Chapter 11 - The Four SecondsClaire had never been in a physical fight in her life.
Detective Ortiz thought it was dangerous.
Claire thought both men needed to stop repeating themselves.
Vanessa had taken a newborn baby named Emma Ruiz, born only seven hours earlier to a young couple from Queens.
The child had mild respiratory complications.
She needed medical monitoring.
Time mattered.
Vanessa couldn’t simply disappear.
She needed supplies.
Transportation.
Documents.
And emotional validation.
Claire understood the last part.
Vanessa had spent more than a year trying to force Claire to acknowledge her as a rival.
So Claire sent a message to the number Vanessa had used before.
You won.
Nothing happened for eleven minutes.
Then the phone rang.
Ortiz recorded.
Claire answered.
“Vanessa?”
A soft laugh.
“Where is Alexander?”
Claire looked at him.
Beside her.
Holding their daughter.
“Taking care of our baby.”
Silence.
Claire continued.
“You wanted me to admit it.”
“Admit what?”
“That you beat me.”
Alexander’s jaw tightened.
Claire ignored him.
Vanessa breathed slowly.
“I told you that you were temporary.”
“You were right.”
Alexander stared at Claire like she had lost her mind.
She squeezed his hand.
Vanessa’s voice softened.
“Finally.”
Claire swallowed her disgust.
“What happens now?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“Whether you’re ready to walk away.”
Claire looked at Ortiz.
The trace was active.
Keep going.
Claire whispered:
“If I leave Alexander, will you return the baby?”
Vanessa laughed.
“You care about someone else’s child now?”
“You wanted a baby.”
“No.”
Vanessa’s voice became dreamy.
“I wanted what the baby represents.”
Claire felt sick.
“A family?”
“A place no one could take from me.”
The trace narrowed.
Manhattan.
Then Brooklyn.
Moving.
Vanessa was in a vehicle.
Claire said:
“You still don’t have Alexander.”
A pause.
“He’ll come.”
“No.”
Claire needed to anger her.
“He hates you.”
Vanessa’s breathing changed.
“You don’t know him.”
“I know him better than you ever will.”
“Stop.”
“He chose me at the hospital.”
“Stop.”
“He stayed with me while you ran.”
“SHUT UP!”
Claire flinched.
Ortiz gestured.
Good.
Vanessa screamed into the phone.
“He was supposed to come after me!”
There it was.
The truth.
The entire hospital attack.
The disappearance.
The baby theft.
Every spectacle had been designed to make Alexander chase her.
And every time, he chose Claire.
Vanessa couldn’t tolerate it.
Claire lowered her voice.
“He never will.”
Vanessa became quiet.
Then she said:
“Come tell me yourself.”
Claire’s heart stopped.
“Where?”
“You want the baby?”
“Yes.”
“Come alone.”
Alexander immediately shook his head.
Claire ignored him.
“Where?”
Vanessa named an abandoned ferry terminal in Red Hook.
Ortiz wrote it down.
“You have thirty minutes.”
The line disconnected.
“No,” Alexander said immediately.
Claire looked at him.
“She has a newborn.”
“You gave birth three hours ago.”
“We send police.”
“She’ll see them.”
Ortiz intervened.
“We’re not sending Claire.”
“Then Vanessa runs.”
“She’s not walking into an abandoned terminal.”
Claire looked at her daughter.
Then at Alexander.
“She expects me weak.”
“You are weak.”
“Thank you.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes.”
Claire touched his injured hand.
“But I also know Vanessa.”
Eventually, Ortiz devised a compromise.
Claire would go.
But not alone.
A tracking device would be hidden in her clothing.
Snipers positioned outside.
Alexander would remain in a nearby command vehicle.
Claire arrived at the terminal in a wheelchair because standing still made her dizzy.
She hated the image.
Vanessa would love it.
The building smelled like rust and seawater.
Claire pushed herself upright.
“Vanessa?”
A baby cried somewhere in the darkness.
Claire’s entire body tensed.
“Emma?”
A figure appeared.
Vanessa.
Her hair had been dyed dark brown.
She wore Claire’s style of clothing.
Even Claire’s perfume.
And in her arms was the missing newborn.
Claire felt rage.
“Give her to me.”
Vanessa smiled.
“You look terrible.”
“I gave birth today.”
“I know.”
Claire realized Vanessa truly had been watching everything.
“Emma needs a doctor.”
“She’s fine.”
“She was born with breathing problems.”
Vanessa looked down.
For the first time, uncertainty appeared.
Claire used it.
“You don’t know how to care for her.”
“I can learn.”
“Babies aren’t costumes.”
Vanessa’s face tightened.
Claire stepped closer.
“Give me Emma.”
“You always think you deserve everything.”
“No. I think she deserves her mother.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“I could be her mother.”
“No.”
Claire softened her voice.
“You don’t want to be.”
Vanessa stared at her.
“You want people to look at you and finally believe you matter.”
Vanessa’s face twisted.
“Stop talking.”
Claire took another step.
The baby cried harder.
“Give her to me.”
Vanessa suddenly reached into her coat.
A gun appeared.
Snipers outside lost their line of sight.
Alexander saw the weapon through Claire’s body camera.
He opened the command vehicle door.
Ortiz grabbed him.
“Stay here.”
“That’s my wife.”
“She has a gun.”
“Exactly.”
Inside, Claire stopped moving.
Vanessa pointed the gun at her.
“You should have disappeared when I gave you the chance.”
Claire looked at the newborn.
Then at Vanessa.
“You won’t shoot me.”
Vanessa smiled.
“Why?”
“Because then Alexander will hate you forever.”
The gun trembled.
Claire knew she was right.
Vanessa knew it too.
May you like
And for one precious second, Vanessa looked away.
Claire lunged.
