Chapter 6 - The Woman Inside the Penthouse
Nora’s scream echoed through the tunnel.
Elias took the phone from her and examined the image.
“That photograph was taken inside the penthouse.”
“We left guards there.”
“Then someone passed them.”
Nora called Mrs. Ellis.
No answer.
She called again.
Nothing.
Emily studied the picture.
“The syringe is theater.”
“What?”
“The cap is still on.”
Nora enlarged the image.
Emily was right.
The needle was covered.
“That doesn’t mean Mia is safe.”
“No,” Emily said. “It means the person wants you frightened enough to move without thinking.”
Nora was already running toward the tunnel exit.
Elias caught her arm.
“If you go alone, Garrett controls the situation.”
“He has my child.”
“He wants you to believe that.”
Another message arrived.
This one contained an audio file.
Garrett’s voice played through the phone.
“Nora, come to the townhouse. No police. No Elias. Bring the bracelet and the drive from the clinic. You have forty minutes.”
Nora listened again.
Behind Garrett’s voice was the faint chiming of a clock.
She recognized it.
The antique French clock in Beatrice’s sitting room.
“He’s at the townhouse.”
“Then who is with Mia?” Elias asked.
Nora called the penthouse security desk.
A guard answered on the first ring.
“Mrs. Whitcomb, everything is secure.”
“Put Mrs. Ellis on.”
“She is in the kitchen.”
“And Mia?”
“Sleeping on the sofa.”
“Is anyone else there?”
“No.”
Nora did not believe him.
“Describe Mia’s blanket.”
The guard hesitated.
“Ma’am?”
“Describe it.”
“I’m not sure.”
He had never seen her.
Nora ended the call.
“The security line was rerouted.”
Elias ordered another team to the penthouse.
They emerged from the tunnel into an abandoned warehouse several blocks from the clinic. A vehicle waited, driven by one of Elias’s men.
The trip back to the city took thirty minutes.
Nora spent every second imagining Mia alone.
When they reached the penthouse building, the lobby appeared calm.
Too calm.
Elias’s team took the service elevator while Nora, Emily, and two guards used the stairs.
They entered through the kitchen.
Mrs. Ellis lay unconscious near the pantry.
Nora rushed to her.
She was breathing.
A small puncture marked her neck.
Mia was gone.
On the sofa lay the stuffed rabbit.
Nora picked it up.
One ear had been cut open.
Inside was a tracking device.
Emily crouched beside it.
“Garrett has been monitoring her for longer than tonight.”
Nora’s hands shook.
A phone began ringing beneath the couch.
It was not hers.
She found a prepaid cell taped to the underside of the frame.
Garrett’s voice came through when she answered.
“You should have followed instructions.”
“Where is Mia?”
“Safe.”
“Let me speak to her.”
“You lost the right to make demands when you involved Elias.”
“I will give you the bracelet.”
“And the drive.”
“Yes.”
Emily looked at Nora sharply.
Garrett continued.
“Come to the townhouse in twenty minutes.”
“I need proof she is alive.”
A pause.
Then Mia’s voice came through.
“Mommy?”
Nora nearly collapsed.
“I’m here, baby.”
“I’m scared.”
“Are you hurt?”
“My mouth hurts.”
“Who is with you?”
“Daddy and Grandma.”
Nora closed her eyes.
Garrett returned to the phone.
“Twenty minutes.”
The call ended.
Elias took the prepaid device.
“You cannot go.”
“I have no choice.”
“We can surround the townhouse.”
“And if Beatrice hurts Mia?”
Emily paced beside the windows.
“They will not harm her yet. They need her for the procedure.”
Nora rounded on her.
“That does not make me feel better.”
“It should make you strategic.”
Nora looked at her twin.
“You survived these people. Tell me how they think.”
Emily’s expression hardened.
“Beatrice believes blood is property. Garrett believes every betrayal can be negotiated. Sloan believes proximity to power makes her untouchable.”
“And what do they fear?”
“Exposure.”
Nora looked at Elias.
“Can we broadcast the files?”
“Yes, but verification will take time.”
“I don’t have time.”
“You have the recording from the foyer,” Emily said.
Nora touched the bracelet.
“It captured Sloan hitting Mia?”
“The microphone would have captured the impact, your daughter crying, and every statement afterward.”
“But not video.”
“The ballroom was full of guests holding phones,” Mrs. Ellis whispered.
Nora turned.
The housekeeper had regained consciousness.
“One of the waiters recorded everything,” she said weakly. “His name is Mateo. Garrett’s security took his phone, but he uploaded the video first.”
“Where?”
“To the staff cloud account.”
Elias’s analysts accessed it within minutes.
The video was clear.
Sloan’s hand struck Mia.
Mia hit the wall.
Her teeth landed on the floor.
Garrett said, “Please don’t make a scene.”
Beatrice called the teeth unimportant because they were temporary.
It was enough to destroy reputations.
But Nora needed more than revenge.
She needed her child.
They created a plan.
Nora would enter the townhouse wearing the bracelet. Elias’s team would remain nearby. Emily would pose as Nora in a second vehicle and create confusion if necessary.
“You think we look that much alike?” Nora asked.
“In dim light, from a distance, yes.”
Nora gave Elias the clinic drive but kept a duplicate copy hidden inside her shoe.
At the townhouse, the gala had ended.
The ballroom was empty.
Broken glasses and abandoned programs littered the floor.
Garrett waited in the foyer.
Sloan stood beside him wearing a different dress.
Beatrice sat in a chair near the staircase, pale but composed.
Mia was nowhere in sight.
“Where is she?” Nora demanded.
Garrett held out his hand.
“The bracelet.”
“Let me see my daughter.”
“First the device.”
Nora removed the black bracelet.
Before giving it to him, she pressed the clasp.
Recording active.
She placed it in his palm.
“The drive.”
She handed him the original.
Beatrice’s shoulders relaxed.
“Now Mia.”
Garrett looked toward the staircase.
A guard brought Mia down.
Her wrists were not tied, but fear had made her rigid.
Nora rushed forward.
Sloan blocked her.
“Not yet.”
Nora stared at her.
“You should have run while you could.”
Sloan smiled.
“From you?”
“From the video.”
The smile disappeared.
Garrett frowned.
“What video?”
Nora looked toward the ballroom screens.
They flickered to life.
The footage of Sloan hitting Mia began playing.
The sound filled the empty mansion.
The slap.
The teeth.
Mia’s cry.
Garrett’s warning not to make a scene.
Beatrice’s laughter.
Sloan turned white.
Garrett spun toward the control booth.
“What did you do?”
Nora stepped closer.
“I stopped asking your permission.”
Outside, sirens approached.
Garrett grabbed Mia and pulled her against him.
Nora froze.
“Let her go.”
“You called the police?”
“Not the police.”
The front doors opened.
Federal agents entered wearing tactical vests.
At their front stood a woman with a badge held high.
“Garrett Whitcomb, release the child.”
Garrett tightened his hold.
Judge Malcolm Avery emerged from the hallway behind Beatrice.
He carried a gun.
“Everyone stay where you are.”
The agents raised their weapons.
Mia screamed.
Avery pressed the gun against Nora’s back.
“You always were the loose end,” he whispered.
Then a second Nora appeared at the top of the staircase.
Emily looked down at them.
May you like
Avery’s face twisted in shock.
For the first time in his long career of controlling evidence, Judge Malcolm Avery no longer knew which woman he was supposed to kill.
