Chapter 4
Emily was discharged against medical advice forty minutes later.
The doctor argued.
The nurse argued.
Ava argued the loudest.
“You can barely stand.”
“Then get me a wheelchair.”
“You delivered a baby today.”
“And people could die today.”
Liam had been examined and approved to leave, though the pediatrician made Emily promise to return immediately if anything changed.
Daniel’s security team arranged a private medical transport van.
Daniel himself did not appear.
Emily did not know whether she was relieved or disappointed.
Rain hammered the city.
Police vehicles cleared a path through traffic as the van moved toward Emily’s apartment in Lincoln Park.
Ava sat beside her.
Agent Torres sat across from them, speaking into two phones.
Charles and Margaret followed in another vehicle.
Emily had not invited them.
They came anyway.
Liam slept against her chest, unaware that his first trip into the world was part of a federal emergency.
Ava watched Emily’s face.
“You need to breathe.”
“I am breathing.”
“Not enough.”
Emily closed her eyes.
Daniel’s confession replayed in her mind.
At first.
He had approached her because of the company.
He had known she was vulnerable.
He had known she was angry.
He had hidden the truth.
Yet when she remembered his face while holding Liam, she could not believe that was fake.
That made it worse.
Real love built on a lie was still built on a lie.
The van stopped outside her building.
A security officer opened the door.
Emily stepped down carefully.
Pain shot through her body.
Ava caught her arm.
“I can walk.”
“Not impressively.”
They entered the building.
The lobby lights flickered from the storm.
The doorman rushed toward her.
“Ms. Carter, thank God.”
Emily stopped.
“What happened?”
“Someone broke into your apartment.”
Agent Torres’s hand moved toward her weapon.
“When?”
“Maybe twenty minutes ago. The alarm went off, but the system reset itself. I called the police.”
Emily’s blood ran cold.
“Is anyone still upstairs?”
“I don’t know.”
Torres spoke into her radio.
“Secure the building. No elevators.”
Emily looked at the stairwell.
She lived on the seventh floor.
Ava shook her head immediately.
“No.”
“The backup is in the apartment.”
“Law enforcement will retrieve it.”
“They won’t find it.”
Torres studied her.
“Where is it?”
“Hidden behind the nursery wall.”
Margaret arrived in the lobby, soaked despite the umbrella a driver held over her.
“The nursery?” she repeated.
Emily looked at her mother.
“Yes. The nursery you never asked to see.”
Margaret’s expression fell.
Charles entered behind her.
Agent Torres raised a hand.
“Everyone stays here.”
A crash sounded above them.
Then the fire alarm began to scream.
Smoke appeared at the top of the stairwell door.
Emily’s heart stopped.
“My apartment.”
Firefighters pushed into the lobby seconds later.
Someone was destroying the evidence.
Torres grabbed Emily’s shoulders.
“Tell me exactly where the drive is.”
“North wall. Behind the wooden moon above the crib. Press the bottom point. A panel opens.”
Torres relayed it to a tactical officer.
Emily held Liam tighter as firefighters raced upstairs.
The lobby filled with flashing red light.
Residents descended the stairs, coughing and frightened.
A woman from the sixth floor stumbled toward the exit.
“There’s a man up there,” she gasped. “Black jacket. He came down from seven.”
Torres turned toward the rear entrance.
Two officers ran outside.
A gunshot cracked through the alley.
Margaret screamed.
Charles pulled her down behind the desk.
Emily froze.
Daniel’s security officer covered her and Liam with his body.
More shots followed.
Then silence.
Agent Torres’s radio erupted with voices.
“Suspect fleeing east.”
“Officer down?”
“Negative. No injuries.”
“Vehicle approaching.”
“Tires disabled.”
Emily could barely hear over Liam’s sudden crying.
She whispered to him.
“You’re safe. Mommy has you.”
Her own voice shook.
The elevator opened despite the lockdown.
Daniel stepped out.
His coat was wet, his face tense.
The moment he saw Emily crouched near the desk with Liam crying, control left him.
He rushed toward them.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Liam?”
“He’s scared.”
Daniel knelt and touched the baby’s blanket.
Then he looked at the security officer.
“What happened?”
“Armed suspect. Fire on seven.”
Daniel’s eyes turned toward the stairwell.
“My apartment is burning,” Emily said.
He looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
“Someone knew where the evidence was.”
Ava approached.
“That narrows the list.”
Charles stood slowly.
“You think we did this?”
“No,” Emily said.
She looked toward the alley.
“I think Brandon told someone.”
Agent Torres returned from outside.
“We have the suspect.”
“Who is he?” Charles asked.
“He has identification under the name Paul Reeves.”
Emily knew the name.
“Carter Development security.”
Charles looked stunned.
“He works for us?”
“He reports directly to Brandon,” Emily said.
Torres nodded.
“He had an access card and a company-issued phone.”
A firefighter emerged from the stairwell carrying a black metal case.
Emily’s breath caught.
“The drive.”
The firefighter handed it to Torres.
