Chapter 3 - The Missing Boy
I needed to find Caleb before my parents completely brainwashed him into silence.
I drove to Vanessa’s upscale suburban mansion and parked down the street.
The house was dark, the driveway was empty, and the curtains were tightly drawn.
I crept through the backyard and used a spare key hidden in a fake rock to unlock the back door.
The house was eerily silent and smelled like strong bleach and expensive perfume.
I went straight up the stairs to Caleb’s bedroom to search for any clues.
His room looked like a museum of expensive toys that had never been played with.
I tore through his drawers, checked under his mattress, and emptied his closet.
Finally, tucked inside a hollowed-out comic book, I found a crumpled receipt.
It was a credit card charge from a private aviation company, dated yesterday evening.
The destination listed was a small, remote airstrip in upstate New York.
My heart skipped a beat as the pieces clicked into place.
Our family owned an isolated, heavily fortified cabin in the Adirondack Mountains.
My father used to claim it was a hunting lodge, but it was really a place to hide things he didn't want the world to see.
I grabbed the receipt, sprinted out of the house, and got back into my car.
The drive would take me at least six hours, but I didn't care.
I stopped at a hardware store on the way out of town and bought a heavy steel crowbar.
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I was not going to let a locked door stop me from finding my nephew.
I drove through the night, fueled by black coffee and sheer, terrifying adrenaline.
