Chapter 6 - THE EMPTY CRIB
Adrian overturned the chair getting up.
"Leo!"
He ran.
Grace was right behind him.
The staircase seemed endless.
"Marcus!"
Footsteps thundered from the security room.
Adrian reached the nursery first.
The door was open.
Rosa stood beside the crib.
Her face was white.
The crib was empty.
"No."
Adrian crossed the room.
Blanket.
Stuffed elephant.
Leo's pacifier.
No child.
"Where is he?"
Rosa began crying.
"I checked him ten minutes ago."
"Where is my son?"
"I don't know."
Grace grabbed Adrian's arm.
"Look."
The nursery window was open.
Rain blew against the curtains.
Marcus entered.
"Lock the property down."
Adrian turned on him.
"How?"
"Sir-"
"How does someone walk into my house and take my son?"
Marcus looked furious with himself.
"I don't know."
Grace moved toward the crib.
She examined the mattress.
"Someone didn't take him through the window."
Adrian stared.
"How do you know?"
"The carpet."
It was cream colored.
Rainwater would have left marks.
There were none.
The window had been opened to make them look outside.
"They went through the house," Grace said.
Adrian looked toward Rosa.
She shook her head frantically.
"No."
"I didn't say anything."
"You looked."
Adrian stepped between them.
"Rosa has been with my family twelve years."
Grace's expression sharpened.
"So was Damon."
That stopped him.
Everyone became a suspect.
Adrian hated what fear was doing to his mind.
Marcus checked the nursery camera.
The feed had gone black at 1:03.
Every upstairs camera had failed simultaneously.
"Internal shutdown," he said.
"Who can do that?"
"Me."
"Anyone else?"
"Your administrator account."
Again.
Adrian wanted to smash something.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
"Where is he?"
A distorted voice replied.
"Drive."
Adrian's blood turned cold.
"Let me hear my son."
"Drive."
"If Leo is hurt-"
"He's fine."
A small sound came through the phone.
Crying.
"Daddy!"
Adrian nearly collapsed.
"Leo!"
The line went dead.
Grace covered her mouth.
Adrian stared at the phone.
A text arrived.
An address.
Abandoned church outside town.
Another message.
COME ALONE. NO POLICE.
Grace read it.
"No."
Adrian grabbed his jacket.
"No?"
"You're not going alone."
"They have Leo."
"Exactly."
"If they see you-"
"I don't care."
"I do."
The words came out before Grace could stop them.
Adrian looked at her.
For one second the chaos disappeared.
Then Marcus spoke.
"She's right."
Adrian shook his head.
"They said alone."
"We follow at distance."
"No police."
Marcus gave him a look.
"You pay me to protect your family."
Adrian looked toward the empty crib.
"Then protect Grace."
He left.
Grace waited approximately fifteen seconds before following.
Marcus almost smiled.
"You don't take orders well."
"Neither does he."
They followed in another vehicle.
Adrian's taillights stayed just visible through the rain. Grace watched them from the passenger seat while Marcus drove, and for the first five minutes neither of them spoke. The silence was full of everything she had nearly said to Adrian and everything she was still hiding.
Marcus finally broke it. "You care about him."
Grace kept her eyes on the road. "He's Leo's father."
"That's not what I said."
She turned toward him. "You always interrogate employees in the middle of kidnappings?"
"Only the stubborn ones."
Despite herself, Grace gave a breath that almost became a laugh. It vanished quickly. "He still loves Elena."
"Of course he does."
"Then that's the end of the conversation."
Marcus glanced at her. "Love isn't a chair. Someone new sitting down doesn't mean the person who was there before disappears."
Grace looked back at Adrian's car. She had spent months inside his home watching grief shape his routines. He still bought Elena's favorite coffee by accident. Still paused outside the bedroom they had shared. Still spoke to Leo about his mother as if keeping Elena present required daily maintenance. Grace had never resented any of it. What frightened her was the opposite: how easy it had become to imagine a place for herself beside them.
Then she remembered why she had come to the Cole house in the first place. Not for Adrian. Not for romance. For a promise made to a terrified cousin who had believed danger would eventually reach her child.
Leo was missing now. The promise had become real.
Grace straightened. "If Adrian goes inside alone and we lose contact, I'm going in."
Marcus sighed. "I assumed you would."
"Good. Saves time."
He reached beneath his jacket and handed her a small flashlight. "Then at least don't go in blind."
She took it. "Thank you."
The church sat ten miles outside the city.
Adrian arrived first.
The building had been abandoned after flood damage years earlier.
One light burned inside.
He entered.
"Leo?"
Silence.
Then crying.
Adrian ran toward the sound.
A phone sat on the altar.
Playing an audio recording.
Leo's voice.
No child.
A man stepped from behind the pews.
Damon.
Adrian lunged.
Damon raised both hands.
"Stop!"
"Where is he?"
"I don't have Leo."
Adrian punched him.
Damon hit the floor.
"Where is my son?"
"I don't know!"
Another punch.
Damon covered his face.
"I came because they told me you had him!"
Adrian froze.
