Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN BLUE
The pounding began.
“Open the door.”
Sarah did not move.
“Open it now.”
Chloe held her daughter tighter.
“What do they want?”
Sarah looked at the envelope.
“That.”
Another violent blow shook the door.
Sarah crossed the room and dragged a metal cabinet against it.
Chloe stared at her.
“Who are you?”
“A nurse.”
“No.”
Chloe’s voice hardened.
“You knew about Daniel.
You knew about Eleanor.
You hid DNA results under my mattress.
Who are you really?”
Sarah stopped.
The emergency light painted half her face crimson.
“My mother worked for the Vances.”
Chloe said nothing.
“Thirty-one years ago,” Sarah continued, “she was a junior nurse in the maternity department where Daniel was born.”
The door shook again.
Sarah spoke faster.
“Rebecca Hale arrived under another name.
Young.
Terrified.
Pregnant.
The Vance family arranged everything privately.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel’s biological father was Arthur Vance.”
Chloe’s eyes widened.
Arthur.
Daniel’s late father.
The billionaire whose estate Eleanor had controlled after his death.
Sarah continued.
“Arthur loved Rebecca.
He intended to marry her.”
“But Eleanor?”
“Was already married to him.”
The pieces began connecting.
Slowly.
Horribly.
Sarah looked toward the door.
“Eleanor couldn't allow Rebecca’s son to become the legitimate Vance heir.”
“But Daniel is the heir.”
“Exactly.”
Chloe stared at her.
Sarah’s next words came slowly.
“She couldn't eliminate the child.
Arthur knew about him.
So Eleanor did something smarter.”
The pounding stopped.
The silence was somehow worse.
“She took him.”
Chloe felt nauseated.
“Daniel?”
Sarah nodded.
“She raised Rebecca’s son as her own.”
“And Rebecca?”
“My mother always believed Rebecca was murdered.”
A soft mechanical sound came from the door.
Someone was working on the lock.
Sarah continued urgently.
“Years later Arthur discovered pieces of the truth.
Then he died too.”
Chloe remembered Arthur’s official cause of death.
Heart attack.
He had been forty-seven.
Healthy.
Powerful.
Gone overnight.
“Why does my baby matter?”
“Because Arthur created a hidden succession clause.”
Chloe stared.
“If Eleanor was ever proven not to be Daniel’s biological mother, control of the Vance family trust would transfer through Arthur’s verified bloodline.”
“To Daniel?”
Sarah shook her head.
“Not if Daniel is implicated in concealment.”
Chloe looked down.
At her daughter.
Understanding arrived like a bullet.
“To her.”
“Yes.”
The lock clicked.
Sarah’s head snapped toward the door.
“We have seconds.”
“Does Daniel know?”
Sarah hesitated.
That hesitation answered everything.
Chloe’s eyes filled with tears.
“No.”
“I’m sorry.”
“He knew?”
“He discovered the truth six months ago.”
Chloe remembered six months ago.
Daniel had changed.
Late meetings.
Secret calls.
His mother suddenly visiting every weekend.
Documents disappearing from his study.
Chloe had blamed stress.
She had defended him.
Loved him.
Trusted him.
The door opened two inches before striking the cabinet.
A gloved hand appeared through the gap.
Sarah grabbed an oxygen cylinder.
“Move!”
The cabinet slid.
Chloe forced herself out of bed.
Pain ripped through her body.
She nearly fell.
Sarah caught her.
“Bathroom.”
“There’s no exit.”
“There is for maintenance.”
They reached the bathroom.
Sarah pulled open a panel beneath the sink.
Behind it was a narrow service access door.
Chloe stared.
“You expect me to crawl through there?”
Sarah looked at the newborn.
“I expect you to decide how badly you want to remain her mother.”
Behind them, the cabinet toppled.
Chloe heard men enter.
May you like
She looked down at her daughter.
Then she crawled into the darkness.
