Chapter 4 - THE HOUSE UNDER SIEGE Daniel had built his home to feel open.
Glass walls.
Wide hallways.
Sunlight.
Views of the ocean.
That morning, every window felt like a weakness.
“Safe room,” Marcus ordered.
Claire grabbed Sophie.
Daniel followed.
Sophie woke fully when she heard the urgency in their voices.
“Daddy?”
“I’m here.”
“Are bad people coming?”
Daniel refused to lie.
“Yes.”
Her face changed.
“Because of Mommy?”
Daniel stopped.
He crouched.
“We’re going to talk about Mommy soon.”
“Is she alive?”
The question nearly destroyed him.
He looked at Claire.
Then Marcus.
Then his daughter.
“Yes.”
Sophie stared.
Daniel expected tears.
Instead she whispered:
“I knew it.”
Then she began sobbing.
Daniel pulled her against him.
“I knew she wouldn’t leave me.”
“No.”
He held her tighter.
“She never left you.”
A crash sounded downstairs.
Marcus drew his weapon.
“Move.”
They entered the reinforced safe room behind Daniel’s study.
Marcus remained outside.
Daniel grabbed his arm.
“You’re coming in.”
“I need to secure the corridor.”
“Marcus.”
“I failed Rachel once.”
Daniel stared.
“You kept her secret because she asked you to.”
“And Sophie almost died.”
“That wasn’t your fault.”
Marcus looked toward the hall.
“Maybe not.”
Then at Daniel.
“But this is my job.”
The door closed.
Daniel watched security feeds.
Three masked men entered downstairs.
Professional.
Controlled.
They didn’t steal.
They searched.
One went directly to Daniel’s office.
Another upstairs.
The third toward the pool terrace.
They knew the house.
Daniel realized what they wanted.
Rachel’s evidence.
But it wasn’t there.
Reed had it.
Then one intruder stopped.
He looked directly into a security camera.
Removed his mask.
Daniel froze.
Thomas Vane.
Chief financial officer of the Cole Foundation.
A man Daniel had known for twelve years.
Thomas smiled at the camera.
Then held up a phone.
Daniel’s phone rang.
He answered.
“Thomas.”
“Daniel.”
“You picked the wrong house.”
“No.”
Thomas looked into the camera.
“You picked the wrong wife.”
Daniel’s anger sharpened.
“Where is Rachel?”
Thomas smiled.
“Still alive?”
Daniel realized Thomas didn’t know.
That mattered.
Adrian had protected the location even from Orpheus’s compromised members.
“You don’t know,” Daniel said.
Thomas’s smile faded.
Daniel continued.
“You’ve been looking for her too.”
Silence.
Now Daniel understood the entire attack.
They were not coming to kill him.
They believed Rachel had contacted him.
They wanted the location.
Daniel smiled for the first time.
“You’re scared.”
Thomas looked toward the camera.
“Careful.”
“No.”
Daniel’s voice became calm.
“You’re terrified.”
Sirens sounded outside.
Thomas turned.
Reed had anticipated the attack.
Police flooded the estate.
The intruders fled.
Two were captured.
Thomas escaped through the rear grounds.
But he left something behind.
A phone.
On it—
coordinates.
Not Rachel’s location.
A meeting point.
And one scheduled message.
V.S. — MIDNIGHT — FINISH THE CHILD PROBLEM.
Daniel stared.
V.S.
Vanessa Sterling.
She had not escaped from custody by accident.
She had been extracted.
And somebody still expected her to finish what she started at the pool.
Daniel looked toward Sophie.
May you like
That would never happen.
Not again.
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