Chapter 2 - THE NAME THEY BURIEDMarco came back eleven minutes later.
He shut the door behind him.
Locked it.
Then checked the hallway camera himself.
That alone told me the situation was worse than he'd said.
“Well?”
His eyes moved to Vanessa.
“Do you want me to say it in front of her?”
Vanessa's voice sharpened.
“I am your boss's fiancée.”
“You're also the person who arrived at the hospital fourteen minutes after the explosion.”
She went still.
Marco continued.
“You knew which emergency entrance to use before the police announced the blast.”
Vanessa smiled faintly.
“I was notified.”
“By whom?”
She didn't answer.
I looked at Marco.
“Where is Peter?”
“Gone.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
“He wasn't in ICU when our men reached the room.”
Grace covered her mouth.
Marco placed a plastic evidence bag on my bedside table.
Inside was a small black cross.
Broken.
The same one I'd seen around the boy's neck.
“Where did you find it?”
“Under the hospital bed.”
I stared at it.
Peter had been wearing it when we escaped the warehouse.
He had clutched it like it was the last thing he owned.
I remembered his words.
Uncle Nico said I should find Dominic.
At the time, I'd thought he'd been delirious.
Now I wasn't so sure.
“When was the boy last seen?”
“Twenty-three minutes ago.”
“Who had access?”
“Three nurses. One physician. Two security guards.”
“And Vanessa?”
Marco looked at her.
“She had temporary visitor access.”
Vanessa stood.
“You're accusing me of kidnapping a child?”
“No,” I said quietly.
She turned toward me.
“Good.”
“I haven't accused you.”
Her expression changed.
I continued.
“But you seem very eager to defend yourself.”
For the first time since I'd opened my eyes, I saw anger replace fear.
“Dominic, you're injured. You're confused.”
“I'm not confused.”
“You nearly died.”
“Which is why I'm finally seeing clearly.”
She stepped closer.
“You think I would hurt a child?”
I looked at the diamonds around her throat.
Then at the bruise on Grace's wrist.
“I think someone in this hospital wants that boy dead.”
The door opened.
An old man entered.
Dr. Samuel Reed.
My father's personal physician.
He looked at me for a long moment.
Then he looked at the evidence bag.
His face drained of color.
“Where did you get that?”
Marco answered.
“Why?”
Samuel's hands trembled.
“Because Nicholas had one.”
Silence.
I pushed myself higher despite the pain tearing through my ribs.
“Where?”
“Your father gave it to him.”
“My father died twenty years ago.”
Samuel looked at me.
“That's not what I said.”
A chill moved through me.
“What are you saying?”
He swallowed.
“Your father told Nicholas to keep it secret.”
“What secret?”
Before he could answer, the lights went out.
The hospital plunged into darkness.
Someone screamed in the hallway.
Then gunfire erupted.
Three shots.
A pause.
Two more.
Marco pulled his weapon.
Vanessa ducked behind the couch.
Grace dropped beside my bed.
I reached for the pistol Marco had hidden in my drawer.
The door burst inward.
A masked man stepped through.
He fired.
Marco shot first.
The attacker collapsed.
We waited.
No one moved.
Then a second figure appeared in the hallway.
A nurse.
She wasn't running away.
She was walking toward us.
Grace whispered.
“That's the nurse who was assigned to Peter.”
The nurse smiled.
Then she raised a syringe.
“I was too late.”
Marco aimed.
“Drop it.”
She laughed.
“It's not for him.”
She pointed directly at me.
Before anyone could move, she injected the needle into her own neck.
She dropped instantly.
Grace ran to her.
“She's dead.”
I stared at the woman's body.
A small silver key had fallen from her pocket.
Marco picked it up.
There was a number etched into the metal.
Grace's face went white.
“That isn't a room number.”
“What is it?”
She whispered:
“It's the old maternity ward.”
The maternity ward had been closed for fifteen years.
I looked at Vanessa.
She wasn't looking at the key.
She was looking at me.
And for a brief second, she looked exactly like someone who had just realized a buried grave had been opened.
Then my phone rang.
The screen showed an unknown number.
Marco answered.
A child's voice came through.
“Uncle Dominic?”
Peter.
My blood froze.
“Where are you?”
There was breathing.
Then a man's voice spoke behind him.
“Ask him why Nicholas left you alive.”
The call ended.
I stared at the dead nurse.
Then at the key.
Someone wasn't hiding Peter anymore.
May you like
Someone was using him to lead me somewhere.
And the destination had been waiting for me since before I was born.
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