Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN THE ELEVATOREmergency lights flickered on.
Red.
Dim.
Terrifying.
Julian stood between the hospital bed and the doorway.
Elena held Daniel tightly.
“Don't move,” Julian whispered.
Another gunshot echoed from the stairwell.
Patients screamed.
Doctors shouted.
Security alarms began ringing.
Julian reached for his phone.
No signal.
He looked at Elena.
“Did your father ever send people after you?”
“No.”
“Then who is this?”
“I don't know.”
The voice came again.
“Mr. Sterling.”
Closer this time.
“Bring the baby.”
Elena's face went white.
Julian's eyes hardened.
“No.”
The door handle moved.
He grabbed the metal IV pole beside the bed.
The handle stopped.
Then footsteps retreated.
Julian waited.
Five seconds.
Ten.
Nothing.
He opened the door.
The corridor was empty.
At the far end, an elevator stood open.
Inside was a man in a black coat.
He looked directly at Julian.
Then the doors closed.
Julian ran.
He sprinted down the corridor.
The elevator numbers changed.
He pressed the button.
Too late.
The elevator descended.
Julian turned.
A hospital security officer was running toward him.
“Sir, we need to move.”
“Who was that?”
“We don't know.”
“Then find out.”
The officer grabbed his arm.
“Your security team just arrived.”
Two men in Sterling Security jackets appeared around the corner.
Julian immediately felt something was wrong.
He had worked with them for years.
But tonight, neither man met his eyes.
One reached inside his jacket.
Julian stepped backward.
The man pulled out a gun.
Elena screamed from the room.
Julian tackled him.
The shot went into the ceiling.
The second man ran.
Julian hit the first man hard enough to knock him unconscious.
He ripped the man's identification badge free.
Then he looked at it.
His blood froze.
The badge belonged to a security employee who had died eight years earlier.
“Who are you?”
The man didn't answer.
Julian grabbed his collar.
“Who sent you?”
A faint smile appeared.
“Your father.”
Julian froze.
Then the man bit down.
A sharp crack.
He collapsed.
The security officer crouched.
“Cyanide capsule.”
Julian stared.
“That's impossible.”
“Apparently not.”
He looked toward Elena.
She was standing in the doorway now, holding Daniel.
“Julian.”
He ran back.
“We have to leave.”
Elena shook her head.
“I can't.”
“You can.”
“I just gave birth.”
“I don't care.”
She glared at him.
“I care.”
Julian stopped.
Then, unexpectedly, he nodded.
“Fine.”
He took Daniel's hospital bag.
Elena stood slowly.
The baby began to cry.
The sound pierced Julian.
He had heard explosions.
Boardrooms filled with angry investors.
His father shouting.
His marriage collapsing.
None of it compared to the sound of his newborn son crying.
“I'm here,” Julian whispered.
The door to the emergency stairwell opened.
A woman stepped through.
Julian immediately recognized her.
“Margaret?”
His mother looked at Elena.
Then Daniel.
Then Julian.
“Where is the baby?”
Julian moved in front of them.
“You're supposed to be in Palm Beach.”
“I never went.”
“Why?”
Margaret's eyes filled with something Julian couldn't identify.
Fear.
“Because your father came to me.”
Julian stared.
“My father is dead.”
Margaret's voice broke.
“I know.”
“Then how?”
“He called me.”
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
Elena's face tightened.
Julian looked between them.
“You both knew he was alive.”
Neither answered.
“You both knew.”
Margaret stepped closer.
“Your father has been alive for four years.”
Julian felt the corridor disappear around him.
“Why?”
“Because he wasn't hiding from the police.”
She looked at Daniel.
“He was hiding from you.”
Julian shook his head.
“That makes no sense.”
Margaret stepped close enough to whisper.
“He said the moment you discovered the truth, they would come for you.”
“Who?”
She looked at Elena.
Then at Daniel.
“The people who built Sterling Holdings.”
A crash came from downstairs.
Margaret flinched.
“We have to go.”
They hurried toward a private service elevator.
As the doors opened, Margaret stepped inside.
Elena followed.
Julian entered last.
The elevator doors closed.
For three seconds, there was silence.
Then the elevator jolted.
Elena grabbed the rail.
Daniel started crying.
Julian looked at the control panel.
The floor indicator showed nothing.
“What's happening?”
Margaret stared at him.
“The elevator has been overridden.”
Julian reached for his phone.
Still no signal.
Suddenly, the elevator began moving upward.
Not down.
Up.
The doors opened on the hospital roof.
Snow blew inside.
There was no helicopter.
No security team.
Only one black SUV parked near the edge.
And standing beside it was a man.
Julian stopped.
The man stepped forward.
Daniel Sterling.
His father.
Alive.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakable.
Julian's knees nearly gave out.
His father looked at him.
Then at Elena.
Then at the baby.
And said the words that would change all their lives.
“I came for my grandson.”
He opened his coat.
Inside, strapped beneath it, was a red leather ledger.
Elena whispered,
“No.”
Daniel Sterling smiled.
“You still have no idea what that book contains.”
Then a sniper rifle cracked from across the street.
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Daniel shoved Elena to the ground.
The bullet struck him in the chest.
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