Chapter 12 - The Night Everything Came Back
Emergency power activated within seconds.
I lifted Grace from her bassinet and moved toward the secure interior room.
Training took over.
No panic.
No wasted movement.
My phone rang again.
Mark.
“Do not open the door.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Voss is here.”
“Where?”
“I saw his car.”
I contacted security.
They were already moving.
Then someone pounded on the front entrance.
“Anna!”
Mark.
I watched the security monitor.
He stood outside alone.
Then another figure appeared behind him.
Charles Voss.
Older than I remembered.
Gray hair.
Dark coat.
Calm expression.
He pressed something against Mark’s back.
Not dramatic.
Not theatrical.
Just enough to make the threat clear.
“Open the door, Anna.”
Voss’s voice came through the exterior intercom.
I stayed inside.
“Federal security is already coming.”
“I know.”
That answer bothered me.
He didn’t sound afraid.
“I only want what your father stole.”
“My father stole nothing.”
“He stole my life.”
“No.”
I watched him through the monitor.
“He documented yours.”
Voss smiled faintly.
“You sound exactly like Daniel.”
Mark looked toward the camera.
“Anna, don’t open it.”
Voss shoved him forward.
“You betrayed me too.”
Mark stumbled.
“You used me.”
“I gave you everything.”
“You gave me debt.”
“You were weak enough to accept it.”
Sirens approached in the distance.
For the first time, Voss looked toward the road.
Mark moved.
Fast.
He knocked Voss’s arm away and dropped behind a concrete planter.
Security officers rushed from both sides of the building.
Voss ran.
He made it less than twenty yards.
Seconds later, he was on the ground in handcuffs.
I remained inside until security cleared the area.
Then I stepped outside.
Mark sat against the planter.
He looked at me.
Then at Grace in my arms.
“Is she okay?”
It was the first time he had asked.
Weeks too late.
“Yes.”
His eyes filled.
“Can I see her?”
I looked at the man who had betrayed almost every promise he had ever made to me.
“You can see her through the process our attorneys establish.”
His face fell.
But he nodded.
May you like
For once, Mark understood that consequences were not cruelty.
They were consequences.
