Chapter 7
I don’t remember leaving the warehouse.
I remember Harris shouting into his radio.
I remember the car accelerating.
I remember calling my mother again and again.
No answer.
Then Maria called.
“Mr. Daniel!”
“Where are you?”
“At the hospital.”
“Where’s Sophie?”
“With your mother.”
“Where?”
“Her room.”
“Is Rebecca there?”
Maria’s breathing was fast.
“I saw her near the elevator.”
“Call security.”
“I did.”
“Do not go near her.”
Then I heard a scream.
Not Maria.
A child.
My child.
“Sophie!”
The phone disconnected.
I thought my heart would explode.
Harris called hospital security while another detective contacted officers stationed nearby.
We were twelve minutes away.
Twelve minutes felt like twelve years.
When we reached the hospital entrance, police cars blocked the driveway.
I ran before the vehicle fully stopped.
Second floor.
Pediatric wing.
Sophie’s room was empty.
Her blanket lay on the floor.
One nurse was crying.
My mother sat against the wall holding a cloth to her forehead.
“Mom!”
“She took her.”
Everything inside me went cold.
“Who?”
“Rebecca.”
“Where?”
“She had a nurse’s badge.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Maria stood nearby.
“She wore scrubs.”
My mother grabbed my arm.
“She told Sophie you sent her.”
“No.”
“I tried to stop her.”
Blood seeped through the cloth at Mom’s forehead.
“She pushed me into the wall.”
“Where did she take Sophie?”
“Stairs.”
Hospital security had locked down the building.
Cameras showed Rebecca carrying Sophie through a service corridor.
Sophie was awake.
Struggling.
Rebecca disappeared into a loading area.
Then the impossible happened.
She vanished.
No camera showed her leaving.
No vehicle.
No hallway footage.
Nothing.
Harris stared at the building plans.
“There has to be another exit.”
A maintenance supervisor pointed to an old tunnel.
It connected the hospital to a medical office building across the street.
The tunnel had been closed for renovations.
But one emergency door was still operational.
Police rushed toward it.
I followed until Harris turned.
“You stay here.”
“No.”
“Daniel.”
“That woman has my daughter.”
“And if she sees you, she may panic.”
“She already knows police are coming.”
“Exactly.”
I hated him.
But I knew he was right.
Five minutes later, officers reached the other building.
Empty.
A security camera outside showed Rebecca leaving through a side entrance with Sophie.
She climbed into a gray sedan.
The license plate was stolen.
But another camera captured the direction.
North.
Harris ordered units to search.
Then his phone rang.
Lauren.
He looked at me.
“Put it on speaker.”
Lauren’s voice filled the room.
“Did she take Sophie?”
“Yes.”
Lauren started crying.
“Oh God.”
“Where is Rebecca going?” Harris asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You told us she would come.”
“She called me after I left the clinic.”
“What did she say?”
“That I ruined everything.”
“Where would she take Sophie?”
“I don’t know!”
“Think.”
“I am thinking!”
I stepped toward the phone.
“Lauren.”
Silence.
Then a broken whisper.
“Daniel.”
“Tell me where our daughter is.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Not now.”
“I never meant—”
“Not now.”
She sobbed.
I forced my voice to remain steady.
“Where would Rebecca go?”
“There’s a house.”
My heart stopped.
“What house?”
“Our grandmother’s.”
“Address.”
Lauren gave it.
Rural property.
Almost ninety minutes north.
Harris immediately dispatched local law enforcement.
Then Lauren said, “Wait.”
“What?”
“She won’t stay there.”
“Why?”
“Because she knows I would tell you.”
“Then why mention it?”
“Because there’s a storm shelter behind the house.”
Harris wrote rapidly.
“Underground?”
“Yes.”
“Can it be locked?”
“Yes.”
My blood went cold.
An underground room.
A four-year-old child.
Rebecca.
I wanted to drive there myself.
Instead, police put me in an unmarked SUV behind the lead units.
Lauren was transported separately.
I didn’t want to see her.
But halfway there, Harris received a message.
A photograph.
Sophie sitting in a chair.
Rebecca’s hand visible on her shoulder.
Behind Sophie was a concrete wall.
Storm shelter.
The text beneath it read:
BRING LAUREN.
NO POLICE.
I wanted to tear the phone apart.
Another message came.
LAUREN KNOWS WHAT I WANT.
We looked at Lauren’s transport vehicle behind us.
Harris called the detective riding with her.
Minutes later, Harris turned toward me.
“She says Rebecca wants the flash drive.”
“Richard’s files.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it proves Rebecca manipulated Lauren and possibly poisoned Richard.”
“Then give it to her.”
“We have copies.”
“I don’t care. Give her the original, the warehouse, my house, every dollar I own.”
Harris nodded.
“We’re going to use it.”
When we reached the property, police stopped nearly half a mile away.
Trees surrounded an old white farmhouse.
No lights.
No movement.
The storm shelter was behind a detached garage.
Rebecca texted again.
ONE CAR.
LAUREN DRIVES.
I go with her, I said.
Harris refused.
Then Lauren requested to speak with me.
We stood twenty feet apart beside the police vehicles.
Her wrists were cuffed.
