Chapter 16 The Secret Rescue

• The morning after Adrian’s disappearance was bleak, a wet chill hanging in the air like a warning. The clouds outside the Blackwood mansion gathered low and heavy, muting the sunlight. Elena had barely slept. Her eyes burned from tears, but her expression was too steady.
• She walked quietly into her mother’s old room in the east wing, a place she rarely entered. The air here always smelled faintly of lavender and old wood, like memories that refused to fade.
• Her fingers trailed across the dresser until they reached a velvet box, deep blue and worn at the corners.