Chapter 3 - My Wife’s Locked Room
The handle stopped moving.
Dominic raised his pistol.
I unlocked the door.
“Sebastian,” he whispered, “let me go first.”
“No.”
I pushed the door open.
The room was dark.
It smelled exactly as I remembered.
Elena’s perfume had long since faded, but cedar from the old cabinets remained.
Moonlight cut across the furniture.
Someone stood beside the window.
“Warren.”
He slowly turned.
No gun.
No jacket.
His white shirt was streaked with blood.
A deep scratch crossed the back of his right hand.
Caleb made a frightened noise behind me.
“The ring man.”
Every weapon rose.
Warren looked at the child.
Then at me.
“I can explain.”
“That would be a historic achievement.”
His face hardened.
“I didn’t take Ruby.”
“You had her bracelet.”
“No.”
“You had Caleb’s key.”
“Yes.”
“You knew the tunnels.”
“Yes.”
“You sabotaged the search dogs.”
Silence.
I stepped inside.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
Dominic cursed.
Theo pulled Caleb closer.
I felt rage rising.
Not explosive rage.
The kind that made every sound clearer.
Every movement slower.
“Where is my daughter?”
“I don’t know.”
I crossed the room before anyone could stop me.
My fist struck Warren’s mouth.
He hit the wall.
I grabbed his shirt.
“Try again.”
“I don’t know.”
“You have three seconds.”
“Sebastian, listen.”
“One.”
“I was trying to keep her away from them.”
“Two.”
“They wanted Ruby for leverage.”
“Three.”
I hit him again.
He fell.
Dominic pulled me back.
“Boss.”
I stared down.
Warren spat blood.
“They would have killed her if I didn’t cooperate.”
“Who?”
He looked toward Caleb.
“Get the children out.”
“No.”
“Sebastian.”
“You don’t get to give orders in my house anymore.”
He closed his eyes.
“The Aegis network.”
“What network?”
“Not the company. Something inside it.”
“Names.”
“I don’t know all of them.”
“Start with one.”
Warren hesitated.
That hesitation almost got him killed.
“Thomas Crane.”
T.C.
My gaze fell to Ruby’s bracelet.
The scratched initials.
“Who is Thomas Crane?”
Warren laughed bitterly.
“You know him.”
“No.”
“You knew him as Thomas Cole.”
The name opened a door in my memory.
Elena’s attorney.
Quiet.
Polite.
Early forties.
He had handled her medical directives before she died.
Then disappeared.
“You told me he moved overseas.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Because Elena asked me to.”
Everything inside me stopped.
“My wife knew?”
Warren looked at me.
“She knew something.”
“What?”
“That children were disappearing.”
I let go of Dominic.
Warren pushed himself upright.
“Three months before Elena was diagnosed, she started volunteering through a children’s foundation.”
“I know.”
“She noticed records that didn’t make sense. Kids transferred between shelters who never arrived. Adoption files with identical signatures. Donations routed through security firms.”
“Aegis.”
“Yes.”
“She asked me to investigate.”
“Without telling me?”
“She was afraid of what you’d do.”
That sounded like Elena.
She had loved me.
She had never romanticized me.
“What did you find?”
“Thomas Cole was connecting wealthy clients to people inside shelters.”
“For what?”
Warren looked at Theo and Caleb.
“Children were being used.”
My stomach turned.
“How?”
“Some were trafficked. Some were used to move information because nobody noticed them. Some were placed near targets.”
“Like Caleb.”
“Yes.”
I wanted to break every bone in his body.
“You helped them.”
“I infiltrated them.”
“You sabotaged my cameras.”
“Yes.”
“You let them take Ruby.”
“No.”
His voice cracked for the first time.
“I thought they were coming for a file.”
“What file?”
“Elena’s evidence.”
I stared at him.
“She kept copies.”
“Where?”
“In this room.”
I looked around.
I had searched every inch after she died.
Or thought I had.
“She left instructions,” Warren said. “If Thomas ever moved against Ruby, I was supposed to retrieve the evidence and expose him.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because someone close to you was working with Thomas.”
“Who?”
“I never knew.”
“So you decided to play both sides?”
“Yes.”
“And children disappeared while you waited?”
Pain crossed his face.
“Yes.”
Theo stepped forward.
“My brother disappeared.”
Warren looked at him.
“I know.”
“You knew?”
“I found Caleb the night he was taken.”
Theo’s fists clenched.
“And you left him there?”
“I moved him to the basement room because I thought it was safer than where Thomas planned to take him.”
“You could’ve called the police.”
Warren smiled sadly.
“The police are part of it.”
Theo looked at me.
“You said I was safe here.”
The accusation hurt more than it should have.
“You are.”
“Your man knew.”
