Chapter 5 - The Empty Bedroom
Nathan reached the secure residence twelve minutes later.
The front gate stood open.
One guard was unconscious near the security station.
Another sat against a wall holding a bloodied forehead.
Grace was barefoot in the driveway.
Her injured arm hung stiffly against her side.
Nathan barely stopped the car before jumping out.
“Grace.”
She ran toward him.
“They took her.”
Nathan caught her before she fell.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“She was sleeping.”
“I went downstairs because Samuel’s assistant brought medicine.”
“When I came back, the window was open.”
Nathan looked at the second floor.
The bedroom window faced a narrow alley.
Professional.
Fast.
Planned.
Samuel arrived behind him with private security.
Nathan demanded the camera footage.
The security manager shook his head.
“System went offline for four minutes.”
“Convenient.”
“We have exterior traffic footage from a neighboring building.”
“Get it.”
Grace grabbed Nathan’s jacket.
“They’ll hurt her because of me.”
Nathan looked into her eyes.
“No.”
“Because of them.”
He forced his own fear down.
“Grace, listen to me.”
“Did Lily have anything with her?”
Grace stared blankly.
“What?”
“A watch.”
“A tablet.”
“Anything electronic.”
Grace suddenly remembered.
“Her rabbit.”
Nathan frowned.
Grace ran upstairs.
On Lily’s bed lay a small pink backpack.
Empty.
Grace turned.
“She took Rosie.”
“What is Rosie?”
“Her stuffed rabbit.”
Nathan almost cursed.
Then Grace said something that stopped him.
“It has a tracker.”
Nathan stared.
Grace rushed to the nightstand and grabbed her phone.
“I put one inside after we moved the third time.”
“You moved three times?”
“Four.”
Nathan felt another piece of his stolen life cut into him.
Grace opened the tracking app.
A blinking location appeared.
Moving west.
Nathan immediately sent it to security.
Samuel arrived at the doorway.
“Police?”
Nathan shook his head.
“Not Pike’s department.”
Samuel understood.
“I’ll call federal contacts.”
Grace looked at Nathan.
“Federal?”
“This kidnapping crosses into organized financial crimes if the Harrington conspiracy is involved.”
Grace stared at the moving dot.
“They’ll know about the tracker.”
“Eventually.”
Nathan took her phone.
“But not yet.”
The signal stopped twenty-seven minutes later at an abandoned Cole Holdings warehouse near the river.
Nathan recognized the address.
The warehouse had been closed for six years.
His father once used it for document storage.
Nathan’s stomach twisted.
They were using his own family property.
Samuel tried to stop him.
“You are not going inside.”
Nathan loaded the location onto his phone.
“My daughter is in there.”
“That is precisely why you shouldn’t.”
Nathan looked at him.
“If someone had stolen your child, would you stay in the car?”
Samuel had no answer.
Grace stepped forward.
“I’m coming.”
Nathan shook his head.
“You’re injured.”
“She’s my daughter too.”
He looked at her.
Grace’s expression was the same one he had seen when she covered Lily with her body beneath Victoria’s hockey stick.
Fear was present.
But fear was not controlling her.
Nathan nodded.
They reached the warehouse at 1:14 a.m.
Federal agents were still eight minutes away.
Nathan and Grace approached from the rear.
A side door stood open.
Inside, one light burned.
Nathan heard a child crying.
Grace ran.
He caught her around the waist.
“Wait.”
Then a familiar female voice echoed through the warehouse.
“Daddy isn’t coming, Lily.”
Victoria.
Nathan’s entire body went cold.
They moved toward the sound.
Behind stacked crates, Victoria sat across from Lily.
Lily clutched her rabbit.
Victoria smiled at the child.
“Your mommy lied to you.”
Lily shook her head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Nathan doesn’t want you.”
Lily’s chin trembled.
“No.”
Victoria leaned closer.
“He sent me to take you away.”
Nathan stepped into the light.
“Then I must have forgotten giving that order.”
Victoria spun around.
Grace ran toward Lily.
Victoria grabbed the child first.
A knife flashed in her hand.
Grace froze.
Nathan did too.
Victoria pressed the blade against Lily’s coat.
“Take another step.”
Nathan stopped.
Lily looked at him.
“Daddy?”
Nathan met her eyes.
“I’m here.”
Victoria’s hand shook.
“You ruined everything.”
Nathan slowly raised both hands.
“No.”
“You did.”
Sirens sounded outside.
Victoria’s face changed.
She looked toward the loading doors.
Then back at Nathan.
“You called them?”
Nathan shook his head.
“Grace did something your family never understood.”
Victoria stared at him.
“What?”
“She planned for the possibility that people like you existed.”
Grace’s phone was recording everything.
Victoria realized it too late.
The loading doors exploded open.
Federal agents rushed inside.
Victoria released Lily.
Grace caught her daughter.
Nathan watched agents force Victoria onto the concrete.
As the cuffs closed around her wrists, Victoria screamed one sentence at Nathan.
“You think your father was the worst one?”
Nathan stared at her.
May you like
Victoria laughed.
“Ask your mother.”
