Chapter 2 - The Woman in the Snow
The elevator doors opened.
Sylvia stood inside.
Victor's expression changed instantly.
"What are you doing here?"
Sylvia stepped into the penthouse wearing a dark winter coat, snow melting across her shoulders.
"I called you."
"I didn't answer."
"That's why I'm here."
Adrian looked from Sylvia to Victor.
Then at the security monitor.
Sylvia noticed the empty nursery visible down the hallway.
Her face lost color.
"Where's Nora?"
Victor watched her.
"You tell me."
"What?"
"April seventeenth."
Sylvia stopped.
It lasted less than a second.
But Victor saw it.
"You know the date."
"No."
"You just reacted."
"I reacted because you're standing there looking at me like I've committed some crime."
Victor stepped closer.
"What happened April seventeenth?"
Sylvia looked at Adrian.
"This is private."
"Nothing is private anymore."
Victor showed her the message.
SHE FOUND OUT ABOUT APRIL 17.
Sylvia read it.
Her lips parted.
"Victor..."
"What?"
"I need you to calm down."
Adrian muttered, "Wrong sentence."
Victor's voice dropped.
"What happened?"
Sylvia removed her gloves slowly.
"That was the day Nora came to my office."
Victor stared.
"Nora visited you?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because she asked me not to."
His anger rose.
"What did she want?"
"She wanted to know whether we were sleeping together."
Adrian turned away.
Victor ignored him.
"What did you tell her?"
"The truth."
"Which is?"
Sylvia looked Victor directly in the eyes.
"That we weren't."
Victor exhaled.
For one second, relief appeared.
Then Sylvia continued.
"But I told her I wished we were."
Victor's face hardened.
Sylvia looked ashamed.
"I was angry. You had spent months coming to me whenever things at home became difficult. Dinner. Drinks. Late meetings that didn't need to be late."
"I never touched you."
"No."
"But you wanted me to."
Victor said nothing.
"And Nora knew."
Sylvia looked toward the empty nursery.
"Women know when their husbands are emotionally living somewhere else."
Victor's eyes narrowed.
"What does that have to do with Camera 7?"
Sylvia hesitated.
"After Nora left my office, I followed her downstairs."
"Why?"
"Because she was crying."
Victor's jaw tightened.
"I found her in the garage."
Camera 7.
Sylvia continued.
"She was sitting in her car. I knocked on the window. She wouldn't open it."
"What happened next?"
"A man approached her."
Victor became still.
"What man?"
"I don't know."
"Describe him."
"Older. Gray coat. Maybe sixty."
"What did he say?"
"I couldn't hear everything."
"What did you hear?"
Sylvia swallowed.
"He said your name."
Victor waited.
"And?"
"He told Nora she needed to stop asking questions."
Adrian stepped forward.
"What questions?"
"I don't know."
Sylvia looked frightened now.
"But Nora looked terrified."
Victor immediately pulled out his phone.
"Nora."
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
He sent a message.
CALL ME. NOW.
Adrian turned to Sylvia.
"Why didn't you tell Victor?"
Sylvia looked at him.
"Because the man saw me."
Silence.
"What happened?" Victor asked.
"He walked toward me."
"And?"
"He said, 'You didn't see anything.'"
Victor almost laughed.
"That frightened you?"
"No."
Sylvia's eyes shifted toward him.
"What frightened me was that he knew my home address."
Victor's expression changed.
Adrian asked, "Did you recognize him?"
"No."
"Could you?"
"Yes."
Victor turned to the monitor.
"We recover Camera 7."
Adrian nodded.
Victor's phone vibrated.
Nora.
He answered.
"Where are you?"
Her voice came fast.
"Victor, listen to me."
He straightened.
"Nora?"
"Do not come looking for us."
"Why?"
"The person who contacted me knew where the twins were born."
Victor glanced at Adrian.
"What person?"
"He knew their hospital room numbers."
Victor's blood went cold.
"Nora, where are you?"
"I can't tell you."
"You're in danger."
"No."
Her answer came immediately.
"You are."
Victor frowned.
"What?"
"I didn't leave because of Sylvia."
Silence.
Victor looked toward Sylvia.
Nora continued.
"I left because I found something in your files."
"What files?"
"April seventeenth."
Victor's fingers tightened around the phone.
"What did you find?"
"A payment."
"To whom?"
Nora hesitated.
Then a loud sound came through the phone.
A knock.
Nora stopped breathing.
Victor heard it too.
"Nora?"
Another knock.
Three slow taps.
"Nora, don't open the door."
She whispered:
"Nobody knows I'm here."
Victor's heart hammered.
"Take the babies and move away from the door."
Another knock.
Then a man's voice came faintly through Nora's phone.
"Mrs. Rinaldi?"
Victor looked at Adrian.
"Nora."
She didn't answer.
The man outside spoke again.
"I have something that belongs to your husband."
Nora whispered one final sentence.
May you like
"Oh my God."
The line went dead.
