Chapter 8 - The Man in the Nursery
Henry looked older than he had in the archive video, but the image was live.
The clock on the nursery wall showed 11:19 p.m.
Elena touched the screen.
“Dad.”
Henry could not hear her.
He walked toward the camera and held up a handwritten message.
DO NOT RETURN HOME.
A shadow moved across the hallway behind him.
Henry turned sharply.
The feed cut to black.
Elena started toward the door.
Ryan stepped in front of her.
“You cannot go home.”
“My father is there.”
“That is exactly why they want you to leave the hotel.”
“You have no right to tell me what to do.”
“No,” Ryan said quietly. “I lost that right.”
The admission did not erase anything.
Nolan contacted a trusted federal agent, but the hotel communication system remained blocked. They needed access to the roof transmitter.
Tessa knew a service stairway leading upward.
Before they left, the notary gave Elena a folder she had hidden beneath her chair.
“These are the original papers,” she said. “The transfer documents were only one part.”
Inside was a custody petition prepared in Ryan’s name.
It claimed Elena was mentally unstable and requested immediate guardianship of the baby after birth.
Ryan read it.
“I never authorized this.”
“Your signature is at the bottom,” Elena said.
“It is forged.”
She looked at him without sympathy.
“Now you know what that feels like.”
They climbed toward the roof.
The hotel shook as Margaret’s men breached another locked corridor below.
Nolan remained behind them with his weapon drawn.
At the thirty first floor landing, Celeste emerged from a side door.
She carried Dr. Greer’s second syringe.
Tessa froze.
“Celeste.”
The bride’s mascara had run down her face.
“My mother says this child will destroy everything.”
Elena placed one hand over her stomach.
“The child has done nothing to you.”
“You do not understand what your father did. He created a trust designed to take our company the moment your baby was born.”
“Your family stole from him.”
“My family built this city.”
“Then why are you terrified of an unborn child?”
Celeste raised the syringe.
Ryan moved in front of Elena.
Celeste laughed.
“Now you protect her?”
“I should have done it sooner.”
“You promised me she would sign.”
“I promised whatever was necessary to keep Margaret from killing Henry.”
Elena stared at Ryan.
“Were you and Celeste together?”
Ryan said nothing.
Celeste smiled.
“Ask him who chose the date of this wedding.”
Tessa stepped closer.
“You do not have to become your mother.”
Celeste’s hand trembled.
For one second, Elena thought she might lower the syringe.
Then the roof door opened behind them.
Margaret stood there with two armed men.
May you like
“Finish it,” she ordered.
Continue to the next part: Ryan’s private relationship with the bride is exposed as Margaret orders Elena’s pregnancy used against her.
