Chapter 4 - The Boy Who Spoke Her LanguageBen Morgan met Emily Lancaster at three-twenty in the morning.
There were twenty-eight of them.
Floor-to-ceiling glass along the back.
Tall French windows facing the garden.
A skylight over the staircase that filled the entire center of the home with natural light.
The architect had called the house open.
Sophia had called it peaceful.
At two o'clock in the morning, after Caleb Morgan told her someone might be trying to kill her, every window looked like a weakness.
"Take Emily upstairs," Caleb said the moment he arrived.
Sophia stared at him.
"You don't give orders in my house."
He looked through the glass doors toward the courtyard.
"Fine. Please take Emily upstairs while I determine whether anyone can see directly into this room."
Sophia folded her arms.
"Better."
Caleb almost smiled.
Almost.
Rosa appeared at the top of the stairs.
Emily stood beside her in pajamas, holding the stuffed fox she had carried since kindergarten.
Sophia's heart dropped.
She hadn't wanted her daughter awake.
Emily signed.
Who wants to hurt you?
Sophia looked at Caleb.
He looked guilty.
"You were signing downstairs," Sophia said.
Emily rolled her eyes.
The floor shakes when people walk. I knew someone came in.
Caleb lifted his hands.
No one knows exactly what happened yet.
Emily stared at him.
That is what adults say when something bad happened.
Caleb glanced at Sophia.
"She's good."
"Too good."
Emily descended the stairs.
Sophia met her halfway.
You are safe.
Emily's hands moved.
Are you?
Sophia couldn't answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
Emily's face tightened.
Caleb stepped closer.
My job is to help make sure both of you stay safe.
Emily studied him.
Is that why you were at the gala?
Yes.
Then why weren't you wearing a suit?
Caleb blinked.
Sophia covered her mouth.
He signed solemnly.
Because apparently I make poor wardrobe decisions.
Emily laughed.
The sound that came from her was soft and unformed, more breath than voice.
Sophia loved it more than any music in the world.
For a few seconds, fear loosened its grip.
Then Caleb's phone rang.
His face changed when he saw the number.
"Excuse me."
He walked toward the kitchen.
Sophia followed at a distance.
"Ben?"
Caleb's eyes snapped toward her.
"How do you know his name?"
"You told me."
He relaxed slightly.
"Right."
He answered.
"Hey, buddy."
Sophia couldn't hear the other side.
But she heard Caleb's voice soften.
"No, everything's fine."
Pause.
"I know it's late."
Pause.
"Mrs. Delgado is staying with you."
Another pause.
"Ben."
His tone shifted.
"What man?"
Sophia stopped walking.
Caleb's shoulders went rigid.
"When?"
Silence.
"Did you open the door?"
His knuckles whitened around the phone.
"Good. You did exactly right."
He listened.
"Lock the deadbolt. Don't go near the windows. I'm coming."
He ended the call.
Sophia was already reaching for her coat.
"What happened?"
"Someone knocked on my apartment door."
"At two in the morning?"
"Claimed he was delivering flowers."
Sophia stared at him.
"Flowers?"
"Ben saw him through the peephole. No flowers."
"You're going there."
"Yes."
"I'm coming."
"No."
"You just told me my house isn't safe."
"I also told you I have a son."
"And you think I'm going to stay here while whoever threatened him is outside your apartment?"
Caleb stepped closer.
"This is not a boardroom problem."
"No."
Sophia's voice went icy.
"It's my problem. Whoever did this contacted you because you helped my daughter."
"Which is exactly why you shouldn't come."
Sophia held his gaze.
He was six-foot-something and built like a man who had spent years carrying heavy things through difficult places.
Sophia had intimidated senators.
She wasn't impressed.
"Do you have another secure location for Ben?"
Caleb said nothing.
"I do."
He glanced toward Emily.
"You want to bring my son here?"
"I want to bring him somewhere protected."
"This house has too much glass."
"I own others."
That actually made him pause.
Sophia continued.
"Lancaster Meridian maintains an executive apartment in Lakeshore Tower. Twenty-four-hour security. Controlled elevators. Reinforced access. No public registry linking it to me."
Caleb studied her for a long moment.
"Why are you helping me?"
The question offended her.
"Because someone threatened your ten-year-old child."
"People in your world don't usually make decisions that simple."
"Then you've been meeting the wrong people."
His expression shifted.
Sophia saw the first crack in his suspicion.
"Fine," he said. "But you stay here until I get Ben."