She looked nothing like the woman I married.
Hair messy.
Face pale.
Eyes swollen.
For a few seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then she said, “I’m sorry.”
I looked at her.
“You told Sophie I didn’t want her.”
Lauren closed her eyes.
“I know.”
“You held her down.”
Tears rolled down her face.
“I know.”
“You let Rebecca hurt her.”
“I know.”
My voice shook.
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
“Because by the time I realized what Rebecca was doing, I had already stolen money from you. I had forged documents. I had given Dad those pills.”
“You thought I would hate you.”
“I knew you would.”
“I hate what you did.”
She flinched.
“But Sophie is alive.”
Lauren looked at me.
“And right now, that is the only thing that matters.”
She nodded.
“What does Rebecca want you to do?”
“Destroy the evidence.”
“Then tell her you will.”
“She won’t believe me.”
“She might if I’m there.”
Harris interrupted.
“No.”
Lauren stared at him.
“She specifically told me Daniel must not come.”
“Why?”
“Because she thinks he makes me weak.”
I almost laughed at the insanity.
Then Lauren said something unexpected.
“She’s right.”
I looked at her.
“When I fell in love with you, I stopped wanting revenge.”
My anger flared.
“You have a strange way of showing it.”
“I know.”
She looked down.
“Rebecca kept reminding me of Dad. She kept telling me I betrayed our family by loving you.”
“Then why steal the money?”
“Because part of me still believed Dad.”
Her voice cracked.
“And because I was a coward.”
At least she finally said it.
No excuses.
No blaming.
Coward.
Harris handed Lauren the original flash drive.
A negotiator placed a tiny transmitter under her jacket.
Then Lauren drove toward the house.
The rest of us listened.
Static.
Engine.
Her breathing.
Then a car door.
Lauren’s footsteps.
“Rebecca?”
Nothing.
“Rebecca!”
A metal door creaked.
Then Rebecca’s voice.
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Show me your hands.”
Lauren complied.
“Where’s the drive?”
“I have it.”
“Throw it down.”
A small sound.
Then Sophie cried.
“Mommy!”
Lauren’s breathing broke.
“Sophie.”
“Don’t move,” Rebecca said.
“Let me take her.”
“Not yet.”
“You have the drive.”
“I need to know there aren’t copies.”
“There aren’t.”
Rebecca laughed.
“You always were terrible at lying.”
Then silence.
Long silence.
Harris whispered orders into his radio.
Snipers had sightlines.
But no one could see Sophie clearly.
Lauren spoke again.
“What do you want?”
“I want Daniel to lose everything.”
“He already knows the truth.”
“Not everything.”
“What does that mean?”
Rebecca’s voice became soft.
“Tell him whose idea Boston was.”
My chest tightened.
Lauren said nothing.
“Tell him,” Rebecca repeated.
Then Lauren whispered, “Mine.”
I frowned.
Of course the business trip was mine.
Wasn’t it?
Rebecca laughed.
“No. Tell him the truth.”
Lauren began crying.
“I arranged the trip.”
I stopped breathing.
My Boston meetings had been scheduled by my executive assistant after Lauren introduced me to a potential client.
The entire trip had been manipulated.
“To get Daniel out of the house?” Rebecca asked.
“Yes.”
“Say it louder.”
“Yes.”
My fists clenched.
“You planned every part,” Rebecca continued.
“I was supposed to create bruises while he was gone.”
“And then?”
“Call the police.”
“And tell them?”
“That Daniel hurt Sophie before he left.”
I felt sick.
Lauren sobbed.
“But I wasn’t going to do it.”
“You already started.”
“I changed my mind.”
“Because you’re weak.”
“No.”
Lauren’s voice suddenly changed.
Stronger.
“I changed my mind because she is my daughter.”
Silence.
Then Rebecca said, “She’s also your way out.”
“What?”
“You know what happens if Sophie disappears.”
My blood froze.
Lauren whispered, “No.”
“The forged trust becomes useless if Daniel lives. But if Daniel dies after Sophie…”
Harris looked at me sharply.
Rebecca continued.
“…you inherit everything.”
Lauren shouted, “I never agreed to kill Daniel!”
A sound like a slap cracked through the transmitter.
Then Sophie screamed.
That was enough.
Harris gave the order.
Officers moved.
Shouts exploded through the radio.
“Police!”
“Drop it!”
Lauren screamed.
Rebecca shouted something.
Then a gunshot tore through the audio.
I stopped breathing.
Another shot.
Then static.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
I ran.
No one stopped me fast enough.
I crossed the field toward the storm shelter.
Officers surrounded the entrance.
One dragged Lauren out.
Blood covered her sleeve.
“Sophie!” I shouted.
Lauren pointed inside.
I reached the door.
An officer emerged carrying Sophie.
Alive.
Crying.
I took her.
She wrapped both arms around my neck.
“Daddy!”
“I have you.”
I held her tighter than I ever had before.
Behind us, officers brought Rebecca out in handcuffs.
She had a wound across her shoulder.
Alive.
Furious.
She looked at me.
Then at Sophie.
And smiled.
“You think this ends with me?”
I stared at her.
May you like
She laughed.
“Ask your wife what she signed yesterday.”
