Chapter 5 - The Child They Wanted
“Upstairs.”
Adrian’s voice cut through the darkness.
Emma did not argue.
Not this time.
Marco guided Rachel toward the back staircase while Adrian stayed between Emma and the foyer.
Another click came from the front door.
Then silence.
Adrian placed one hand lightly at Emma’s back.
“Can you move quickly?”
“I’m eight months pregnant, not eighty.”
Despite everything, he almost smiled.
“Good.”
They reached the upstairs landing.
Marco opened Lucia’s bedroom.
“There’s a secondary exit through the dressing room.”
Emma stared.
“Of course there is.”
Adrian locked the bedroom door behind them.
A faint beam from Marco’s phone illuminated the room.
Rachel whispered, “Victor said he could make all of this disappear.”
Emma turned.
“What did you tell him?”
“Nothing.”
“You said he contacted you three months ago.”
“He called my office.”
Rachel’s voice shook.
“He knew where you were living. He knew your doctor’s name. He knew the baby was Adrian’s.”
Adrian’s expression sharpened.
“What did he want?”
“He wanted the ultrasound.”
Emma stared.
“You gave it to him?”
“No.”
Rachel looked horrified.
“Never.”
“Then how did he get it?”
“I don’t know.”
Adrian turned toward the locked door.
“Someone was in her apartment.”
Rachel continued.
“He said if Emma signed something after the baby was born, everyone would be safe.”
“What?”
“A waiver.”
Adrian understood first.
“The inheritance renunciation.”
Rachel nodded.
“He said the baby would never have to know about the Morettis.”
Emma’s anger rose.
“And you considered it.”
“For one second? Yes.”
Rachel’s eyes flashed.
“Because unlike him, I spent eight months watching you wake up terrified every time a car slowed outside your apartment.”
Adrian accepted the accusation silently.
“What else did Victor say?”
“He said Adrian would never voluntarily give up the agreement.”
Emma looked at her ex-husband.
“Would you?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
“You haven’t even read the financial consequences.”
“I don’t care.”
“Adrian.”
“I lost eight months of my daughter’s life before she even took her first breath.”
His voice cracked slightly.
“No company is worth another day.”
Emma looked away.
The certainty unsettled her.
A noise came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Marco moved beside the door.
Adrian gestured toward the dressing room.
“Go.”
Emma followed Rachel through Lucia’s enormous closet.
At the back was a narrow panel.
Marco opened it.
A service stairway descended toward the kitchen.
Emma took the first step.
Pain tightened across her abdomen.
She stopped.
Adrian noticed immediately.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Emma.”
“It’s a Braxton Hicks contraction.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I’ve been pregnant for eight months.”
Another contraction came.
Stronger.
Emma gripped the railing.
Adrian went pale.
“That doesn’t look fake.”
“They’re not fake. They’re practice.”
“Your daughter has terrifying hobbies.”
Despite herself, Emma laughed.
A tiny sound.
Adrian looked at her.
For one second, they were not hiding from Victor.
They were themselves.
Then a door slammed upstairs.
Marco whispered, “Move.”
They descended.
The service stairs ended near the pantry.
Adrian opened the door carefully.
The kitchen was empty.
Marco checked the rear windows.
“Car is thirty yards away.”
They moved toward the back exit.
Then the generator lights came on.
Emma froze.
A man stood outside the glass door.
Not Victor.
Dr. Monroe’s receptionist.
The woman from the clinic.
Adrian immediately stepped in front of Emma.
The receptionist raised both hands.
“Please.”
Marco opened the door just enough to speak.
“What are you doing here?”
“My name isn’t Hannah Reed.”
Emma stared.
The receptionist swallowed.
“My name is Elena Salerno.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“Victor’s daughter.”
“His niece.”
She looked terrified.
“I’ve been trying to warn you.”
Emma stepped closer.
“You accessed my medical file?”
“Yes.”
Adrian moved.
Emma caught his arm.
“Let her speak.”
Elena looked at Emma.
“I started working at the clinic six months ago because Victor ordered me to watch you.”
Emma’s blood ran cold.
“You knew?”
“Not at first.”
“About the baby.”
“I learned when he did.”
“Why warn us now?”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“Because he isn’t planning to wait for a waiver.”
Silence.
Adrian’s voice became deadly quiet.
“What is he planning?”
Elena looked toward the trees.
“Victor believes the agreement changes if the child is born outside Illinois.”
Adrian frowned.
“It doesn’t.”
“I know.”
“Does he?”
“No.”
Emma’s hand moved protectively over Sophie.
“What does that have to do with me?”
“He wants to force you to leave the state.”
“How?”
Elena hesitated.
“By making you think Adrian is the danger.”
Emma stared.
Every fake photograph.
The audio recording.
The surveillance.
All of it.
“He did all of this.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you were easier to control when you were alone.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
The truth was almost cruel in its simplicity.
Emma had thought running from Adrian protected Sophie.
Instead, running had isolated them from the one person Victor feared.
Elena continued.
“He expected Adrian to discover the pregnancy eventually.”
“Then why expose it today?”
“He didn’t.”
Everyone went still.
“What?”
Elena shook her head.
“Victor didn’t send those messages.”
Adrian stared.
“Who did?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because Victor called me furious fifteen minutes ago. He said somebody ruined his timeline.”
Marco looked at Adrian.
“There’s another player.”
Emma felt sick.
Elena nodded.
“Someone wants Adrian and Victor fighting.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
A vehicle approached rapidly outside.
Marco drew the curtain.
Headlights swept across the kitchen.
Elena turned pale.
“That’s him.”
“Victor?”
“Yes.”
Adrian looked at Marco.
“How many?”
“Three vehicles.”
Emma grabbed Adrian’s sleeve.
“No violence.”
He looked at her.
“I heard you the first time.”
“You’re about to ignore me.”
“I’m about to get you out.”
Elena shook her head.
“You can’t use the rear road. They blocked it.”
Marco checked another window.
“She’s right.”
Rachel whispered, “Then what do we do?”
Adrian looked around the kitchen.
Then toward the basement door.
“My mother had an old storm tunnel.”
Emma stared.
“You’re joking.”
“No.”
“Of course your mother had a secret tunnel.”
“It’s a Moretti thing.”
They moved.
Elena followed.
Adrian stopped her.
“You stay.”
“If I stay, Victor kills me.”
Adrian studied her.
Then stepped aside.
The tunnel entrance was hidden beneath a storage rack.
Marco opened it.
Cold air rose from below.
Emma descended carefully.
Adrian stayed directly behind her.
Halfway down, another contraction hit.
Hard.
She gasped.
Adrian caught her.
“Emma?”
“It’s fine.”
“No, it isn’t.”
She breathed slowly.
The pain faded.
Then something warm ran down her leg.
Emma stopped.
Rachel’s face changed.
“Oh my God.”
Adrian looked down.
Then back at Emma.
“What happened?”
Emma’s heart began pounding.
“My water broke.”
Nobody spoke.
Above them, the basement door opened.
Victor’s voice echoed down the stairs.
“Adrian.”
Emma gripped Adrian’s hand.
Another contraction began.
Stronger.
Closer.
May you like
And from the darkness at the other end of the tunnel, a second flashlight suddenly switched on.
Someone was already waiting for them.