"No."
"Sophia."
She pointed upstairs.
"My daughter watched a lighting fixture nearly crush us tonight. She believes someone is trying to hurt me. If you disappear to rescue your son and don't come back, she will blame herself."
Caleb looked toward the stairs.
Emily stood there.
Watching them.
He sighed.
"Your daughter reads faces better than most intelligence officers."
"She has to. People forget she can see them."
That sentence settled heavily between them.
Twenty minutes later, they were traveling through nearly empty Chicago streets in Sophia's armored SUV.
Sophia had insisted Emily stay with Rosa and two security officers.
Caleb had insisted on driving.
"You always this controlling?" he asked.
Sophia looked at him.
"You took my keys."
"You were checking three phones."
"I'm a CEO."
"Tonight you're a target."
She didn't like the word.
"Do you always talk to billionaires like this?"
"I've met three."
"And?"
"You're fourth."
"That wasn't an answer."
"None of you liked being told no."
Despite everything, Sophia laughed.
Caleb glanced at her.
It changed her face.
He noticed.
Sophia noticed him noticing.
She looked out the window.
"Tell me about Ben."
Caleb's grip shifted slightly on the wheel.
"Ten. Loves baseball. Hates mushrooms. Thinks any machine can be improved with duct tape."
"Sounds dangerous."
"He's terrifying."
"And his mother?"
Caleb's smile disappeared.
"Hannah was an elementary-school teacher."
"Was she born deaf?"
"Profoundly deaf. Deaf family. ASL was her first language."
Sophia hesitated.
"Emily lost most of her hearing after meningitis when she was eighteen months old."
Caleb nodded.
"Does she like her school?"
"She says yes."
"That isn't what I asked."
Sophia looked at him.
He continued.
"Does she like it?"
Sophia thought about the gala.
The children walking away.
The adults speaking to her instead of Emily.
"I don't know anymore."
Caleb said nothing.
That bothered her more than criticism would have.
His apartment building stood in Lincoln Square.
Modest.
Clean.
Caleb parked a block away.
"Wait here."
Sophia reached for the door.
He gave her a look.
She released the handle.
"Fine."
He disappeared inside.
Six minutes later he emerged with a boy wearing jeans, sneakers, and a Cubs hoodie over pajamas.
Ben carried a backpack.
His dark hair stuck up on one side.
When he saw Sophia through the windshield, he stopped.
Then signed something to Caleb.
Caleb answered.
Ben climbed into the back seat.
"Hi," he said aloud.
"Hi."
He looked at her carefully.
"Are you the billionaire?"
Caleb closed his eyes.
"Ben."
"What? You said she was."
Sophia smiled.
"I am."
Ben considered that.
"Do you have a helicopter?"
"No."
"Then what's the point?"
Caleb coughed to cover a laugh.
Sophia decided immediately that she liked him.
They had barely reached Lake Shore Drive when Caleb's phone buzzed.
Security supervisor.
This time he put it on speaker.
"Morgan, you need to know something."
"What?"
"Police pulled access logs from the ballroom."
Caleb looked at Sophia.
The supervisor continued.
"Someone used an executive credential to enter the service balcony at 9:09."
"Name."
Silence.
"Who?"
"The credential belongs to Sophia Lancaster."
Sophia went cold.
"That's impossible."
The supervisor recognized her voice.
"Ms. Lancaster?"
"I was onstage at 9:09."
"We know."
Caleb's eyes narrowed.
"Credential cloned?"
"Looks like it."
"Anything else?"
"Yeah."
A long pause.
"The same credential was used two months ago."
"Where?"
"Corporate archive level at Lancaster Meridian headquarters."
Sophia frowned.
"Why does that matter?"
The supervisor answered quietly.
"Because that's the night someone accessed the sealed files from your husband's death."
The car went silent.
Even Ben seemed to understand something had changed.
Sophia's husband, Daniel, had died six years earlier in what police ruled a single-vehicle accident.
A rain-slicked road.
A failed guardrail.
A car in the river.
Sophia had never questioned it.
Until now.
"What files?" Caleb asked.
Sophia barely heard herself answer.
"The internal investigation."
Caleb looked at her.
"There was an investigation?"
"My company investigated because Daniel was chief legal officer."
"And what did they find?"
Sophia stared through the windshield at the city lights.
"The report said there was no evidence of foul play."
Caleb's voice became very quiet.
"Who signed the report?"
May you like
Sophia knew before she said it.
"Victor Hale."
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