Chapter 14 - The Night the House Was Surrounded|
The threat arrived just after midnight.
A black sedan stopped outside Claire's house. Two men stepped out, looked toward the windows, and returned to the vehicle without approaching the door.
Claire saw them from the nursery.
She immediately called the police and Daniel.
Within minutes, Eleanor had taken Grace to the safest room in the house while Claire locked the doors and waited for officers to arrive.
Adrian called seconds later.
“Are you safe?”
“For now.”
“I'm sending security.”
“No.”
“Claire, listen to me—”
“You can provide information to the police. You cannot turn my house into a fortress without asking me.”
He fell silent.
Then he said, “You're right. I won't send anyone without your consent.”
It was a small victory, but Claire felt the difference.
The police arrived and found the sedan abandoned two streets away. The license plates had been stolen. Inside the vehicle, investigators discovered a burner phone and a folded sheet of paper containing Claire's address.
The paper also listed Grace's hospital identification number.
Someone had access to records that should have been private.
The hospital launched an internal review, while Daniel requested emergency court protection against unauthorized contact.
By morning, Claire was exhausted.
She sat in the kitchen with a cup of coffee she barely touched while Eleanor rocked Grace in the next room.
“I don't want her growing up surrounded by fear,” Claire whispered.
“Then we keep making choices that move us away from it,” Eleanor replied.
“What if the only way to protect her is to disappear?”
Eleanor took her hand.
“You are allowed to leave a dangerous life. You are not required to disappear from your own.”
Later that day, Adrian arrived at Daniel's office with a new development.
One of the men identified near Claire's house had worked for Richard Reynolds. The other was a former employee of a Moretti security contractor.
The connection suggested that someone had access to both Richard's network and Adrian's organization.
“Who could coordinate that?” Daniel asked.
Adrian looked troubled.
“Someone who knows both sides. Someone who can move through my business without raising suspicion.”
Claire felt a familiar chill.
“Your chief of security?”
“No. He has cooperated with the investigators from the beginning.”
“Marcus?”
Adrian hesitated.
“Marcus has worked for my family for twenty years.”
“That doesn't answer the question.”
Adrian looked at Daniel.
“Check every access log. Every payment. Every authorization.”
By evening, the results arrived.
Marcus had made several calls to an encrypted number registered to a company owned by Richard Reynolds. He had also accessed Claire's hospital records two days before the threat.
Adrian stared at the evidence.
“Marcus was my father's most trusted adviser.”
Daniel's expression remained cautious.
“Then we need to find out why he's communicating with Richard.”
Adrian called Marcus and asked him to meet at a neutral office under police supervision.
Marcus arrived calm and composed.
“You've made a mistake,” he said after seeing the records.
“Then explain it.”
Marcus folded his hands.
“I was trying to protect the organization.”
“From Claire?”
“From what she represents.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
Marcus leaned forward.
“Your father built this family on a rule you seem to have forgotten. Some truths must never be allowed to surface.”
Adrian felt the room grow cold.
“What did you do to Claire's father?”
Marcus smiled faintly.
“I didn't kill him.”
“Who did?”
Marcus stood.
“Ask your father.”
Then he walked out, leaving behind a single envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Adrian as a child, standing beside a man whose face had been scratched out.
May you like
On the back were four words.
YOUR FATHER IS ALIVE.
