Chapter 4
Nathan was out the hospital door before Detective Finch finished speaking.
Daniel followed him.
“Nathan!”
He didn’t stop.
“Get the car.”
“Nathan, listen.”
“My daughter has been handed to the woman who tried to hit her with a hockey stick.”
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
Nathan turned so suddenly Daniel nearly collided with him.
“Five hours ago I didn’t know I had a daughter.”
His voice broke.
“Now I know her birthday, her weight when she was born, and the fact that everyone who was supposed to protect her has failed.”
Daniel said nothing.
Nathan pointed toward the street.
“I will not be added to that list.”
They reached the car.
Daniel was already calling a family court judge.
Nathan called Victoria.
She answered on the second ring.
“Nathan.”
“Where is Lily?”
Victoria sighed.
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“You sound upset.”
“I swear to God, Victoria—”
“Careful.”
Her voice became cold.
“You’re talking to Lily’s temporary legal guardian.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“That order was fraudulent.”
“No.”
“My attorneys are checking it.”
“Then perhaps you should hire better attorneys.”
Daniel looked over.
Nathan put the phone on speaker.
Victoria continued.
“Grace Bennett was arrested for serious crimes. Child services needed an emergency placement.”
“And they chose you?”
“I’m a familiar adult in the household.”
“You attacked them.”
“That is Grace’s accusation.”
“I watched you.”
“You walked in after she attacked me.”
Nathan laughed.
It sounded empty.
“You still think I’m going to protect you.”
“I think you’re confused.”
“No.”
Nathan’s voice steadied.
“For the first time in my life, I’m not.”
Silence.
Then Victoria spoke softly.
“You should remember what is at stake.”
“My daughter.”
“No.”
Victoria’s voice hardened.
“Everything.”
The call ended.
Daniel stared ahead.
“She wanted you to hear that.”
“Good.”
“Why good?”
“Because people make mistakes when they think threats still work.”
The emergency guardianship order turned out to be real.
That was worse.
A judge in another county had signed it electronically after receiving documents claiming Victoria was Lily’s maternal aunt.
Nathan stared at the paperwork.
“How did she become Grace’s sister?”
Daniel pointed at the supporting document.
A birth certificate.
Grace Bennett and Victoria Bennett.
Same father.
Same mother.
Completely fabricated.
Nathan felt sick.
“She created an entire family relationship.”
Daniel nodded.
“And submitted it twelve minutes before police entered your house.”
Nathan looked up.
“Twelve minutes?”
“Yes.”
“Then this wasn’t panic.”
“No.”
“It was planned.”
Daniel closed the file.
“Long before you came home.”
By two in the morning, the guardianship had been suspended.
But Lily was gone.
Victoria’s penthouse was empty.
Her driver claimed he knew nothing.
Her father’s estate denied she was there.
The private jet associated with Vale Capital remained parked at Teterboro.
No one could find the child.
Nathan called Detective Finch.
Finch sounded irritated.
“The guardianship was valid when she took custody.”
“It was obtained using forged documents.”
“That’s being investigated.”
“Investigated?”
Nathan nearly shouted.
“She has a four-year-old girl.”
“Mr. Cole—”
“She tried to beat her mother unconscious.”
“We have conflicting statements.”
Nathan hung up.
Daniel watched him.
“You don’t trust Finch.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“He’s moving too slowly.”
“That’s not evidence.”
“Neither is fifty thousand dollars hidden in Grace’s closet, but that didn’t stop him from arresting her.”
Daniel had no answer.
At three fifteen, a judge approved an emergency independent paternity test.
Nathan provided a sample.
Grace provided Lily’s old hairbrush recovered from her apartment.
It wasn’t sufficient for a formal custody determination.
But the lab could produce a preliminary probability.
Nathan sat in a private waiting room while Daniel worked on motions.
At four twenty, Nathan’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
No voice.
Only breathing.
“Hello?”
A tiny voice whispered.
“Daddy?”
Nathan stood so fast the chair fell backward.
“Lily?”
Daniel looked up.
Nathan signaled him to stay quiet.
“Sweetheart, where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Is Victoria there?”
Silence.
Then Lily whispered.
“She said Mommy is bad.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“Your mommy is not bad.”
“She said Mommy stole me.”
“No.”
He forced his voice to stay calm.
“Listen to me, Lily. Your mommy loves you more than anything.”
The child sniffled.
“I want her.”
“I know.”
“Are you my daddy?”
Nathan couldn’t speak for a moment.
