastating.

Sophie did not sit.

“You look exactly like the pictures,” she said.

Adrian swallowed. “You look taller.”

“That’s what happens in six years.”

Maria closed her eyes briefly.

Adrian accepted the blow.

Sophie placed an envelope on the desk.

“Aunt Catherine told me never to open this unless you found me without her help.”

“Where is Catherine?”

Sophie’s face tightened. “Gone.”

Adrian felt Dimitri’s absence like a missing limb.

“What does that mean?”

“She left three days ago. She said she had to fix something before you ruined everything.”

“Did she say where?”

“No.”

Sophie pushed the envelope toward him.

Adrian opened it.

Inside was a handwritten note from Catherine.

If you are reading this, Victor found the school or Adrian found you first. Either way, the seven-year deadline is no longer protection.

Adrian looked up.

“What deadline?”

Sophie shook her head.

Maria read the next line over his shoulder.

When Elise’s estate reaches seven years without a legally living heir, control of the protected trust transfers permanently to its managing board.

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Adrian already knew who chaired that board.

Victor Hale.