"What?"
Damon pulled out his phone.
A message.
ADRIAN KNOWS. MEET AT THE CHURCH. BRING THE DOCUMENTS.
Adrian stared.
"Who sent that?"
"Vale."
"Richard?"
Damon's face changed.
"You know."
Before Adrian could speak, a sound came from the balcony.
Grace.
"Adrian!"
He looked up.
Too late.
A figure shoved Grace toward the railing.
She caught herself.
Marcus tackled the man.
They crashed against the balcony floor.
Adrian ran up the stairs.
The attacker broke free.
Grace grabbed his hood.
It came off.
Everyone stopped.
Vivian.
Her hair was wet.
Her face was bruised.
And she was terrified.
"Where is Leo?" Adrian demanded.
Vivian laughed hysterically.
"You think I took him?"
"You were inside my house."
"No."
"The photograph-"
"Wasn't me."
Grace stared at her.
"Then who?"
Vivian looked toward Damon.
Damon's face had gone white.
"Don't," he said.
Vivian smiled.
"Still protecting him?"
"Vivian."
"Leo was never supposed to be part of this."
Adrian grabbed her shoulders.
"Where is my son?"
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe you?"
"No."
Tears ran down her face.
"But you should."
She pointed at Damon.
"He knows who has him."
Adrian turned.
Damon shook his head.
"She's lying."
Vivian laughed.
"You've been saying that for three years."
"Shut up."
"You shut me up every time I asked about Elena."
Grace stepped forward.
"What about Elena?"
Vivian looked at her.
"I didn't know they were going to kill her."
The church went silent.
Adrian stopped moving.
Damon whispered, "Vivian."
She ignored him.
"I thought they were trying to scare her."
Adrian's voice became almost inaudible.
"Who?"
"Richard."
"And?"
Vivian looked at Damon.
Damon closed his eyes.
Adrian felt his entire past fracture.
"You."
Damon shook his head.
"No."
Vivian continued.
"He told Richard where Elena would be that night."
"That's not true."
"He gave him her schedule."
"I didn't know what Vale was planning!"
Adrian attacked him.
Marcus barely stopped him.
"You killed her!"
"No!"
Damon struggled.
"I gave him information. That's all."
"That's all?"
"I thought he wanted the laptop!"
Vivian shouted, "He knew about the brakes!"
Damon stared at her.
"You bitch."
Adrian went still.
Damon realized.
"No."
Vivian's face crumpled.
"You told me after."
"That's not what happened."
"You said you could have stopped it."
"I was drunk!"
"You said Elena was dead because you chose the company over her."
Adrian's vision blurred.
His best friend.
At the funeral.
Holding Leo.
Telling Adrian it wasn't his fault.
All while carrying this secret.
His phone rang.
Everyone froze.
Unknown number.
Adrian answered.
A normal voice spoke this time.
Older.
Calm.
"Now you know enough."
"Richard."
Damon went pale.
Adrian continued.
"Where is Leo?"
"Safe."
"You touch him-"
"I have no intention of hurting my investment."
Adrian stared at the wall.
"What investment?"
Richard chuckled.
"You still haven't read the trust."
"It's missing."
"No. The copy is missing."
Adrian's heart pounded.
"The original was filed with Elena's attorney."
"What do you want?"
"A trade."
"What?"
"The laptop."
"For Leo?"
"And the prepaid phone."
Adrian looked at Grace.
"When?"
"Tomorrow night."
"No. Tonight."
Richard laughed.
"You don't negotiate very well when you're frightened."
"You have my child."
"Exactly."
Adrian closed his eyes.
"Let me speak to him."
A pause.
Then Leo's small voice came through.
"Daddy?"
Adrian almost broke.
"I'm here, buddy."
"Gace?"
Grace began crying.
"She's here too."
"I want home."
"I know. Daddy's coming."
The phone changed hands.
Richard returned.
"Tomorrow. Eight o'clock. You'll receive instructions."
The call ended.
Damon sat on the church floor.
Vivian leaned against the wall.
Grace looked at Adrian.
"We'll get him back."
Adrian stared at Damon.
"Yes."
His voice changed.
"But first, somebody is going to tell me what's inside that trust."
Damon looked away.
Vivian laughed softly.
"You really don't know?"
Adrian turned to her.
"Know what?"
She wiped tears from her face.
"Elena didn't leave Leo a few million dollars."
Adrian waited.
Vivian's eyes met his.
"She left him controlling ownership of Cole Development."
Damon cursed.
Vivian kept talking.
"On Leo's twenty-fifth birthday, he doesn't inherit part of your company."
She smiled bitterly.
"He inherits all of Elena's voting shares."
Adrian's heart stopped.
"And until then?"
Vivian looked at Damon.
"Whoever controls the trust can control those shares."
Grace whispered, "Richard doesn't want the money."
"No."
Vivian shook her head.
"He wants Adrian's company."
May you like
Outside, lightning lit the broken church windows.
And somewhere in the darkness, Leo was being held by a man who had spent fifteen years waiting to reclaim an empire he believed had been stolen from him.
