CHAPTER 5 – THE CHASE THROUGH THE STORM
CHAPTER 5 – THE CHASE THROUGH THE STORM
The shrill alarm from Emma's room echoed through the pediatric wing.
"She's seizing!"
Three nurses rushed inside as Dr. Lang barked orders.
"Increase oxygen!"
"Push the medication!"
"Get another IV line in now!"
Sadie bolted toward the room.
"Emma!"
Before she could reach the bed, Ethan caught her in his arms.
"No, sweetheart."
"But she needs me!"
"I know."
His voice cracked.
"I know she does."
Sadie struggled for a moment before collapsing against his chest.
"She cries less when I hold her."
Ethan closed his eyes.
A seven-year-old shouldn't know things like that.
She shouldn't know how to comfort a feverish baby.
She shouldn't know how to count diapers.
She shouldn't know which shelters served free soup on Tuesdays.
Yet somehow...
she did.
Meanwhile...
Security finally realized Richard Hale had vanished.
"He went through the south stairwell!"
Two guards sprinted after him.
Ethan handed Sadie to Mara.
"Stay with her."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm ending this."
Without another word, Ethan ran.
Richard knew the hospital remarkably well.
Instead of heading toward the main entrance, he disappeared into the employee corridors, weaving through service elevators and maintenance hallways.
Outside, rain pounded the parking garage.
A black SUV idled near the exit.
The rear door flew open.
"Hurry!"
Richard climbed inside.
The driver slammed the accelerator.
But before the SUV could escape—
Headlights suddenly flooded the ramp.
A silver Mercedes blocked the exit.
Ethan stepped into the rain.
His suit was soaked within seconds.
"You've been running for fifteen years."
"You're done."
Richard rolled down the window.
"You still think this is about revenge."
"It isn't."
"It's about Lily."
Richard smiled.
"No."
"It's about something she took."
Ethan's jaw tightened.
"What did she take?"
Richard leaned out the window.
"Ask yourself why I hunted a single waitress for seven years."
"Money?"
"I already had plenty."
"Then what?"
Richard chuckled.
"You'll find out soon enough."
Without warning, he pulled a small canister from his coat and sprayed pepper gel directly into Ethan's face.
Pain exploded through Ethan's eyes.
He staggered backward.
The SUV shot forward, smashing through the security barrier and disappearing into the rain.
Moments later, police cruisers screamed into the parking garage.
A pursuit began across the flooded streets of St. Louis.
Back inside the hospital...
Emma's seizure finally stopped.
Dr. Lang exhaled in relief.
"Temperature is coming down."
"She's responding."
Denise carefully adjusted the baby's blanket.
As she lifted Emma's sleeve...
she froze.
A dark bruise circled the baby's tiny upper arm.
Not from an IV.
Not from a fall.
It looked exactly like fingerprints.
Adult fingerprints.
Denise slowly looked at Mara.
"This child has been grabbed."
Hard.
More bruises appeared beneath Emma's collarbone.
Then another near her ribs.
Mara's face turned pale.
"Call Child Protective Services."
"And notify homicide."
Denise frowned.
"Homicide?"
"If Lily died protecting these girls..."
Mara whispered,
"Then someone tried to hurt them too."
Two hours later...
Ethan returned to the hospital.
His eyes were red from the pepper spray.
The police had recovered Richard's abandoned SUV nearly eight miles away.
Richard himself was gone.
But inside the vehicle investigators found something unexpected.
A disposable cellphone.
An old motel receipt.
And a photograph.
Ethan stared at it in disbelief.
It showed Lily pushing a stroller outside a church.
She looked exhausted.
She kept glancing over her shoulder.
Someone had clearly taken the picture without her knowledge.
The date printed on the back was only three months before her death.
Someone had been watching Lily.
For years.
Late that night...
Ethan quietly entered Emma's room.
Sadie had fallen asleep sitting upright beside the crib.
One tiny hand rested on Emma's blanket.
Even in sleep...
she refused to let go of her sister.
Ethan pulled a chair beside them.
For the first time in his life...
the billionaire who had built one of Missouri's largest corporations cried without trying to hide it.
Not because he had lost money.
Not because Richard had escaped.
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But because while he had been building an empire...
his seven-year-old daughter had been forced to become a mother.
