Chapter 2 - THE AMBULANCE NEVER CAME
The ambulance should have arrived within minutes.
Twenty minutes later, there was still no siren.
Ethan stood beside Grace in the upstairs sitting room, one hand gripping hers while Martin paced near the window with his phone pressed to his ear.
Grace had been moved out of the barred enclosure, but she was barely able to stand.
Every few minutes, another wave of pain tightened across her stomach.
Ethan watched her face twist.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
“Where are they?”
Martin lowered the phone.
His expression made Ethan’s stomach turn.
“They said the original call was canceled.”
Ethan stared at him.
“Canceled by whom?”
Martin swallowed.
“Someone called back from the house line and said the emergency had been resolved.”
The room went silent.
Ethan slowly turned.
Evelyn stood near the doorway.
For once, his mother had nothing to say.
“Did you cancel it?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
“I don’t know.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“You controlled every person in this house.”
“You controlled the phones.”
“You controlled the security system.”
“You controlled who saw Grace and who didn’t.”
His voice dropped.
“So don’t stand there and tell me you don’t know.”
Evelyn’s lips tightened.
“I didn’t cancel the ambulance.”
Grace suddenly gasped.
Her fingers crushed Ethan’s hand.
“Ethan.”
He turned immediately.
Grace doubled over.
“Grace?”
She looked down.
A dark stain was spreading across the lower edge of her dress.
Ethan stopped breathing.
“Martin, get the car.”
“Sir—”
“NOW.”
Martin ran.
Ethan lifted Grace into his arms.
Evelyn stepped forward.
“Ethan, wait.”
He stopped.
For one second, mother and son stared at each other.
“If anything happens to my wife or my child tonight, you will spend the rest of your life wishing you had never heard my name.”
Evelyn went pale.
Ethan carried Grace downstairs.
The mansion that had always represented his family’s power suddenly looked different.
The marble floors.
The portraits.
The carved staircase.
The priceless antiques.
None of it looked impressive anymore.
It looked contaminated.
Martin had the black SUV waiting outside.
Ethan climbed into the back seat with Grace.
“St. Matthew’s.”
Martin accelerated through the gates.
Grace rested her head against Ethan’s chest.
“I thought you believed her.”
Ethan looked down.
“Believed what?”
“That I left you.”
His throat tightened.
“For three days, I did.”
Grace closed her eyes.
The confession hurt more than he expected.
“I found your ring.”
“I never took it off.”
“I know that now.”
“And the blood?”
Ethan hesitated.
Grace opened her eyes.
“That wasn’t mine.”
Ethan froze.
“What?”
“The blood in the nursery wasn’t mine.”
A cold sensation moved through him.
“Then whose was it?”
“I don’t know.”
Grace struggled to sit straighter.
“But there’s something else.”
“What?”
“The night Evelyn brought me upstairs, she wasn’t alone.”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
“Who was with her?”
Grace looked toward the front seat.
Martin’s shoulders stiffened.
Grace noticed.
So did Ethan.
“Martin?”
The older man kept his eyes on the road.
“Sir.”
“Who helped my mother?”
Martin said nothing.
“Answer me.”
His hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“I never saw his face.”
“His?”
“Yes.”
Martin glanced into the mirror.
“But I heard his voice.”
Ethan waited.
Martin’s next words changed everything.
“He was talking about the merger.”
Ethan’s pulse quickened.
“What did he say?”
“He said Grace had become a liability.”
Grace squeezed Ethan’s hand.
Martin continued.
“And he told Mrs. Hargrove that once you signed the merger documents on Monday, Grace would no longer matter.”
Ethan stared through the windshield.
Monday.
Tomorrow.
The largest merger in Hargrove Industries history was scheduled to close at nine in the morning.
A transaction worth nearly four billion dollars.
Ethan had spent eighteen months negotiating it.
Suddenly, his wife’s disappearance no longer looked like a family crime.
It looked like part of something much larger.
Grace cried out again.
Martin accelerated.
They reached the hospital seven minutes later.
Doctors rushed Grace through the emergency doors.
Ethan tried to follow.
A nurse stopped him.
“You need to wait here.”
“That’s my wife.”
“And we’re going to help her.”
The doors closed.
Ethan stood frozen.
His shirt was stained from holding Grace.
His hands were shaking.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Ethan Hargrove?”
“Yes.”
A distorted voice spoke.
“If you want your wife to survive tonight, do not sign anything tomorrow morning.”
The call ended.
Ethan stared at the phone.
May you like
Someone knew exactly where they were.
And whoever had locked Grace away wasn’t finished.
