Chapter 4 - The world narrowed to one word.Missing.
I ran upstairs so fast I nearly fell.
Mia’s bed was empty.
The window was locked.
The security camera in the hallway had gone black.
Alexander was already issuing orders.
“No one leaves the property.”
Security flooded the house.
I searched every room.
“Mia!”
My voice broke.
Nothing.
Then I saw something beneath her pillow.
A red ribbon.
The same ribbon Mia had been wearing earlier at the wedding.
I picked it up.
There was a tiny piece of paper attached.
COME ALONE.
My knees nearly gave out.
Alexander took it from me.
“No.”
“I’m going.”
“Absolutely not.”
“That’s my daughter.”
“And whoever took her wants you angry.”
“They already have what they want.”
His eyes met mine.
“No. They want you.”
Three minutes later, a message arrived on my phone.
A photograph.
Mia was sitting in a chair.
She was frightened but unharmed.
A man’s hand rested on the back of the chair.
Below the photograph was an address.
The old office.
My old office.
The place from Daniel’s photograph.
I knew immediately.
Alexander grabbed his keys.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“If they see you, she could be hurt.”
His face turned cold.
“You’re not going alone.”
“We both know they expected that.”
A silence.
Then I whispered, “They chose the one place you can’t enter.”
“Why?”
“Because it belongs to me.”
We left.
The old office looked exactly as it had five years ago.
Broken windows.
Dark corridors.
Dust.
Memories.
I walked inside.
My heart hammered.
Somewhere deeper in the building, a light flickered.
Then I heard Mia.
“Mommy?”
I ran.
A figure stepped from the shadows.
“Stop.”
I froze.
Daniel.
Alive.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakably him.
I stared.
“You’re alive.”
He gave me a sad smile.
“I told you I might be.”
“Where is my daughter?”
“She’s safe.”
“Where?”
He pointed toward the old conference room.
I rushed inside.
Mia ran straight into my arms.
“Mommy!”
I held her so tightly she squealed.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Who brought you here?”
She pointed at Daniel.
“He said he knew you.”
Daniel stood in the doorway.
“You need to listen to me.”
I turned on him.
“You disappear for five years, let me believe you’re dead, and now you kidnap my daughter?”
“I didn’t kidnap her.”
“You brought her here!”
“I moved her before the people who actually want her could reach her.”
My blood ran cold.
“Who?”
Daniel shut the door.
“Marcus.”
I stared.
“He knows about Mia?”
“He’s known for years.”
“How?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Because Marcus was the one who ordered the original surveillance.”
I felt sick.
“Why would he care about her?”
Daniel looked at Mia.
“Because she has something in her blood.”
My expression hardened.
“What does that mean?”
“Her father left something inside the company structure.”
I shook my head.
“Alexander is her father.”
Daniel looked at me.
“No.”
Silence.
Mia was playing with the ribbon in her hands.
Daniel continued.
“Alexander believes he is her father.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“The records were altered.”
My heart pounded.
“No.”
“Claire, five years ago you were already pregnant.”
I stopped breathing.
Daniel’s voice softened.
“You signed the divorce papers believing you were carrying Marcus’s child.”
My mind went blank.
“I wasn't.”
“You were.”
“Then how…”
Daniel looked toward Mia.
“Because Marcus wasn’t the biological father.”
I stared at my daughter.
My child.
The entire foundation beneath my life shifted.
“Who is?”
Daniel hesitated.
Before he could answer, the door exploded inward.
Gunfire tore through the room.
Daniel shoved me to the floor.
Mia screamed.
We scrambled behind the conference table.
Someone shouted from the hallway.
“Take the girl!”
Daniel looked at me.
May you like
His face turned grim.
“They found us.”
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