Chapter 6 - The Brother Who VanishedThe first explosion hit the western wall.
The warehouse shook violently. Metal shelves collapsed, sending boxes and tools crashing onto the concrete floor.
Vincent grabbed the wheels of his chair.
“Get Lauren out.”
Tessa moved toward her.
“I can walk,” Lauren said.
“You’re bleeding,” Tessa replied.
“It’s only my hand.”
“You’re pregnant.”
“I know what I am.”
The second explosion cut off the argument.
Smoke poured beneath the medical room door.
Marco shoved the door closed and locked it.
“We have three minutes before the west side collapses.”
“Where’s the exit?” Vincent asked.
“Loading tunnel.”
“Blocked.”
“Then we use the roof.”
Vincent looked at the ceiling.
The warehouse roof was two stories above them. A mechanical lift stood near the rear wall.
“Can it carry me?”
“If the power stays on.”
“Keep it on.”
Marco handed Tessa a firearm.
She stared at it.
“I don’t know how to use this.”
“Point and pull.”
Vincent looked at her.
“You don’t have to come.”
Tessa gave him an angry look.
“If I wanted to leave, I would have done it when the mansion burned.”
Evelyn picked up her gun.
“Silas’s men will be watching the obvious exits.”
“Then we use an impossible one,” Vincent said.
He pointed toward the archive room.
“The hidden corridor.”
Marco shook his head.
“That tunnel leads toward the old train line. The entrance was sealed.”
“Not from this side.”
They pushed Vincent through the archive while smoke thickened behind them.
The walls of the warehouse vibrated with gunfire.
Lauren walked close beside Vincent, one hand pressed to her stomach.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Vincent did not look at her.
“Stop apologizing.”
“I lied to you.”
“You were threatened.”
“I still lied.”
“We’ll discuss it when we’re alive.”
“That may be the problem.”
He glanced at her.
“What?”
“You still talk like survival is a business decision.”
“It is.”
“And what am I?”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
“You’re the mother of my child.”
Her eyes filled.
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Before he could answer, bullets struck the corridor wall.
Marco returned fire.
“Move!”
They reached the archive door.
The corridor beyond was darker than before. Gas still clung to the air, but the ventilation system had begun clearing it.
Vincent pulled himself toward the hidden exit.
Tessa pushed his chair behind him.
Lauren stayed close.
Evelyn walked last.
Halfway through the tunnel, a metallic clang echoed ahead.
Someone was opening the sealed entrance.
Marco raised his gun.
A young woman stepped out of the darkness.
She wore a gray hoodie, dirty jeans, and a bruised expression.
“Tessa?”
Tessa stopped.
Her face collapsed.
“Maya?”
The woman ran toward her.
Tessa grabbed her and pulled her into an embrace.
Vincent watched the reunion.
“This is your sister?”
“Yes,” Tessa said.
Maya looked toward Vincent.
“You’re him.”
“Apparently.”
“They said you were dead.”
“People say many things.”
Maya stared at Tessa.
“They took me from the clinic.”
Tessa’s arms tightened.
“Who?”
“Men in suits.”
“Silas’s men?”
“I don’t know.”
Maya pulled a small flash drive from her pocket.
“They made me give them something.”
Tessa’s expression changed.
“What?”
“My patient records.”
“Why would they want those?”
Maya looked at Vincent.
“Because your sister wasn’t only being treated for kidney disease,” Vincent said.
Tessa stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
Vincent had seen the flash drive before.
It was the same model used by one of the medical companies controlled by Dominic Vale.
“Your sister’s clinic received money from a Corvino foundation,” he said. “The foundation paid for experimental treatment.”
Maya’s bruised lips parted.
“What are you talking about?”
Tessa turned toward him.
“Explain.”
Vincent did not want to discuss this in a tunnel while armed men hunted them, but there was no time.
“Six months ago, money was transferred from one of my family’s medical charities to your clinic. The transfer was listed as routine.”
“Was it?”
“No.”
Maya stepped back.
“What did they use us for?”
Evelyn answered.
“Your sister was given a medication that could identify whether Vincent’s body would respond to a certain compound.”
Tessa’s face went white.
“Why would you test medicine on my sister?”
“We didn’t know,” Vincent said.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I’m telling you what I know.”
“You hired me while someone experimented on my family?”
“I didn’t hire you. The agency did.”
“Because someone arranged it.”
Vincent looked at Evelyn.
She avoided his gaze.
Maya held up the flash drive.
