Chapter 8 - ROOM 914 GOES DARKAlexander called Naomi before he reached the elevator.
No answer.
He called Room 914.
No answer.
Marcus called the hospital security chief.
No answer.
By the time Alexander’s SUV tore away from Parker Global Tower, every instinct in his body was screaming.
Olivia sat beside him, already calling judges, police commanders, federal contacts, anyone who could move faster than bureaucracy.
Marcus drove.
For the first time since Alexander had known him, Marcus broke traffic laws without asking permission.
The hospital appeared ahead in a blur of glass and lights.
Then every light on the top floor went out.
Alexander stared upward.
Room 914 was dark.
“Faster,” he said.
Marcus did not answer.
He did not need to.
They entered through the emergency bay, where nurses shouted and alarms chirped. The hospital was in partial power failure. Backup generators were working below the ninth floor, but the private wing had gone black.
Not an accident.
Alexander ran for the stairs.
Olivia grabbed his arm.
“Wait for security.”
He pulled free.
“My mother doesn’t have time for procedure.”
Marcus followed him up nine flights, gun drawn but held low. Alexander reached the ninth-floor door and pushed it open.
Darkness.
Emergency lights glowed faintly red along the hallway.
A nurse lay unconscious near the desk.
Marcus checked her pulse.
“Alive.”
Alexander moved toward Room 914.
The door was open.
The bed was empty.
For one second, he could not process what he saw.
Empty sheets.
Disconnected monitor wires.
A fallen IV stand.
His mother was gone.
Naomi Reed was on the floor near the window, blood at her hairline, trying to push herself up.
Alexander dropped beside her.
“Where is she?”
Naomi winced.
“They took her.”
“Who?”
“Two men. One dressed as a doctor. They cut the power. I tried to stop them.”
Marcus looked down the hallway.
“Service elevator.”
Alexander helped Naomi sit up.
“Did she say anything?”
Naomi’s eyes filled with pain.
“She was awake. She fought them.”
Of course she had.
“She told me to tell you…” Naomi swallowed. “She said, ‘He will take me where Daniel died.’”
Alexander froze.
Denver.
The crash.
Edmund Vale was not hiding.
He was staging an ending.
Olivia arrived moments later with police.
When she saw the empty bed, her expression hardened into something lethal.
“Federal kidnapping,” she said. “Now everyone moves.”
Marcus already had the hospital security feeds pulled up on his tablet. Most were dark, but one camera near the loading dock had caught something.
A medical transport van leaving three minutes after the lights failed.
No plates.
But on the rear window, someone had drawn a symbol in dust.
A small crown.
Victoria’s family crest.
Alexander stared at it.
“Edmund wants me to follow.”
Marcus nodded.
“Yes.”
“Then he wants control of the meeting.”
“Yes.”
Alexander turned.
“Good. Let’s disappoint him.”
They returned to the tower, not the mansion. Victoria was still in custody in a secure room, guarded by two officers.
When Alexander entered, she stood quickly.
“What happened?”
He crossed the room and grabbed the back of a chair, fighting the urge to break it.
“My mother is gone.”
Victoria’s face crumpled.
“I told you.”
“Where is he taking her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Denver.”
She went still.
Alexander saw recognition.
“Why Denver?”
Victoria’s voice was barely audible.
“Because that’s where everything began.”
“What began?”
She sank into a chair.
“My father said Daniel Parker died because he forgot fear. But that wasn’t all. Before the crash, Daniel recorded a confession. He planned to give it to Evelyn.”
Alexander leaned closer.
“What confession?”
“That Parker Global was built using Vale money. Illegal money. Political bribes. Laundered accounts.” She looked up, eyes shining with terror. “If that confession comes out, your company collapses.”
Alexander absorbed this.
Then he asked, “Why take my mother?”
“Because she knows where the original is.”
Olivia stepped forward.
“The blue ledger?”
Victoria shook her head.
“No. The ledger protects shares. The confession protects reputations.”
Alexander’s voice was quiet.
“Where is it?”
Victoria looked at him.
“I think Evelyn hid it where no one rich would look.”
Alexander closed his eyes.
The apartment in Queens.
But they had already searched it.
Then he remembered.
The photograph on the wall.
Ten-year-old Alexander holding a science fair trophy.
Not just any trophy.
A cheap plastic rocket ship.
His project had been about flight paths.
His father had missed it.
His mother had cried anyway.
Alexander opened his eyes.
“The science fair trophy.”
Marcus understood immediately.
“We need to go back to Queens.”
Victoria stood.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“You need me.”
Alexander looked at her with contempt.
“I need very few things from you.”
“My father uses phrases from old family stories as passwords. You won’t open anything without me.”
Olivia considered her.
“She may be right.”
Alexander hated that.
Victoria lifted her chin.
“Besides, if my father has Evelyn, then I’m dead too unless you win.”
Alexander stared at the woman who had shoved his mother down marble stairs.
“You are not forgiven.”
Her eyes dropped.
“I know.”
“You are not trusted.”
“I know.”
“You try anything, Marcus will stop you.”
Marcus’s expression made the meaning clear.
Victoria nodded.
“I know.”
They went to Queens with police escorts three cars back and federal agents finally moving in the background. But Alexander entered the old apartment with only Marcus, Olivia, and Victoria.
The place looked different now.
Less like memory.
More like a battlefield.
Alexander took the photograph from the wall. Behind it was a small hollow cut into the plaster.
Inside sat the plastic rocket trophy.
He twisted the base.
A USB drive fell into his palm.
Victoria whispered, “Oh my God.”
Alexander plugged it into Marcus’s secure laptop.
A password prompt appeared.
Victoria leaned over the keyboard, hands shaking.
Alexander watched her carefully.
She typed:
CROWNLESS KING.
The file opened.
Daniel Parker appeared on screen, older, frightened, sitting in what looked like a hotel room.
His voice shook.
“If you are watching this, Evelyn, then I failed to come home.”
Alexander felt the room tilt.
May you like
His dead father looked straight into the camera.
“And if our son is watching… Alexander, I am sorry. Everything you inherited was already poisoned.”
