Chapter 30

The flare exploded through the therapy room window in a shower of red light and shattered glass.

Cold rain rushed instantly into the hallway.

For one blinding second, the entire east wing lit up crimson beneath smoke and stormlight while alarms somewhere deep inside Black Hollow finally screamed awake after years of silence.

“Move!” Adrian shouted.

Evelyn barely felt him grab her hand before they were running.

The retreat erupted around them in chaos.

Emergency sirens wailed overhead while flashing red lights pulsed violently through flooded corridors. Water dripped from broken ceilings. Smoke from the flare curled through the hallway behind them as thunder cracked hard enough to shake dust loose from the walls.

Simon sprinted ahead toward the stairwell, flashlight beam jerking wildly through darkness.

“This way!”

Another figure appeared briefly at the opposite end of the corridor.

Tall.

Dark coat.

Face hidden by emergency shadows.

Then gone again.

Evelyn’s pulse hammered violently.

“Who the hell is that?” she shouted.

No one answered.

Because nobody knew.

They hit the stairwell hard.

Metal steps echoed beneath pounding footsteps while alarms screamed continuously overhead. The retreat no longer felt abandoned now.

It felt active.

Watching.

Adrian stayed close behind Evelyn the entire way down, one hand repeatedly checking her shoulder, wrist, back — grounding contact every few seconds as if confirming she was still physically there.

That terrified her almost as much as the memories.

Because part of her still leaned instinctively toward him during panic.

The conditioning Victor created had failed.

Something deeper had survived instead.

The lower level exit corridor appeared ahead through flickering lights.

Rain blasted sideways through a half-open maintenance door near the lake access road.

Simon reached it first.

“Outside!”

Another metallic crash thundered behind them somewhere upstairs.

Footsteps again.

Closer.

Adrian shoved the door fully open.

Cold rain hit Evelyn immediately like a wall.

The storm had become violent now — wind ripping through trees surrounding the retreat while lightning flashed white across the lake beyond the property.

They ran downhill through mud and soaked grass toward the road.

For several terrifying seconds, Evelyn could barely see anything except rain and intermittent lightning.

Then Adrian suddenly stopped.

“Simon?”

Evelyn turned sharply.

The flashlight beam behind them had vanished.

Only two sets of footprints cut through the mud now.

Her stomach dropped instantly.

“Simon!”

No answer.

Rain swallowed the sound almost immediately.

Adrian looked back toward the retreat.

Dark windows stared down at them through stormlight.

One silhouette moved briefly near the third-floor observation wing.

Then disappeared.

“We don’t go back,” Adrian said immediately.

“He’s still in there.”

“And whoever locked us inside probably is too.”

Lightning split violently across the sky overhead.

Evelyn looked toward the retreat again.

Part of her wanted to run back inside.

The other part remembered the red therapy room and Victor’s voice echoing through the speakers.

She realized suddenly that fear no longer centered around memory loss.

Now she feared memory itself.

Adrian touched her wrist carefully.

“Evelyn.”

The exhaustion in his voice finally reached her.

He looked soaked through, breathing harder than usual now, dark hair plastered rain-soaked against his forehead while emergency flare smoke still clung faintly to his coat.

Human.

Not composed psychiatrist.

Not manipulator.

Just a man trying desperately to keep her alive.

Sirens echoed faintly somewhere far below the mountain roads.

Police.

Somebody had seen the flare.

Or the alarms finally triggered an emergency response automatically.

Adrian guided her toward the car without forcing.

Always that restraint again.

Always letting her choose movement herself.

By the time police vehicles reached Black Hollow thirty minutes later, the storm had started weakening slightly.

The retreat stood dark behind emergency lights flashing across wet concrete and broken windows while officers moved quickly through the property with flashlights and radios.

Simon still hadn’t emerged.

Mercer arrived just before dawn.

Exhaustion sat heavily beneath his eyes as he crossed toward Evelyn near the ambulance line, rainwater dripping from his coat sleeves.

The moment he saw her expression, something inside him visibly shifted.

“You found something,” he said quietly.

Evelyn looked toward the retreat.

Not something.

Everything.

Mercer followed her gaze.

Then his eyes landed briefly on Adrian standing several yards away speaking to state police.

Tension hardened instantly across Mercer’s face.

“I told you not to trust him.”

Evelyn surprised herself by answering immediately.

“You were wrong.”

Mercer stared at her for a long moment.

Then sighed heavily through exhaustion.

“You really don’t understand how bad this looks now.”

“What does?”

“The retreat.” Mercer lowered his voice. “Victor Cross. Missing patient files. Lena reopening contact with Adrian before she vanished.”

Rain tapped steadily against police vehicles surrounding the property.

Evelyn folded her arms tightly across herself.

“And Simon?”

Mercer’s expression darkened.

“No sign of him yet.”

Cold moved slowly through her chest.

The detective rubbed tiredly at his face before continuing.

“We reopened Lena’s case this morning.”

Evelyn looked up sharply.

“What?”

“After what we found in Black Hollow, I didn’t have a choice.”

For the first time in years, Lena’s disappearance officially lived again.

But Mercer didn’t look relieved saying it.

He looked afraid.

“Evelyn,” he said carefully, “the department’s reviewing every connection tied to Victor Cross.”

Something in his tone made her stomach tighten.

“And?”

Another pause.

Then:

“That includes you.”

The sentence settled heavily between them.

Not witness anymore.

Not victim.

Possible suspect.

Again.

Mercer glanced briefly toward Adrian before speaking quietly.

“If you know more than you’re saying, now would be a very good time.”

Evelyn looked toward the retreat one final time.

Broken windows.

Red emergency lights.

Storm clouds retreating slowly behind the mountains.

Black Hollow had reopened something much larger than Lena’s murder.

And somebody was still willing to kill to keep it buried.

Behind her, Adrian approached quietly through rain-dark mud.

Mercer immediately stiffened.

The tension between them felt old now too.

Complicated.

Evelyn looked at Adrian for several long seconds before speaking.

Her voice came out softer than intended.

But steady.

“Stay.”

Adrian stopped completely still.

Rain moved quietly between them.

Then Evelyn added:

“But don’t lie again.”