CHAPTER 12 : The House Without an Address
Claire searched historical property records for the first Ashford residence.
Every document before 1968 had been removed.
Samuel remembered hearing older employees refer to a place called Grayhaven.
Naomi located a land survey showing an unnamed estate beneath a reservoir built forty years earlier.
The original house should have been underwater.
But satellite images revealed a small island near the center of the reservoir.
Claire traveled there with Adrian.
A stone chimney rose above thick trees.
The rest of Grayhaven remained hidden underground.
They entered through a collapsed greenhouse and discovered a steel staircase.
The rooms below were untouched.
Dining plates still sat on the table.
Children’s toys covered the floor.
A portrait showed a young Charles Ashford beside Claire’s biological mother.
On the back was a handwritten name.
Margaret Vale.
Claire found a diary belonging to Margaret.
The final pages described her fear that Charles planned to separate her newborn twins.
One would be raised outside the Ashford world.
The other would remain under observation.
Margaret had discovered that Charles was using medical programs and children’s institutions to create false identities for heirs, witnesses, and employees he needed to control.
The diary ended with a warning:
If anything happens to me, Victoria knows where the girls were sent.
Claire looked at Adrian.
“Victoria knew about Celeste from the beginning.”
A sound came from the hallway.
They followed it into a locked chamber.
Inside were dozens of television monitors.
Live feeds showed Claire’s apartment, Noah’s school, Victoria’s hospital room, and Ashford headquarters.
One screen displayed Celeste sitting alone in a train station.
Another showed Daniel in a dark room.
He appeared alive.
Claire leaned close to the monitor.
Daniel suddenly lifted his head and looked directly into the camera.
His lips moved.
Claire could not hear him.
Adrian replayed the feed and read the words.
HE IS BEHIND YOU.
Claire turned.
The chamber door slammed.
A man stood on the other side of the glass wall.
Charles Ashford.
May you like
He pressed a button.
Water began pouring into the underground rooms.
