Chapter 10 - CHLOE DISAPPEARS
Ethan had known fear before.
He had felt it when police called about Laura.
He had felt it when Chloe had pneumonia at four years old.
He had felt it when he discovered the boarding school application.
Nothing compared to hearing Rachel say Chloe was gone.
“What happened?”
His voice barely sounded human.
Rachel was crying.
“We were in the backyard.”
“She went inside for her sweater.”
“I waited maybe three minutes.”
“She didn’t come back.”
“Doors?”
“The side door was open.”
“Cameras?”
“Checking.”
“Police?”
“Already coming.”
Ethan was in his car before the call ended.
Noah contacted federal agents.
Evelyn tried to come.
Ethan refused.
He drove faster than he should have.
Every red light felt like an insult.
Every second expanded.
When he reached Rachel’s house, police vehicles filled the street.
Rachel ran toward him.
“I’m sorry.”
Ethan held her shoulders.
“Don’t.”
“What did the cameras show?”
Rachel pointed inside.
A detective waited beside the security monitor.
At 4:07 p.m., Chloe entered the house.
At 4:09, a delivery van stopped behind the side gate.
A woman wearing a courier jacket approached.
She entered through the unlocked mudroom.
At 4:11, she left holding Chloe’s hand.
Chloe did not appear to be struggling.
That detail frightened Ethan more.
“She knew the woman.”
Rachel whispered.
The camera angle caught the woman’s face for only a second.
Ethan recognized her.
Vanessa.
His stomach dropped.
“No.”
Rachel stared.
“She took Chloe.”
Ethan called Vanessa again.
Phone off.
A message arrived.
Unknown number.
Do not involve police.
Too late.
Another.
Chloe is safe.
If you want her to stay that way, bring Laura’s files and the flash drive.
Midnight.
Old Cole Harbor Hotel.
Come alone.
Ethan showed Agent Ward.
“It’s a trap.”
“I know.”
“We handle it.”
“She asked for me.”
“She expects you.”
“I’m going.”
“Not alone.”
“I’ll appear alone.”
Agent Ward studied him.
“Agreed.”
They spent hours planning.
The Old Cole Harbor Hotel had been Ethan’s father’s first property.
It had closed ten years earlier.
A decaying waterfront building scheduled for demolition.
Marcus knew every corridor.
Every service entrance.
Every blind spot.
Ethan hated the symbolism.
At eleven forty, he arrived.
A transmitter was hidden beneath his shirt.
Agents surrounded the property at distance.
Ethan entered the lobby.
Dust covered the marble.
Old chandeliers hung dark above him.
His phone buzzed.
Second floor.
Room 214.
He climbed.
The hallway smelled of damp wood.
Room 214 was open.
Inside sat Chloe.
She was on a chair beside the window.
Vanessa stood near her.
Ethan’s heart stopped.
“Chloe.”
She ran to him.
“Daddy.”
He pulled her against him.
He checked her arms.
Her face.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Did anyone touch you?”
“No.”
Vanessa spoke.
“I would never hurt her.”
Ethan looked at her with pure contempt.
“You kidnapped my daughter.”
“I took her before Marcus could.”
Ethan froze.
“What?”
Vanessa’s face was pale.
“Marcus told me he was going after her.”
“I got there first.”
Rachel’s cameras made it look exactly as though Vanessa had abducted Chloe.
Maybe she had.
Maybe she had also saved her.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“Because Marcus is watching your calls.”
“He has people inside your company.”
“Inside security.”
“Inside everything.”
Ethan held Chloe close.
“Then why send the ransom message?”
“I didn’t.”
Ethan stared.
Vanessa showed him her phone.
“There’s no message.”
“It came from a spoofed number.”
Ethan looked toward the hallway.
“Where is Marcus?”
“I don’t know.”
Chloe whispered.
“He was here.”
Ethan looked down.
“When?”
“Before Daddy came.”
Vanessa’s eyes widened.
“What?”
Chloe pointed toward the bathroom.
“I heard him talking.”
Vanessa had apparently left Chloe alone for two minutes while checking downstairs.
Marcus had entered through a connecting room.
“What did he say?”
Chloe trembled.
“He said Mommy hid something in the hotel.”
Ethan frowned.
“Your mother?”
Chloe nodded.
“He said she was smarter than everybody.”
Vanessa whispered.
“What did he mean?”
Ethan thought of Laura’s note.
Original digital records stored separately.
Maybe not the flash drive.
Maybe another copy.
Marcus had brought Ethan here because Laura had hidden evidence in his father’s first hotel.
“Did he tell you where?”
Chloe shook her head.
“He asked me if Mommy ever told me about Room 318.”
Ethan went still.
“What?”
Room 318.
He remembered.
Years before, when the hotel was operating, Charles kept a private office suite in 318.
Laura occasionally used it during renovations.
Ethan grabbed Chloe’s hand.
“We’re leaving.”
Then speakers crackled overhead.
Marcus’s voice filled the hallway.
“No.”
Ethan stopped.
“You’re staying.”
Vanessa looked around.
Marcus continued.
“Ethan, if federal agents are outside, tell them they should reconsider entering.”
Agent Ward heard everything through Ethan’s transmitter.
Ethan spoke.
“Chloe is leaving.”
“No.”
“She has nothing to do with this.”
Marcus laughed.
“She has everything to do with it.”
Ethan’s body hardened.
“You wanted her trust.”
“I wanted what was stolen from me.”
“You stole from her.”
“Your father stole from all of us.”
Ethan frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
Marcus’s voice echoed.
“Charles built Cole Development with money that didn’t belong to him.”
“Laura discovered that too.”
Ethan felt new confusion.
“Explain.”
“Room 318.”
Then the speakers died.
Ethan looked at Vanessa.
“Take Chloe downstairs.”
“No.”
Vanessa’s fear was obvious.
“Marcus has locked exits.”
Ethan tried the stairwell.
Locked electronically.
The old building should not have had active systems.
Marcus had restored some.
Agent Ward spoke faintly through Ethan’s earpiece.
“We’re moving.”
Ethan whispered.
“Wait.”
He did not know what Marcus had rigged.
He took Chloe and Vanessa to Room 318.
The door was locked.
Chloe pointed at an old framed photograph beside it.
“Daddy.”
Behind the frame was a keypad.
Ethan stared.
He entered Charles’s birthday.
Wrong.
Laura’s birthday.
Wrong.
Chloe whispered.
“My birthday?”
Ethan entered Chloe’s birthday.
The lock clicked.
Inside was Charles’s old office.
Dust covered everything.
Ethan searched drawers.
Nothing.
Then Chloe noticed a loose floorboard.
They lifted it.
A metal case sat beneath.
Inside were ledgers.
Old partnership contracts.
And a video camera.
Ethan turned it on.
One file remained.
Laura appeared on the screen.
She looked tired.
Alive.
Ethan nearly dropped the camera.
Laura spoke directly to the lens.
“If Ethan is watching this, then Marcus probably found out.”
She took a breath.
“Charles did something years ago that created all of this.”
“He took money from Marcus’s father.”
Ethan stared.
“Marcus believes Cole Development belongs to his family.”
Vanessa whispered.
“Oh my God.”
Laura continued.
“But Marcus is wrong about one thing.”
“Charles did not steal the company.”
“Marcus’s father gave him the money voluntarily.”
“And I have the contract.”
A noise sounded behind them.
The door slammed shut.
Marcus’s voice came from inside the room.
“You always were slow to find the truth, Ethan.”
Ethan turned.
May you like
Marcus stood behind Vanessa.
And this time he was holding a gun.