He looked at Daniel.
Then at his father’s letter on the table.
“Yes.”
The word came out rough.
“Yes, sweetheart. I’m your daddy.”
Lily began crying quietly.
“Why didn’t you come before?”
The question destroyed him.
Nathan sat down.
“Because I didn’t know where you were.”
“Mommy said you were far away.”
“She was right.”
“Are you coming now?”
“Yes.”
Nathan’s eyes burned.
“I’m coming now.”
A door opened on Lily’s end.
She gasped.
The phone dropped.
Victoria’s voice appeared faintly.
“What are you doing?”
Then the line disconnected.
Nathan was already moving.
“Can you trace it?” he asked Daniel.
“Maybe through law enforcement.”
“Not Finch.”
Daniel frowned.
Nathan called his chief technology officer.
“Evan.”
“Nathan? It’s four in the morning.”
“I need help.”
“With what?”
“A phone call that just ended.”
“That’s not exactly legal territory.”
“My daughter was on the call.”
Silence.
“You have a daughter?”
“I’ll explain later.”
Nathan provided the number.
Evan began working.
Daniel looked uneasy.
“Whatever he does needs to stay within the law.”
“He’s checking publicly available routing data.”
“You sound like you’re trying to convince yourself.”
“I’m trying to find Lily.”
Thirty minutes later, Evan called back.
“The number is registered to a prepaid provider.”
“Location?”
“Last tower handshake came from Westchester County.”
Nathan frowned.
“Where?”
“Near Briar Glen.”
His body went cold.
Daniel noticed.
“What?”
Nathan looked at him.
“My father’s old estate.”
The Cole family had abandoned Briar Glen three years earlier.
A stone mansion surrounded by forty wooded acres.
Nathan hated the place.
His father had loved it.
They drove north before sunrise.
Daniel insisted on notifying the county sheriff.
Nathan agreed.
But when they reached the iron gates, they were open.
No security.
No cars.
Nothing.
Nathan entered through the front door using an old key.
“Lily!”
His voice echoed through the dark house.
No answer.
They searched the first floor.
Empty.
Second floor.
Empty.
In Nathan’s father’s study, the desk had been disturbed.
A framed photograph lay face-down.
Daniel lifted it.
Nathan and his father at Nathan’s college graduation.
Beneath it was a piece of pink paper.
Nathan grabbed it.
A child’s drawing.
Three stick figures.
One with long brown hair.
One tiny girl.
One tall man.
Above them, Lily had written with shaky letters:
MOMMY
ME
DADDY
Nathan pressed the paper against his chest.
“She was here.”
Daniel pointed toward the desk.
“There’s something else.”
A small silver box sat open.
Inside was foam molded around an empty space.
A key-shaped space.
Nathan remembered Grace.
Your father gave me a key.
Daniel stared at the box.
“Victoria came for the same thing.”
“But she doesn’t have it.”
“No.”
Nathan looked at the child’s drawing.
“So she still needs Grace.”
His phone rang.
Grace.
Nathan answered immediately.
“How are you calling?”
“Daniel’s associate got me released to hospital supervision. Nathan, listen.”
“I’m listening.”
“I remembered something.”
“What?”
“The key has a number engraved on it.”
Daniel leaned closer.
“What number?”
Grace answered.
“717.”
Daniel’s face went pale.
Nathan saw it.
“What?”
Daniel took a step back.
“Nothing.”
Nathan grabbed his arm.
“What does 717 mean?”
Daniel looked at the silver box.
Then at Nathan.
“It’s not a safe-deposit box.”
“What is it?”
Daniel hesitated.
Nathan tightened his grip.
“Daniel.”
The attorney finally spoke.
“Your father maintained a private records archive beneath Cole headquarters.”
Nathan stared.
“I know every room in that building.”
“No.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You know every room your father wanted you to know.”
Grace heard him through the phone.
“What kind of records?”
Daniel’s face looked sick.
“The kind that could destroy Cole Industries.”
Nathan slowly released him.
“What’s in archive 717?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I know only what your father told me.”
“Which was?”
Daniel swallowed.
“That if archive 717 was ever opened, the Vale family would burn the Cole empire to the ground before allowing its contents to become public.”
Nathan looked down at Lily’s drawing.
Then back at Daniel.
“Good.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
Nathan folded the drawing carefully.
“If destroying my company is what it takes to get my daughter back…”
May you like
His eyes became cold.
“…then we’ll destroy it first.”
