Chapter 3 - The Missing Girl
Daniel ran.
He reached the bridal suite in seconds. The door was open. Rachel stood inside, staring at an empty room.
“I turned around for maybe ten seconds,” she said. “Noah asked for water. When I looked back, the bathroom door was open.”
Daniel checked the bathroom.
Empty.
A service door stood ajar behind a hanging rack of garment bags.
“Where does that go?”
A hotel employee pointed. “Back corridor. Kitchen, loading dock, staff elevators.”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“Lock the building.”
The employee blinked.
“Now.”
He pulled out his phone and called hotel security.
Within a minute, doors were being monitored and cameras pulled up.
Vanessa arrived barefoot, holding her wedding dress off the floor.
“What happened?”
“Emma’s missing.”
Her face collapsed. “Oh my God.”
Daniel watched her reaction carefully.
It looked real.
That scared him more.
Because if Vanessa was not part of this, then someone had just used their wedding as cover.
Security brought footage to a tablet.
A camera in the back corridor showed Emma walking alone at 8:18.
Except she was not alone.
A man in a catering jacket walked several feet ahead of her, motioning with one hand.
Daniel leaned closer.
“Zoom in.”
The image blurred.
No clear face.
Rachel covered her mouth.
“That jacket isn’t from our caterer.”
Daniel’s phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A text message.
STOP LOOKING AT GRANT.
Another message appeared immediately.
ASK YOUR WIFE WHAT SHE SIGNED YESTERDAY.
Daniel looked across the hallway at Vanessa.
She had gone still.
He held up the phone.
“What did you sign?”
“Nothing.”
“Vanessa.”
Her eyes filled.
“Daniel, I was going to tell you after the wedding.”
His pulse hammered.
“What did you sign?”
She whispered, “A guardianship petition.”
Daniel felt the floor drop out from under him.
“For my children?”
May you like
Vanessa nodded once.
Then from somewhere deep in the service corridor, a little girl screamed.