“He isn’t my man anymore.”
Warren looked away.
I said, “Show me Elena’s evidence.”
He walked toward the fireplace.
Removed a brass tool.
Pressed it into a tiny opening beneath the mantel.
A panel clicked.
Inside was a metal box.
I recognized Elena’s handwriting on the lid.
FOR SEBASTIAN — ONLY IF RUBY IS IN DANGER.
My hands shook.
I hated that they did.
Elena had anticipated this.
Three years before.
I opened the box.
Photographs.
Financial records.
A flash drive.
And an envelope.
My name written across it.
I unfolded the letter.
Sebastian,
If you are reading this, then I failed to keep the darkness away from Ruby.
I stopped.
The room blurred.
Elena’s voice existed in those words.
Steady.
Gentle.
Stubborn.
I continued.
Thomas is not the beginning of this. He is a messenger for someone who believes powerful men can be controlled through the people they love. I found evidence that children have been moved through private estates for years. Some of those estates belong to your enemies.
Some belong to your friends.
I looked at Dominic.
He looked away.
The letter continued.
I did not tell you because I knew you would burn the city to save one child, and they would use that fury to bury a hundred others.
If Ruby is taken, do not only find her.
Find them all.
My throat tightened.
At the bottom:
Trust the dog.
I stared.
“What dog?”
Warren shook his head.
“I never understood that.”
Theo looked at Ranger.
Ranger looked toward Elena’s desk.
Then walked to it.
He sniffed underneath.
Scratched once.
We moved the desk.
Nothing.
Ranger scratched the floor.
Dominic crouched.
A removable board.
Beneath it was a small device.
GPS tracker.
Old.
Attached to a dog collar tag.
The engraved name read:
RANGER.
Theo stared.
“That’s his.”
“No,” I said slowly. “Not this Ranger.”
He looked confused.
Warren whispered, “Elena had a German Shepherd when she was younger.”
I remembered photographs.
A dog she had owned before we met.
Named Ranger.
The tracker contained one stored location.
An abandoned veterinary hospital outside the city.
Dominic checked satellite maps.
“The building belongs to a shell company.”
“Owned by?”
He searched.
“Aegis.”
Warren stood.
“That’s where they’ll take Ruby.”
I looked at him.
“You’re staying here.”
“You’ll need me.”
“I needed you last night.”
That ended the conversation.
I ordered twenty men to prepare.
Theo insisted on coming.
“No.”
“Ranger can track Ruby.”
“The dog is injured.”
“He found Caleb.”
“He stays with you.”
Theo glared at me.
“You don’t trust anybody.”
“Correct.”
“Ruby trusted Caleb.”
“That’s why she disappeared.”
The second the words left my mouth, I regretted them.
Caleb lowered his head.
I crouched immediately.
“That wasn’t your fault.”
His eyes filled.
“She tried to help me.”
“I know.”
“She said her daddy always came when she was scared.”
Something broke behind my ribs.
“She was right.”
We left fifteen minutes later.
The veterinary hospital stood beyond an industrial district.
Dark.
Abandoned.
We entered from three sides.
No resistance.
Too easy.
Inside we found cages.
Children’s clothing.
Medical records.
Sedatives.
But no children.
On the second floor, Dominic found a surveillance room.
Monitors showed live feeds.
My mansion.
My vehicles.
My men.
They had been watching us for months.
Then one screen changed.
Ruby appeared.
Alive.
Sitting in a chair.
Her hands were free.
Her face dirty but unharmed.
I moved toward the screen.
“Ruby.”
She could not hear me.
A man entered behind her.
Only his torso visible.
Black suit.
Black ring.
He placed a phone on the table.
Ruby stared at it.
The screen beside us lit up.
INCOMING CALL.
I answered.
A distorted voice spoke.
“You found Elena’s room.”
“Where is my daughter?”
“You should have listened to your wife.”
“Let Ruby go.”
“We will.”
I didn’t believe him.
“When?”
“When you bring us what Elena stole.”
“The evidence?”
“No.”
My eyes narrowed.
“What else?”
The voice laughed softly.
“Elena never told you what she really found.”
The video feed zoomed closer to Ruby.
She looked directly into the camera.
Then she raised one hand.
Three fingers.
Closed them.
Raised two.
Closed them.
Then one.
A countdown.
Behind her, someone opened a door.
Ruby suddenly looked terrified.
The voice on the phone whispered:
“You have six hours.”
The screen went black.
A second monitor turned on.
It displayed a photograph taken three years earlier.
Elena stood outside a courthouse.
Beside her was Thomas Crane.
And on Elena’s other side stood a man whose face I knew better than my own family.
Dominic stared at the screen.
“No.”
May you like
I said nothing.
Because the third man in the photograph was my younger brother, Julian.
