Chapter 7 - THE NIGHT LILY DISAPPEAREDDaniel's plane never reached its filed destination.
The aircraft landed in Montreal for refueling.
Daniel wasn't aboard.
He had left the plane before departure, using it as a diversion.
For the next forty-eight hours, nobody knew where he was.
Sylvio doubled security.
Khloe hated every second.
She hated the armored SUV.
The men outside the door.
The way Lily now looked over her shoulder in hallways.
Most of all, she hated feeling powerless.
“I want our normal life back,” she told Sylvio.
They were sitting in the guest-suite kitchen after Lily fell asleep.
“What was normal?”
Khloe gave him a tired smile.
“Bad question.”
“I mean it.”
She thought.
“Lily complaining about oatmeal. Me missing the bus. Laundry piled on the chair.”
“That sounds terrible.”
“It was mine.”
Sylvio understood.
Money could solve bills.
It couldn't automatically restore ownership over a life once fear entered it.
“You'll have it again.”
“You can't promise that.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“That's new.”
“What?”
“You admitting you can't control something.”
“I am growing.”
She laughed.
He liked the sound more than he should.
Khloe became serious.
“When this ends, what happens?”
“To Daniel?”
“To us.”
Sylvio looked at her.
Neither had named what existed between them.
Maybe because naming it made complications real.
Khloe continued.
“I'm an employee.”
“You're currently on paid medical leave.”
“That is an aggressively billionaire answer.”
He smiled.
“Sorry.”
“No, you're not.”
“Not especially.”
Silence settled.
Then Sylvio said, “I don't want you to feel obligated to me.”
“I don't.”
“I know.”
“You're incredibly annoying sometimes.”
“I know that too.”
She looked at him.
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like you're trying to decide something.”
“I already decided.”
Her heart beat faster.
“What?”
“That I want to kiss you.”
Khloe stared.
“And?”
“And I am considering approximately nineteen reasons why that's a bad idea.”
“I have twenty-three.”
“That's discouraging.”
“But…”
Sylvio waited.
“You could stop considering them for thirty seconds.”
He moved slowly.
Giving her every opportunity to change her mind.
She didn't.
Their first kiss wasn't dramatic.
No orchestra.
No sweeping declaration.
It was gentle.
Tentative.
Two people who had met in the worst possible circumstances discovering something unexpectedly good.
When they separated, Khloe smiled.
“That was closer to forty seconds.”
“I have poor time management.”
“Clearly.”
A tiny voice came from the hallway.
“Finally.”
They jumped apart.
Lily stood there hugging her rabbit.
Khloe's eyes widened.
“How long have you been there?”
“Long enough.”
“Go back to bed.”
Lily grinned.
The next morning felt almost normal.
That was why what happened afterward was so devastating.
Lily had remote school lessons in a secured conference room.
Two guards remained outside.
Khloe was meeting investigators one floor below.
At 11:18 a.m., the building fire alarm activated.
Emergency strobes flashed.
Sprinklers deployed unexpectedly on floors thirty through thirty-four.
Security protocols triggered.
Elevators locked.
Employees moved toward stairwells.
The guards outside Lily's room received an emergency radio instruction.
“Smoke on thirty-two. Move the child to Stairwell C.”
They obeyed.
The instruction was fake.
By the time Vincent realized someone had hijacked the radio frequency, one guard was unconscious in the stairwell.
The second was missing.
So was Lily.
Khloe heard the news while standing in the conference room.
She didn't scream.
At first.
She simply looked at Vincent and said, “No.”
“Khloe—”
“No.”
“Sylvio's security is locking the tower.”
“No!”
Then she ran.
Sylvio caught her outside the stairwell.
“Lily!”
“We'll find her.”
“You promised!”
The words hit him like a blow.
“You promised she was safe!”
“I know.”
She struck his chest.
“Where is she?”
“I don't know yet.”
“Find her!”
“I will.”
Security footage showed Lily walking through a service corridor holding someone's hand.
The adult wore a security uniform and cap.
Face hidden.
They entered a freight elevator at 11:23.
The elevator descended.
Camera footage disappeared for seven minutes.
At 11:32, a maintenance van exited the underground garage.
License plates stolen.
Sylvio watched the footage once.
Then again.
Khloe stood beside him shaking.
A phone rang.
Unknown number.
Sylvio answered on speaker.
Daniel Mercer.
“Hello, old friend.”
Khloe made a sound deep in her throat.
Sylvio's voice turned cold.
“If you hurt her—”
“Don't be theatrical.”
“I will find you.”
“You probably will. Eventually.”
“What do you want?”
“The drive.”
Khloe looked at Sylvio.
Daniel continued.
