Chapter 4 - The Woman in the Locked Stairwell
Darkness swallowed the hospital.
Elena heard nurses shout.
Monitors beeped.
Someone dropped a metal tray.
The baby cried.
Adrian moved instantly.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
She stood.
“I’m not letting you disappear again.”
He stared at her.
She grabbed Lucia.
Adrian pulled a flashlight from his pocket.
“You're coming with me.”
The emergency lights flickered red.
Marcus appeared in the doorway.
“Power failure is isolated to this floor.”
“Which means deliberate,” Adrian said.
Marcus nodded.
“We have movement in the stairwell.”
Adrian looked at Elena.
“Stay between us.”
They moved.
The corridor was empty.
Too empty.
Then a sound came from the stairwell.
Footsteps.
Adrian raised his weapon.
“Stop.”
A woman stepped into view.
Nurse uniform.
Hands raised.
Adrian frowned.
“Identify yourself.”
“Sarah Lin.”
Marcus checked his phone.
“She's listed.”
Elena's instincts screamed.
“Don't.”
Everyone looked at her.
Sarah smiled.
“I work here.”
Elena stared.
“The badge.”
Sarah looked down.
“What?”
“Your badge.”
Sarah froze.
The name was printed correctly.
But Mercy Ridge used blue identification cards.
Sarah’s was white.
Adrian understood immediately.
“Down.”
He shoved Elena behind the wall.
A bullet shattered the glass beside them.
Marcus returned fire.
Sarah ran.
The corridor exploded into movement.
Adrian grabbed Elena.
“Basement.”
“We're not going to the basement.”
“Why?”
“Because that's where they expect us.”
He looked at her.
She pointed toward a service corridor.
“The old records room.”
“You know this hospital?”
“I researched delivery plans.”
“Of course you did.”
They ran.
Lucia cried against Elena's chest.
Adrian stayed beside them.
For the first time since leaving him, Elena felt what it was like to trust someone beside her without constantly looking over her shoulder.
Then a door opened.
A man grabbed Elena.
She screamed.
Adrian moved faster.
He slammed the attacker into the wall.
The man's gun fell.
Marcus secured him.
“Who sent you?”
The man spit blood.
“Voss.”
Adrian's eyes darkened.
“Where is he?”
The man smiled.
“You're already too late.”
Adrian punched him.
Elena grabbed his arm.
“No.”
Adrian stopped.
That one word from Elena still had power over him.
He looked at her.
She shook her head.
“This isn't you.”
“It is when someone threatens you.”
“Then become someone better.”
He stared.
She held his gaze.
“Someone my daughter can be proud of.”
Adrian's anger softened.
“My daughter.”
Elena looked away.
The words still hurt.
They reached the records room.
Inside were boxes.
Old charts.
Dust.
A locked filing cabinet.
Elena remembered something.
“My obstetrician gave me a duplicate file.”
“Why?”
“Insurance records.”
She searched.
Found a folder.
Inside was a report.
The first ultrasound.
The estimated conception date.
Adrian looked at it.
Then at Elena.
“March seventeenth.”
“Yes.”
“That was the last night we were together.”
Elena nodded.
His face changed.
The realization was no longer theoretical.
He was the father.
No doubt.
No ambiguity.
The baby was his.
Lucia was his.
He touched the photograph.
His thumb stopped over the grainy image of a tiny shape on the screen.
“You saw this.”
“Yes.”
“And I missed it.”
Elena swallowed.
“Yes.”
He whispered, “I'm sorry.”
The word was so simple.
So inadequate.
Elena nodded.
“I know.”
A noise came from the hallway.
Marcus opened the door.
“We have a bigger problem.”
“What?”
He held up a phone.
“Someone accessed the hospital's patient database using an internal administrator account.”
Elena’s face went pale.
“My records.”
“Yes.”
“Which means?”
“Dario knows the baby's name.”
Adrian’s expression turned lethal.
“Get them out.”
They rushed through a back corridor.
Outside the hospital, rain hammered the parking lot.
Several black SUVs waited.
Adrian opened the rear door.
Elena climbed in.
Then stopped.
“Where are we going?”
“My house.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“I won't stay in a fortress.”
“It's the safest place.”
“Safe isn't the same as free.”
Adrian looked at her.
She was right.
“You choose.”
She hesitated.
“The bookstore.”
He almost smiled.
“Of course.”
Crossroads Books had once been their first meeting place.
Now it would become their battlefield.
They drove through Philadelphia while police vehicles moved around them.
Halfway there, Elena looked down at Lucia.
“I named her Lucia because it means light.”
Adrian stared.
“Why?”
“Because when everything was dark, she was the one thing I could still see.”
Adrian looked away.
He needed a moment.
When they reached the bookstore, Maya was waiting.
She opened the door.
Then saw Adrian.
Her face hardened.
“You.”
Adrian nodded.
“Maya.”
“You broke her heart.”
“Yes.”
“You disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“You let her think she was alone.”
“Yes.”
Maya crossed her arms.
“You better have a damn good reason.”
Adrian looked at Elena.
“I do.”
Maya stepped aside.
Inside the bookstore, the lights were warm.
Shelves lined with stories.
The smell of old paper.
The place where Elena had met Adrian.
The place where he had lost her.
Elena laid Lucia in a makeshift crib.
Then she opened the ledger.
“We end this.”
Adrian stood beside her.
“Yes.”
Maya looked between them.
“Then let's find out who betrayed all of you.”
Elena turned the first page.
A list of shell companies.
A list of payments.
And one final name.
Not Dario Voss.
Not Adrian Moretti.
Maya's face drained.
“What?”
May you like
Elena looked at her.
“Why is your name here?”
