Chapter 6 - The Camera Behind the Vent
For one terrible second, I looked at Clara as though she were a stranger.
She saw it.
“Marcus, no.”
“Tell me.”
“Adrian contacted me.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Before my family moved in?”
“Yes.”
Daniel closed the office door.
Evelyn watched Clara carefully.
“Why?”
Clara swallowed.
“Because he said Richard was planning to take the company.”
I felt anger rise.
“You didn’t tell me.”
“I tried.”
“You could have called Daniel.”
“I didn’t know who to trust.”
That hurt.
But given what had happened, I couldn’t call it irrational.
Clara explained that Adrian had approached her outside her obstetrician’s office. He claimed Richard intended to use my travel schedule to obtain control through a power of attorney.
Adrian offered evidence.
Warehouse 17.
Clara went.
“What did you see?”
“Boxes.”
“What boxes?”
“Records. Hard drives. Contracts.”
“And Adrian?”
“He wanted money.”
Of course.
“How much?”
“Two million.”
“In exchange for?”
“Everything he had on Richard.”
She refused.
The next day, my family’s behavior changed.
Richard somehow knew she had met Adrian.
That explained the surveillance.
The isolation.
The intimidation.
But not the kidnapping.
My phone showed twenty-three minutes remaining.
I called my security director, Maya Chen.
No police yet.
Not because I wanted to play hero.
Because Adrian had already demonstrated access to our systems and knowledge of our movements. I needed his location confirmed before anyone spooked him.
Maya traced the image metadata.
Nothing.
Scrubbed.
But Clara knew the warehouse.
An abandoned logistics park near Waukegan.
We left.
Daniel stayed with Evelyn and my family.
Before going, I looked at Richard.
“If my son is hurt—”
“He won’t be.”
Too fast.
I stopped.
“You know.”
Richard’s face remained still.
“You know Adrian.”
“Marcus—”
“You know what he’s doing.”
My father looked away.
That was enough.
Maya drove.
Clara sat beside me.
Nobody spoke.
At Warehouse 17, the door was unlocked.
Inside, lights flickered above rows of empty shelving.
“Leo!”
No answer.
Then we heard crying.
Clara ran.
I followed.
Leo sat behind a stack of boxes.
Alone.
Unhurt.
I grabbed him.
“Daddy!”
I held him so tightly he complained.
I didn’t care.
“Where’s the man?”
“He left.”
“When?”
“When he heard the phone.”
“What phone?”
Leo pointed.
A smartphone sat on a chair.
Video call active.
Adrian appeared on the screen.
Older than the photographs.
Gray at the temples.
Alive.
“Marcus.”
I moved Leo behind me.
“You got what you wanted. He’s safe. Now talk.”
Adrian smiled.
“I never wanted Clause 7.”
“Then why take him?”
“To get you here.”
Clara stared at the screen.
“Why?”
“Because Richard is watching your house.”
“We know.”
“No. You don’t.”
The warehouse lights shut off.
Emergency lights came on.
Adrian continued.
“Look inside the third box.”
Maya opened it.
A monitor.
Live feeds appeared.
Every room in my home.
Bedrooms.
Kitchen.
Office.
Utility closet.
My stomach turned.
“They’ve been watching us for months,” Clara whispered.
Adrian shook his head.
“Years.”
He directed us to a ventilation grille in the warehouse office.
Behind it was a server.
Copies of footage.
Thousands of hours.
“Why give me this?”
“Because Richard intends to blame everything on me.”
“Aren’t you involved?”
“Yes.”
At least he admitted it.
“But kidnapping Leo?”
Adrian’s face tightened.
“I didn’t take your son.”
I looked at Leo.
“Who brought you here?”
He sniffled.
“A lady.”
Clara knelt.
“What lady?”
Leo whispered, “Grandma.”
My blood froze.
“Eleanor?”
He nodded.
Adrian spoke.
“She brought him to force you here. I let the boy go the moment she left.”
I wanted to reject it.
Then I remembered my mother’s silence.
Her calm.
Her ability to hurt Clara.
Adrian continued.
“Richard thinks he controls Eleanor.”
“And he doesn’t?”
Adrian laughed without humor.
“Richard hasn’t controlled anything for years.”
A file appeared on the monitor.
ELEANOR_VANCE_MASTER.
Maya opened it.
Financial transactions.
Shell companies.
Corporate payments.
Every trail we had assumed led to Richard eventually converged somewhere else.
My mother.
Clara stared.
“Eleanor planned this?”
Adrian nodded.
“Most of it.”
“Why?”
“Because Vance Cybersecurity is worth more than Richard’s old crimes ever made them.”
I thought of my mother pouring wine.
Smiling.
Talking about removing my wife and child as if discussing furniture.
“What does she want?”
Adrian looked directly at me.
“Everything.”
Then the feed from my house changed.
Eleanor entered my office.
She approached the red-key cabinet.
Richard followed her.
They were arguing.
No audio.
Then Eleanor pulled something from her pocket.
Richard stopped.
Even through the grainy feed, I recognized it.
A gun.
Clara gasped.
May you like
Eleanor pointed it at my father.
Then the office camera went black...
