CHAPTER 7 — THE CHILD THEY TRIED TO USE
CHAPTER 7 — THE CHILD THEY TRIED TO USE
Daniel was already in his car before the call connected.
"Maya."
She answered on the second ring, her voice thick with exhaustion.
"Daniel?"
"Is Noah with you?"
Silence.
Then immediate panic.
"Why?"
"Answer me."
"He's asleep."
"Go check."
The urgency in his voice sent her running.
Daniel listened to pounding footsteps through the phone.
A bedroom door flew open.
Then...
A relieved sob.
"He's here."
Daniel closed his eyes.
"Thank God."
"What happened?"
"I'll explain when I get there."
Twenty minutes later, Daniel stood inside Maya's tiny apartment for the first time.
Nothing about it resembled the world he lived in.
The wallpaper was peeling.
The heater rattled.
The dining table had been repaired more than once.
Yet the home felt warmer than his mansion ever had.
Noah wandered into the living room rubbing his eyes, clutching his beloved green dinosaur.
Daniel froze.
It was the toy he had seen in the stranger's hand.
Except...
this one had the same missing button eye, the same stitched patch on its tail.
The stranger hadn't stolen Noah's toy.
He had been holding an identical one.
A deliberate warning.
Someone had copied it to send a message:
We know your son.
Maya realized the same thing.
Her face turned white.
"They know where we live."
The next morning Daniel hired a private security team—not to imprison Maya, but to protect her and Noah.
At first she refused.
"I've survived this long without bodyguards."
Daniel answered quietly.
"This isn't about pride anymore."
She looked toward Noah, who was happily building a tower from mismatched toy blocks.
Slowly, she nodded.
"For him."
"For him."
That afternoon Detective Laura Martinez arrived carrying new information.
"The gunmen abandoned their SUV."
"Did you identify them?" Daniel asked.
She placed several photographs on the table.
"They're connected to Victor Kane."
Daniel frowned.
"I've never heard of him."
"You wouldn't."
"He specialized in solving wealthy people's 'problems' twenty years ago."
Maya felt a chill.
"What kind of problems?"
The detective met her eyes.
"Witnesses."
"Missing documents."
"Threats."
"Intimidation."
Daniel suddenly understood.
"My father."
"We believe Richard Hart employed Kane more than once."
"And now?"
"Kane disappeared years ago."
She paused.
"But someone from his organization is still active."
Before leaving, Detective Martinez handed Maya a sealed evidence bag.
"This was recovered from the abandoned SUV."
Inside was a faded photograph.
Maya stared at it.
Daniel leaned closer.
The picture showed two teenagers sitting on a rooftop.
Seventeen-year-old Maya.
Seventeen-year-old Daniel.
Taken without their knowledge.
Across the back, someone had written:
Watch the girl. She is the weakness.
Maya's knees nearly gave out.
They had been watched even before Daniel left.
That evening Thomas Reed called.
"I remembered something."
Daniel immediately put him on speaker.
"The night your father visited Maya's grandmother..."
Thomas's voice trembled.
"...he wasn't alone."
"Who was with him?"
"I didn't know his name."
"But I remember one thing."
"He had a burn scar across the left side of his neck."
Detective Martinez's expression changed instantly.
"I know exactly who that is."
May you like
Everyone looked at her.
"Victor Kane."
