Chapter 6 - THE GRANDFATHER WHO WASN’T DEAD
I reached the hospital in seventeen minutes.
Rebecca told me afterward that I ran three red lights.
I didn’t remember any of them.
The pediatric floor was locked down.
Two security officers stood beside Leo’s room.
When I entered, he was sitting upright watching cartoons.
My heart slowed slightly.
“Mommy!”
He reached for me.
That alone felt like a miracle.
I hugged him.
“Did a man come in here?”
Leo nodded.
My body stiffened.
“Did he talk to you?”
“Yes.”
“Was he scary?”
Leo shook his head.
“Old.”
Despite everything, Rebecca almost smiled.
“What did he say?”
Leo thought carefully.
“He say Mommy eyes.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“He say I got Mommy eyes.”
I swallowed.
My father used to tell me I had my mother’s eyes.
Maybe he saw hers in Leo.
“Did he touch you?”
Leo nodded.
My stomach dropped.
“Where?”
Leo pointed toward his hair.
“He do this.”
He gently rubbed the top of his head.
“Then what?”
“He cry.”
I sat down.
My father had stood in this room.
Alive.
Close enough to touch my child.
And still he had left.
Rebecca spoke to security.
Cameras showed him entering at 6:14 p.m.
Baseball cap.
Dark coat.
No disguise beyond that.
He approached the desk, gave his real name, and asked for me.
When told I was away, he asked whether Leo was alone.
The nurse escorted him inside after he claimed to be my father.
That failure would be addressed later.
He stayed four minutes.
Then walked away.
No one saw what vehicle he entered.
Samuel reviewed the footage.
“He wanted you to know he was here.”
“Then why leave?”
“Maybe he saw someone.”
We checked the video again.
At 6:18, my father exited Leo’s room.
He started toward the elevator.
Then stopped.
His entire posture changed.
He turned the opposite direction and disappeared into a stairwell.
Twenty seconds later, another man entered frame.
Black coat.
Dark baseball cap.
Broad shoulders.
He looked toward Leo’s room.
Then followed my father.
Samuel froze the image.
“I know him.”
“Who?”
He zoomed in.
“Marcus Vale.”
Rebecca’s expression darkened.
“Who is Marcus Vale?”
“Former federal contractor. Private intelligence. Security consulting.”
“And?”
“Rumored to handle problems for corporations.”
“What kind of problems?”
Samuel looked at me.
“The kind that don’t end up in court.”
My skin chilled.
“Dominic?”
“Maybe.”
We pulled Dominic’s company records.
Marcus Vale had been paid through Sterling Global.
Officially, “risk consulting.”
Over six hundred thousand dollars in eighteen months.
My father wasn’t hiding only because of an old investigation.
Dominic had someone searching for him.
Why?
Rebecca found the answer on Grayson’s flash drive.
A recorded conversation.
Dominic and Brooke.
Three months earlier.
Dominic’s voice came through clearly.
“If Arthur comes back, everything changes.”
Brooke replied, “You said he was dead.”
“I said Clara thinks he’s dead.”
“So you knew?”
“My mother knew.”
I stopped the recording.
“Victoria knew my father was alive?”
Rebecca stared at the laptop.
“Apparently.”
I pressed play.
Brooke: “Why would Victoria know?”
Dominic: “Because she helped identify the body.”
I felt physically sick.
Victoria.
My mother-in-law.
She had been beside me at the funeral.
She held my hand.
She told me my father would want me to move forward.
Three weeks later, she encouraged Dominic and me not to postpone the wedding.
The recording continued.
Brooke: “Whose body did Clara bury?”
Dominic: “I don’t know.”
Brooke: “That’s insane.”
Dominic: “It doesn’t matter.”
I paused again.
“It matters.”
Samuel leaned forward.
“Keep listening.”
Dominic’s voice returned.
“Arthur was supposed to disappear permanently.”
Brooke: “Supposed to?”
Dominic: “Mother said he had enemies. She helped them convince him Clara would be safer if he vanished.”
Brooke: “And now?”
Dominic: “Now he wants the company.”
Brooke laughed.
“The company is yours.”
“No. Clara doesn’t know it, but Arthur structured the original capital.”
My head snapped toward Rebecca.
“What?”
She was equally surprised.
Dominic continued.
“If Arthur proves the initial funds came from the Sterling family trust, Clara could claim the controlling shares.”
Brooke: “How much?”
Dominic: “Fifty-one percent.”
I stopped breathing.
Rebecca whispered.
“That’s why they needed the competency petition.”
Everything aligned.
The stolen laptop.
The forged guarantees.
My prolonged absence.
The narrative that I was unstable.
If I were declared incompetent, Dominic could control my assets.
Including Pacific Meridian.
Possibly the controlling interest in Sterling Global.
I looked at Rebecca.
“How much do I own?”
“We need corporate records.”
“Find out.”
Samuel’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression became serious.
“When?”
He looked at me.
“Where?”
He ended the call.
“What happened?”
“Police went back to the house.”
“Why?”
“To arrest Victoria.”
“For child abuse?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She’s gone.”
My stomach tightened.
“Gone where?”
“No one knows.”
“What about Dominic?”
“He says she left before he woke up.”
I laughed bitterly.
“He expects us to believe that?”
“Probably not.”
Another message arrived.
Samuel read it.
Then looked at me.
“Dominic’s gone too.”
Rebecca cursed.
“Brooke?”
“Released pending investigation. Officers went to her apartment.”
“And?”
“Empty.”
Three adults.
All disappeared within hours.
This wasn’t panic.
It was coordinated.
My father had appeared.
Marcus Vale had followed him.
Dominic, Victoria, and Brooke had vanished.
And for the first time, I understood that what happened to Leo was one piece of something much larger.
Then my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A photograph arrived.
My father.
Alive.
Sitting in a chair.
Hands bound.
Blood on his temple.
A message followed.
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN SINGAPORE.
I stared at it.
Then another message appeared.
BRING THE PACIFIC MERIDIAN OWNERSHIP DOCUMENTS.
May you like
COME ALONE.
OR YOU BURY YOUR FATHER TWICE.