“They wanted this because it contains the records. The medication caused complications. My doctors blamed my illness.”
Tessa turned toward Vincent.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Would you have told me?”
“Yes.”
“Why should I believe you?”
Vincent had no answer that could repair the moment.
Behind them, the tunnel filled with shouts.
Marco fired twice.
“They’re inside the archive.”
Maya grabbed Tessa’s arm.
“We have to go.”
Tessa did not move.
Vincent looked at her.
“You can leave.”
She stared at him.
“You keep saying that like it makes you noble.”
“It makes you safe.”
“My sister is involved because of your family.”
“I know.”
“So if I leave, who protects her?”
Vincent held her gaze.
“I will.”
“Why?”
“Because I caused this.”
“You didn’t know.”
“That doesn’t erase responsibility.”
A burst of automatic fire tore through the tunnel.
Stone fragments struck the walls.
Marco shoved everyone forward.
“Move!”
They reached a ladder leading to an underground parking garage. Marco forced open the hatch. A black van waited beneath them with its rear doors open.
Tessa helped Maya climb down, then assisted Vincent.
This transfer was worse than the first. His arms were weak, his back burned, and his legs dragged across the metal ladder.
Tessa wrapped both arms around his waist.
“On three.”
“I can do it.”
“No, you can’t.”
The blunt truth hurt less than the fall would have.
Together, they lowered him into the van.
Lauren climbed in next.
Evelyn followed.
Marco slammed the doors as bullets struck the concrete above.
The van roared from the garage.
For several minutes, they drove in silence.
Maya sat beside her sister, shaking.
Tessa held her hand.
Vincent watched them through the dim interior light.
His world had once been made of contracts, warehouses, and men who obeyed because they feared him.
Now it contained a pregnant woman, an injured stranger, a frightened medical patient, and a caregiver who no longer trusted him.
He felt more responsible for them than he had ever felt for his empire.
Marco handed him a phone.
“Your lawyer is on the line.”
Vincent answered.
“Who is it?”
“Samuel Price.”
“Samuel, listen carefully. Freeze every account connected to the Corvino Medical Foundation.”
“That will trigger alarms.”
“Do it.”
“Vincent, your authority may be challenged.”
“Then challenge it.”
“There’s something else. I found a transfer from six months ago. It was approved by your father’s old trust.”
“Amount?”
“Eight million seven hundred thousand.”
The number matched the missing money.
Vincent closed his eyes.
“Where did it go?”
Samuel hesitated.
“Chicago Children’s Research Institute.”
Maya looked up.
Tessa heard the answer.
“What does a children’s institute have to do with this?”
Samuel continued.
“The money was sent into a restricted account. The beneficiary is listed as an unidentified minor.”
Vincent opened his eyes.
An unidentified minor.
His father’s letter.
The empty cradle.
The child’s name was—
“Samuel,” Vincent said. “Find the beneficiary.”
“I’m trying.”
“Find it now.”
The van turned sharply.
Lauren gripped the seat.
“My stomach hurts.”
Tessa immediately moved toward her.
“Where?”
“Lower abdomen.”
“Cramping?”
“A little.”
Vincent’s heart began pounding.
“Are you bleeding?”
Lauren shook her head.
“Not yet.”
Maya took off her hoodie and placed it beneath Lauren’s head.
“Keep her lying down,” she said.
“You’re a patient,” Tessa replied.
“I’m also a nursing student.”
Tessa looked at her.
“You never told me.”
“You were too busy saving everybody else.”
The van accelerated.
Marco shouted to the driver.
“Get to the hospital.”
Vincent grabbed the metal rail.
“No hospital.”
Lauren stared at him.
“I need a doctor.”
“Silas may control the hospitals.”
“Then where do you expect me to go?”
Vincent looked toward Evelyn.
She spoke quietly.
“There’s a private clinic on the west side.”
“Who owns it?”
“Your father.”
“Can we trust them?”
“No.”
Vincent looked at Tessa.
She was holding Lauren’s wrist, counting her pulse.
Then he looked at Maya.
Then at the flash drive.
The people hunting them had already entered his mansion, burned his bedroom, poisoned his archive, and kidnapped Tessa’s sister.
There was nowhere left to run.
“Take us to the clinic,” Vincent said.
The phone in his hand buzzed.
A text message appeared from an unknown number.
BENEATH THE MATTRESS WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING.
May you like
A second message followed.
THE BABY HAS A BROTHER.
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