Chapter 2 - The Man in the DarknessI nearly struck the man beside me before I recognized his face.
Luca Moretti, Elias's second-in-command, caught my wrist before my hand reached him.
“Easy,” he whispered. “I'm not here to hurt you.”
“Where are my babies?”
“With Elias. They're safe.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.” His eyes flickered toward the broken doorway. “I expect you to stay alive long enough to see them.”
He led me through a concealed door behind the marble partition. A narrow corridor stretched into darkness, smelling of dust and cold stone. Somewhere behind us, men shouted orders.
I forced my aching legs to move.
“Why did Nathan come here himself?” I asked.
“Because he doesn't trust anyone else with this.”
“With what?”
Luca stopped at a steel door and entered a code. “The truth.”
The door opened into a private elevator.
Inside, Elias was waiting with my daughters.
The moment I saw their tiny faces, the world narrowed to two little bundles wrapped in cream blankets. I stumbled toward them, my hands trembling so badly I could barely touch their cheeks.
“Clara,” I whispered to the first girl. “Grace.”
Those names were not on their birth certificates yet. I'd chosen them while lying in bed during labor, imagining a life where my daughters would grow up surrounded by tenderness rather than fear.
I kissed both foreheads.
“You're safe. Mommy's here.”
Elias watched silently until I looked up.
“Thank you.”
“Don't thank me yet.”
He handed Luca one of the blankets, then addressed his lieutenant. “Take the eastern route. No phones. No electronic tolls. Check every vehicle behind us.”
“What about Cross?” Luca asked.
“Let him think we're running.”
Elias turned toward me.
“Your husband has been doing business with me for four years. He manages shipping contracts for three of my companies. Until tonight, I believed he was stealing from me.”
My arms tightened around the babies.
“You think Nathan has something to do with your business?”
“I know he does.”
“Then why did he mention my children?”
“Because he wants me to believe there's something about them I don't know.”
I remembered Nathan's expression when he had stood in our apartment, staring at two newborns as if they'd ruined his life.
One of those girls isn't mine.
The words hurt in a place I couldn't describe.
“Both girls are his,” I said. “I was faithful to him.”
“I didn't accuse you of anything.”
“He made me feel guilty for giving birth to daughters. He made me apologize for something I couldn't control.” Tears blurred my vision. “I won't let him turn my babies into another weapon.”
For the first time, something shifted in Elias's face.
“Then we agree on one thing.”
The elevator descended.
He sat opposite me, his expression grave. “Nathan has stolen a considerable amount of money. A man who steals from me usually runs. Your husband has done something different. He has spent the last three weeks erasing records, bribing police officers, and arranging for several people to disappear.”
“Who?”
“My accountant. Your husband's former attorney. And a woman who worked at the clinic where you delivered.”
My blood chilled.
“The midwife?”
“We're checking.”
The elevator doors opened into an underground garage. An armored SUV waited beside two black sedans.
As the guards loaded the babies into their secured seats, Elias's phone vibrated.
He read the message.
Then his expression hardened.
“What is it?” I asked.
He turned the screen toward me.
It showed a photograph of my old apartment building. Below it was a message from an unknown number.
YOU HAVE SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO ME. RETURN IT BY SUNRISE, OR THE GIRLS WILL BE THE FIRST TO PAY.
I shook my head.
“I don't have anything.”
Elias studied me for several seconds.
Then he asked a question that made my stomach drop.
“Are you absolutely certain, Ava?”
Because suddenly, I remembered the last thing Nathan had done before his men dragged me outside.
May you like
He had taken my coat.
And slipped something into its pocket.
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