“Found where you said. The room is damaged, but this was behind a fire-rated panel.”
Emily nearly collapsed from relief.
Daniel supported her elbow.
She pulled away instinctively.
Pain flashed across his face.
He released her.
Agent Torres examined the case.
“The exterior is intact.”
“We need the foundation reports,” Emily said.
“We’ll take it to a secure lab.”
“No. I can open it faster.”
“Emily,” Ava warned.
“There may be workers trapped.”
Torres considered her.
Then she looked at Daniel.
“Do you have a secure office nearby?”
“Three blocks.”
Emily laughed bitterly.
“Of course you do.”
Daniel accepted the blow without defending himself.
His offices occupied the top floors of a renovated building overlooking the park.
Within fifteen minutes, Emily sat in a conference room with Liam in a portable bassinet borrowed from the building’s emergency suite.
A doctor from Daniel’s private medical team checked her blood pressure.
It was dangerously high.
“You have thirty minutes,” the doctor said. “Then you lie down.”
Emily ignored him.
The metal case sat on the table.
She entered a code.
Nothing happened.
She tried again.
Red light.
Her pulse quickened.
“Someone changed the encryption key.”
“Can they do that remotely?” Torres asked.
“No.”
“Then who had physical access before today?”
Emily thought.
Only she knew the hiding place.
Or so she had believed.
She looked at Margaret.
“Did you ever enter my apartment while I was pregnant?”
Margaret stiffened.
“What kind of question is that?”
“Answer me.”
“I came once.”
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
Emily’s stomach dropped.
“You said you were in New York.”
“I wanted to see how you were living.”
“You broke in?”
“I used the emergency key you gave me years ago.”
“What did you touch?”
“Nothing.”
“What did you see?”
Margaret looked away.
“The nursery.”
Emily stood too quickly and grabbed the table.
Daniel moved, but she raised a hand to stop him.
“Did you open the wall panel?”
Margaret’s silence answered.
Charles stared at his wife.
“You found the drive?”
“I found a metal case. I thought it contained jewelry or documents.”
“What did you do?”
“I told Brandon.”
Emily closed her eyes.
A terrible clarity settled over her.
Brandon had known about the evidence for two months.
He had time to prepare.
Time to alter access.
Time to move money.
Time to plan the fire.
Daniel’s voice was quiet.
“Did you give him the case?”
“No. He told me to leave it.”
“Why?”
“He said Emily would know if it moved.”
Emily looked at her mother.
“You helped him.”
“I didn’t know what it was.”
“You knew I had hidden it.”
“I thought you were hiding family property.”
“It was my home.”
“You were acting strangely.”
“I was pregnant and terrified of you.”
Margaret’s face crumpled.
Emily turned away before sympathy could weaken her.
She sat and connected the drive to an isolated computer.
“If Brandon changed the key,” she said, “he may have created a second access path.”
Her fingers moved across the keyboard.
Daniel watched her.
“You built this?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After my father called me a liar.”
Charles flinched.
Code filled the screen.
Minutes passed.
Liam stirred.
Daniel approached the bassinet but stopped before touching it.
He looked at Emily.
She nodded once.
He lifted Liam carefully.
The baby settled almost immediately.
Emily tried not to watch.
She failed.
Daniel held their son with natural tenderness, whispering something too soft to hear.
For one dangerous second, she wanted to forgive him.
Then the computer chimed.
Access granted.
Emily leaned forward.
Folders appeared.
Financial records.
Emails.
Audio files.
Engineering reports.
She opened the South Harbor directory.
Two versions of the foundation assessment appeared.
Original.
Revised.
She opened the original.
Red warnings covered the first page.
Soil instability.
Insufficient reinforcement.
Immediate work stoppage recommended.
A map showed the likely failure zones.
Emily enlarged it.
“The east tower is only the first risk.”
Torres moved closer.
“What else?”
“The underground parking structure.”
A structural engineer joined by video call.
He studied the report.
“If the east tower shifts further, it could transfer pressure here.”
He circled a section of the map.
Ava frowned.
“What is above that point?”
Charles answered.
“The temporary worker shelter.”
Emily’s breath stopped.
“How many people?”
“Night shift,” Charles said. “Maybe sixty.”
Torres grabbed her radio.
“Evacuate the shelter immediately.”
A voice answered through static.
“We can’t reach it. East access is blocked.”
The engineer leaned closer to the screen.
“There’s a service tunnel from the west side.”
Charles shook his head.
“It was sealed last month.”
Emily searched the files.
“No. It was supposed to be sealed.”
She opened a site-change document.
“The work was postponed.”
Daniel looked at Charles.
“Who knows the tunnel access?”
Charles’s face went pale.
“The project manager.”
“Melissa,” Emily said.
Agent Torres checked her phone.
“We found her vehicle at O’Hare. She never boarded a flight.”
“Then where is she?”
A sound came from the conference room speaker.
A security alert.
Daniel’s assistant entered.
“Sir, a woman is downstairs demanding to see Emily.”
May you like
“Who?”
“She says her name is Melissa Grant.”
