Chapter 5 - The Night My Daughters Disappeared
By the time I reached the secure house, the front door was open.
Three guards were down.
Not dead.
Sedated.
Hector was on the floor.
Alive.
The girls were gone.
I had spent years believing there was no force in Los Angeles powerful enough to break through my security.
Now I was staring at an empty bedroom.
Sofia's stuffed rabbit lay on the floor.
Valeria's pink backpack was gone.
I picked up the rabbit.
For one second, I couldn't breathe.
Then the old part of me—the man who had survived every war he had ever entered—took control.
“Lock every road.”
My security team moved.
“Find the cars.”
We found one abandoned vehicle thirty minutes later.
No girls.
No captors.
No clues.
Only a note.
ALEXANDER.
COME ALONE.
OR THEY DIE.
Beneath it was a location.
An old theater.
Chloe looked at the note.
“This is Meridian.”
“How do you know?”
“My father used it.”
I looked at her.
“You're coming.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“You're the only person who knows their habits.”
She nodded.
“That's why I'll come.”
We drove in silence.
At the theater, hundreds of empty seats disappeared into darkness.
A single light shone over the stage.
Valeria stood beneath it.
Sofia sat beside her.
They were frightened.
But alive.
A man stepped from behind the curtain.
Gideon Vale.
Chloe's father.
He looked at me.
“Alexander.”
“You wanted me.”
“I wanted what belongs to me.”
“My daughters belong to no one.”
He smiled.
“They are leverage.”
I took one step forward.
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“I don't have it.”
He looked at Chloe.
“She does.”
Chloe went pale.
I turned toward her.
“What?”
“I don't.”
Gideon laughed.
“She knows where Daniel hid it.”
I looked at Chloe.
“Do you?”
She swallowed.
Then nodded.
“Yes.”
My heart sank.
“Where?”
“Under the old Vance chapel.”
I stared.
“Our family chapel?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because my father would have killed us.”
Gideon raised a weapon.
“Good.”
Before he could move, the lights exploded.
Gunfire erupted.
My team stormed the theater.
I reached the girls.
Valeria grabbed my hand.
“Daddy!”
I pulled both of them behind cover.
Sofia was crying.
“I'm here.”
Hector arrived.
“We have them.”
“Get them out.”
He took the girls.
I turned.
Chloe was standing alone.
Gideon had disappeared.
She looked at me.
“Go.”
“What?”
“Go after your daughters.”
She handed me her phone.
“I'll find my father.”
“You can't.”
“He'll expect me.”
I grabbed her wrist.
“You're not doing this alone.”
She looked at me.
“Why?”
Because despite everything, I didn't want another person to die because of the world I had inherited.
I released her.
“Because your father took my family.”
She nodded.
We escaped.
The following morning, we searched the chapel.
Beneath the altar, we found a metal box.
Inside was the ledger.
Not names.
Videos.
Recordings.
Photographs.
Evidence.
Including footage of my father.
My brother.
My wife.
And Chloe.
But one video stopped me.
Elena sat in a room.
Pregnant.
I stared.
She was speaking to Daniel.
“I know what they intend to do.”
Daniel answered:
“We have to get the girls away.”
Elena touched her stomach.
“They can't know.”
I froze.
Pregnant.
The recording had been made months before Sofia was born.
Then Elena said:
“There is another child.”
My breath stopped.
I looked at Marisol.
She looked away.
“What other child?”
Marisol began to cry.
“I didn't want you to know until we knew it was safe.”
“What child?”
May you like
She whispered:
“Your son.”