“Oliver's original files. Every copy.”
“You know that's impossible.”
“Then make it possible.”
“How do we know Lily is alive?”
A rustle.
Then Lily's frightened voice.
“Mommy?”
Khloe lunged toward the phone.
“Lily!”
“Mommy, I want to go home.”
Khloe covered her mouth.
“Baby, listen to me. I'm coming.”
Daniel returned.
“You have four hours.”
“Where?”
“I'll send instructions.”
The line disconnected.
Khloe turned to Sylvio.
“We give him everything.”
“He'll still have copies of whatever he—”
“I don't care.”
“Khloe.”
“I DON'T CARE!”
Everyone in the security room froze.
She pointed at him.
“Those files are about money. Crimes. Your company. My father's past. Lily is six.”
“I know.”
“Then give him what he wants.”
Sylvio looked at Vincent.
“Prepare the drive.”
The FBI strongly objected.
Sylvio ignored them.
A negotiation specialist explained that compliance didn't guarantee Lily's release.
Sylvio ignored him too.
Two hours later, instructions arrived.
Khloe would bring the drive.
Alone.
To an abandoned ferry terminal on the Hudson.
“No,” Sylvio said.
Khloe faced him.
“You told me I decide.”
“Not this.”
“She's my daughter.”
“Which is why you're not walking into a kidnapping alone.”
“He said—”
“I don't care what he said.”
Khloe's eyes filled.
“I can't lose her.”
“You won't.”
“You cannot know that.”
Sylvio stepped closer.
“No. But Daniel knows me. That's our advantage.”
“What does that mean?”
“He expects me to control everything.”
“You do.”
“Exactly.”
A plan formed.
Khloe would appear to arrive alone.
Law enforcement would remain far outside the perimeter because Daniel would detect obvious teams.
But Sylvio wouldn't be with them.
He knew the terminal.
Raldi Properties had once considered purchasing the surrounding land.
There was an old service tunnel beneath the structure.
Daniel didn't know Sylvio remembered it.
At 3:58 p.m., Khloe entered the terminal carrying the drive.
Her hands trembled.
“Daniel?”
Footsteps echoed.
Daniel emerged.
No suit.
No polished executive appearance.
Jeans.
Dark coat.
A gun.
And Lily.
Her wrists were bound.
Khloe stopped breathing.
“Mommy!”
“I'm here, baby.”
Daniel held Lily by the shoulder.
“The drive.”
“Let her go first.”
“You don't negotiate.”
“Yes, I do.”
Daniel smiled.
“You sound like Sylvio.”
“Don't.”
“He likes you.”
“Take the drive.”
Daniel stretched out his hand.
Khloe held it up.
“Lily first.”
Daniel's smile disappeared.
“You people never learn.”
He raised the gun slightly.
“Give it to me.”
Then a voice came from the shadows behind him.
“She said Lily first.”
Daniel spun.
Sylvio stepped out of the service corridor.
Daniel pointed the gun at him.
“You.”
Khloe's heart stopped.
Sylvio slowly raised his hands.
“Here I am.”
“You always have to be the hero.”
“No.”
His eyes moved to Lily.
“Today I just need to be useful.”
Daniel laughed.
“You think she'll love you for this?”
“This isn't about me.”
“It always is with you.”
Daniel tightened his grip on Lily.
She cried out.
Sylvio's gaze sharpened.
“Let her go.”
“Or what?”
“Or you make the same mistake you made seventeen years ago.”
Daniel's face changed.
“What?”
“You underestimate people you consider powerless.”
Khloe understood.
She dropped the drive.
Daniel's eyes instinctively followed it.
Lily remembered what Vincent had taught her.
If someone holds you and help is near:
Drop your weight.
Stomp.
Run.
She slammed her heel onto Daniel's foot and collapsed sideways.
Daniel cursed.
Khloe ran.
Sylvio lunged.
The gun fired.
Khloe screamed.
Sylvio fell.
Police flooded the terminal seconds later.
Daniel was tackled.
Lily reached her mother.
Khloe wrapped both arms around her.
Then she saw blood spreading across Sylvio's white shirt.
“Sylvio!”
She crawled toward him.
His eyes were open.
“Lily?”
“She's safe.”
He exhaled.
“Good.”
“Don't you dare close your eyes.”
A paramedic pushed her back.
Khloe held his hand.
“You promised.”
A faint smile appeared.
“I've noticed… you take promises seriously.”
“Sylvio.”
His eyes closed.
The ambulance doors slammed shut minutes later.
May you like
And for the second time since they met, one of them sat beside an unconscious person praying they would wake up.
Only now it was Khloe holding Sylvio's hand.
Related Stories
