Chapter 4 - A Discovery in the Dark
Two days later, the storm had transformed Chicago into a frozen wasteland. I had managed to pick up an extra lunch shift, pushing my bank account up to a slightly less terrifying $48.20, but the constant anxiety was wearing me down to skin and bone.
That afternoon, Elena handed me a stack of fresh linens and told me to restock the supply room near the back stairs—the very same supply room where I had hidden Ava.
My stomach knotted immediately. Be normal. Act natural, I told myself as I pushed a wheeled cart down the dim corridor. The restaurant was closed for a private afternoon buyout, meaning the dining room was empty, but the back offices were a hive of quiet, intimidating activity.
As I neared the supply room, I noticed the heavy wooden door to Reed Callaway’s private office—the one Tommy Ritchie had warned me never to look at—was cracked open about an inch.
Normally, I would have walked past without even blinking. But as I drew closer, a faint, metallic sound drifted out into the hallway.
Click. Whir. Beep.
It sounded like a security system override, or a digital safe opening. Against every survival instinct I possessed, my feet stopped moving. I peeked through the narrow gap in the doorway.
Inside, Reed Callaway stood with his back to the door, typing furiously into a sleek wall-mounted terminal. Spread across his mahogany desk were financial documents, shipping manifests, and—most shockingly—photographs of a man I recognized instantly.
My breath caught in my throat.
It was Marcus—the man who had fathered Ava, taken my savings, and fled to Phoenix under a mountain of lies.
Before I could process what I was seeing, my elbow bumped clumsily against the metal rolling cart, sending a single plastic bottle of surface cleaner clattering loudly onto the tile floor.
Clatter.
May you like
Inside the office, the typing stopped instantly. A heavy, terrifying silence fell over the room.
The door was yanked open with violent speed, and Reed Callaway’s ice-gray eyes locked onto mine with the terrifying intensity of a predator cornering its prey.
