Chapter 8 - The Empty Room

The therapist was crying. Two guards had been found unconscious near the penthouse elevator. Theo's bedroom window was locked from the inside, but the fire stairwell camera had been disabled. The police were on their way.

Adrian's voice turned hard enough to cut. "Lock down every exit. Check the garage, the roof, every car. I want every camera from the building copied before anyone touches the system."

Elena closed her eyes and forced herself to think. Theo had been afraid of elevators since the fire. When he wanted to hide, he went somewhere small and quiet. He also carried a little blue toy truck that she had given him as a birthday present.

"Does he still have the truck?" she asked.

The therapist paused. "It was on his bed."

"Then he didn't leave willingly."

"This is my fault," he said. "I let Celeste stay close to him. I let her into our lives."

"You can hate yourself later," Elena said. "Right now, Theo needs you to be his father."

They returned to the city and found the penthouse crawling with police. A detective asked questions that sounded too much like the questions Elena had answered three years before. She refused to let Adrian's lawyer send her away.

"I know how it feels when everyone decides what happened before they listen," she told the detective. "Don't do that to him."

A message arrived on Adrian's phone from an unknown number. It contained a photograph of Theo sitting in a dark room, his cheeks wet, his hands tied loosely in front of him. Beneath it was one sentence: Bring the original ledger to the boathouse by midnight. Come alone.

"The ledger is in the foundation archive," Mason said. "It lists the transfers Nora found."

"Then we give them what they want," Adrian said.

Elena shook her head. "They don't want a ledger. They want control. If you go alone, they'll make sure you never come back."

Adrian looked at the photo again. Theo's eyes were fixed on the camera, wide and terrified.

May you like

My Mother Grabbed My Wife by the Hair Over Cold Soup—But What My Father...

My mother grabbed my wife by the hair over a bowl of cold soup. And the most shameful part? For one terrible second, I almost defe...

My Parents Kicked My 6-Year-Old Daughter and Me Out on Christmas—Then I...

My mother kicked my six-year-old daughter out of Christmas dinner, never realizing I was the only reason she still had a house to...

The Bride Threw His 80-Year-Old Mother’s Jacket on the Floor at Their We...

She threw his 80-year-old mother’s jacket on the floor… and smiled like she had just won.In front of two hundred wedding guests, t...

Elena leaned closer to the screen. "Theo, if you can hear me, remember what I taught you. Count the doors. Listen for the water. Find the light."

Midnight. No police. Or the boy pays for your mistakes.