Chapter 3 - THE SECRET INSIDE THE WALL
We left the hotel through an underground parking tunnel.
Tristan’s security team surrounded the armored SUV while Detective Ortiz followed in an unmarked car. I sat in the back seat beside Tristan, gripping my phone so tightly that my fingers hurt.
My mother was still unconscious in St. Vincent’s Hospital.
Her name was Evelyn Hart. She had been diagnosed with a severe heart condition two years earlier, but she never complained. She called hospitals “expensive hotels with terrible food” and insisted she could work through anything.
I had taken the job at Cain Global because the salary covered her treatment.
Tristan knew that.
He had approved my emergency leave when I first told him.
At the time, I had thought his kindness was simply good management.
Now I wondered how much he had already known about me.
“How did you know about my mother?” I asked.
Tristan looked out the window.
“You mentioned her during your interview.”
“I said she was sick. I didn’t tell you which hospital.”
“Your employee file includes her emergency contact information.”
“You read my file?”
“I read every file.”
“That’s not reassuring.”
“It wasn’t meant to be.”
The car passed beneath a bridge. For a moment, the city vanished into darkness.
Tristan looked at me.
“Do you remember anything else about the man with the serpent ring?”
“His voice was rough. He had a scar under his chin.”
“Anything else?”
“He called Vivian by her first name.”
“Everyone does.”
“He said she had failed before.”
Tristan’s expression tightened.
“Failed at what?”
“I don’t know.”
The memory card rested in an evidence case between us.
“Why is everyone so afraid of that?” I asked.
“Because it may contain information worth killing for.”
“Information about your company?”
“Possibly.”
“About the acquisition?”
“Possibly.”
“You keep saying possibly.”
“I don’t know what’s on it.”
“Then why not open it?”
“Because if it’s encrypted or booby-trapped, we could destroy the evidence.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Someone already shot at my head. I think we’re past worrying about destroying evidence.”
Tristan looked at me.
“I’m not.”
The hospital appeared ahead.
Police vehicles blocked the emergency entrance.
My heart stopped.
Tristan grabbed my arm before I could open the door.
“Wait.”
A man in a maintenance uniform pushed a cart through the hospital doors. He wore a blue cap low over his face.
Tristan’s security chief pointed.
“That’s him.”
Everything happened at once.
Two guards ran toward the entrance. The man abandoned the cart and sprinted down the corridor. Patients screamed as officers chased him.
Tristan pulled me from the SUV and shielded me behind his body.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“Someone tried to enter your mother’s room.”
I looked toward the hospital.
“I need to see her.”
“Stay with me.”
We moved through the side entrance. The security team created a path while Detective Ortiz shouted orders. Nurses pressed themselves against the walls.
When we reached my mother’s room, two officers stood outside.
“She’s alive,” one said. “But someone cut the power to the floor.”
I rushed inside.
My mother lay beneath a white blanket, pale but breathing. An oxygen tube rested beneath her nose. Her eyes opened when she heard me.
“Emma?”
I took her hand.
“I’m here.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing. There was a power problem.”
She looked past me at Tristan.
“Who is that?”
“My boss.”
My mother’s eyebrows lifted despite her weakness.
“That boss?”
“Mom.”
“The billionaire one?”
“Please don’t start.”
Tristan came closer.
“Mrs. Hart, I’m Tristan Cain.”
My mother studied him.
“Are you the reason my daughter is wearing your clothes?”
The room became completely silent.
I wished the floor would open.
“Mom, it’s not what you think.”
“I’m an old woman with a heart condition, not a fool.”
Tristan almost smiled.
“I assure you, nothing happened between us.”
“That’s unfortunate,” my mother said. “He’s handsome.”
“Mom.”
A sudden alarm sounded in the corridor.
Tristan’s smile disappeared.
The officers outside shouted.
Then the hospital lights went out.
My mother’s heart monitor began beeping rapidly.
A shadow moved beyond the door.
Tristan pushed me behind the bed and drew his gun.
The shadow entered.
It was a nurse.
She held a syringe.
Before she could reach my mother, Tristan crossed the room and knocked the syringe from her hand. Detective Ortiz seized the woman from behind and forced her against the wall.
The nurse began crying.
“She made me do it,” she sobbed.
“Who?” Detective Ortiz demanded.
“Vivian Rusk.”
My blood ran cold.
“What was in the syringe?” Tristan asked.
The nurse shook her head.
“I don’t know. She said it would make the patient sleep.”
Detective Ortiz handcuffed her.
Outside, the man in the maintenance uniform was caught near the loading dock. He carried three fake identification cards and a photograph of my mother.
Tristan turned to me.
“This is no longer about the drive.”
“What do you mean?”
“They knew exactly who to threaten.”
My mother’s fingers tightened around mine.
“Emma,” she whispered.
“What?”
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
Her eyes moved toward Tristan.
“Not here.”
A second alarm began ringing.
This one came from the hospital’s fire system.
Everyone turned toward the ceiling.
Smoke began pouring beneath the door.
Tristan grabbed my mother’s oxygen line and lifted her from the bed while I pushed the wheelchair into position.
“Move!” he ordered.
We escaped through the stairwell as smoke filled the corridor.
On the fourth floor, we found a locked service door. Tristan kicked it open. Cold air rushed over us.
The security team moved my mother toward the ambulance waiting outside.
I followed, coughing.
When we reached the parking lot, my phone buzzed.
Another message appeared.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LOOKED INSIDE THE WALL.
I stared at the words.
Then I remembered the man with the serpent ring asking about the drive.
The drive had not been in my purse when I left the hotel.
It had been hidden somewhere else.
I turned toward Tristan.
“What if I did steal something?”
His eyes narrowed.
“What are you talking about?”
“Before I started working at Cain Global, I saw something strange in your office.”
“What?”
“A loose panel behind the bookshelves.”
Tristan went still.
“When?”
“Two weeks ago. I was looking for an old contract. There was a hollow space behind the wall.”
“Did you open it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I heard someone coming.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Tristan looked toward his headquarters across the city.
Then he turned to Marcus.
“Clear Cain Tower.”
Marcus nodded.
Tristan faced me.
“We’re going back.”
“Why?”
“Because if the message is true…”
May you like
He looked at the memory card.
“…the thing they’re trying to kill you for may still be inside my office wall.”
