Chapter 3 - The Name on the Hospital Bracelet
Nora read the name again.
NORA CALDER.
Her fingers trembled so badly the photograph nearly slipped from her hand.
“That isn't me.”
Roman stared at the bracelet.
“That's your name.”
“No.”
“Nora.”
“My last name was Bellamy.”
“On paper.”
She looked up sharply.
“What does that mean?”
Roman took the photograph.
He examined the hospital bracelet.
Then the date.
Then the tiny handwritten note beneath it.
His expression became unreadable.
“What?”
He didn't answer.
“Roman.”
“I need to make a call.”
“No.”
She stepped in front of him.
“You're not walking away.”
“I need information.”
“You've had six years to get information.”
Roman stared at her.
Then he said quietly:
“Your mother didn't die in that hospital.”
Nora's knees weakened.
Roman caught her again.
“She disappeared.”
“Why?”
“Because someone wanted you.”
“Who?”
Roman's jaw tightened.
“I don't know yet.”
Nora laughed bitterly.
“You don't know anything.”
“That isn't true.”
“Then tell me.”
Roman looked at her.
“I know that your mother was investigating a money trail connected to my family.”
Nora said nothing.
“I know she found evidence that someone inside my organization was selling information.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Then what do you know?”
Roman lowered his voice.
“I know your mother asked me to protect you.”
Nora's heart stopped.
“When?”
“The night before she vanished.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because she made me promise.”
“A promise?”
“She said if I told you, they'd come after you.”
Nora stared at him.
“And you thought letting me believe she was dead was protecting me?”
Roman didn't answer.
The corridor suddenly filled with footsteps.
One of Roman's men appeared.
“We found Selene.”
Roman turned.
“Where?”
“Penthouse.”
Roman nodded.
“Bring her here.”
The man hesitated.
“She wasn't alone.”
Roman's eyes narrowed.
“Who was with her?”
“A man.”
“Name?”
“He called himself Julian Vale.”
Nora felt the floor disappear beneath her.
“Julian?”
Roman looked at her.
“You know him.”
“My ex-husband.”
Roman's expression darkened.
“Then we have a problem.”
They reached the penthouse minutes later.
The door was open.
The room was empty.
Except for a phone lying on the floor.
Roman picked it up.
A message appeared.
You should have killed the girl when you had the chance.
Nora read it.
Her blood went cold.
“Who sent that?”
Roman's phone rang.
He answered.
A distorted male voice spoke.
“You finally found her.”
Roman went still.
“Who is this?”
The voice laughed.
“You're looking in the wrong place.”
Roman's eyes hardened.
“Where is Celeste?”
“You'll never find her.”
“Try me.”
“You already did.”
The line went dead.
Roman looked at Nora.
She had begun crying.
Not from fear.
From realization.
“Julian knows.”
Roman's expression sharpened.
“Knows what?”
“That I'm pregnant.”
Roman stared at her.
“You told him?”
“No.”
“Then how?”
Nora remembered.
The prenatal vitamin bottle.
Selene had taken it from her locker.
Selene had known.
Which meant—
“Someone told her.”
Roman's eyes narrowed.
“Someone inside the hotel.”
Nora looked at the broken pendant in her hand.
Suddenly she noticed something.
The back of the thimble wasn't scratched randomly.
There was another mark beneath the letter R.
A tiny number.
17.
Roman saw it.
His face changed.
“That's not a letter.”
“What?”
“It's a room number.”
Nora stared at him.
“Room seventeen.”
Roman immediately turned to his men.
“Seal the seventeenth floor.”
One man hesitated.
“Sir…”
Roman looked at him.
“What?”
“The hotel doesn't have a room seventeen.”
Roman froze.
Nora felt cold spread through her chest.
“Then what does it have?”
The man swallowed.
“A sealed floor.”
May you like
Roman looked at Nora.
And somewhere above them, a lock clicked open.
