Chapter 4 - The Bullet Through the Nursery Window
The third gunshot shattered the glass above the staircase.
Daniel reached Ava before she understood what was happening.
He threw himself between her and the window, wrapped one arm around her shoulders, and pulled her behind the marble wall.
“Stay down.”
Ava's ears rang.
Glass rained across the stairs.
Somewhere outside, a man shouted.
Marcus appeared at the entrance with a pistol in his hand.
“Two shooters at the rear gate. Security's responding.”
Daniel looked toward the upper floor.
“Margaret?”
“Safe in the kitchen.”
“Get Ava downstairs.”
Ava grabbed Daniel's sleeve.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“Please.”
“Don't tell me to hide while you go get yourself killed.”
For one brief moment, his expression softened.
“I'm not leaving you.”
He turned to Marcus.
“Lock down the house. Nobody goes outside until the police arrive.”
Marcus nodded and spoke into his radio.
Ava followed Daniel into a reinforced study off the main hallway.
He shut the door.
The sudden silence was almost worse than the gunfire.
Ava stood shaking.
Daniel checked her face and hands.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Any pain?”
“No.”
“Bleeding?”
“Daniel, stop.”
He withdrew his hands.
She looked at him.
“You're asking because of the baby.”
“Yes.”
Ava swallowed.
“You really think it could be yours.”
Daniel looked at her for a long moment.
“I think there's a chance. But I'm not going to pretend I know until we have answers.”
She sat down slowly.
Outside, sirens approached.
Daniel took a seat across from her.
“There's something I need to explain.”
Ava laughed bitterly.
“Another secret?”
“Yes.”
He didn't try to soften it.
“In Baltimore, I wasn't supposed to meet you.”
She stared.
“I was there to investigate a company involved in laundering money through construction contracts. Your father's business appeared in the records.”
“My father wasn't laundering money.”
“I know that now.”
“Then why did you approach me?”
“I didn't. You approached me at the hotel bar.”
Ava remembered.
He had been sitting alone.
She had asked whether the empty chair beside him was taken.
He had smiled and said, Only if you don't mind bad company.
For a few hours, neither of them had mentioned business.
Daniel continued.
“I used my middle name, Ethan, and my mother's maiden name, Cole. I didn't want anyone at that conference connecting me to Choi Meridian.”
“And the morning you disappeared?”
“I received a call warning me that someone had placed an explosive device beneath my vehicle.”
Ava stared.
“Was it there?”
“Yes.”
He looked down.
“My driver found it before anyone was hurt.”
“Why didn't you call me afterward?”
“Because whoever planted it knew where I'd spent the night.”
Ava's stomach tightened.
“They knew about me?”
Daniel nodded.
“I thought staying away would keep you out of it.”
“But you came back.”
“Your father's debt was sold to a company connected to Victor. By then, Victor knew you and I had met.”
“Why would he want us married?”
Daniel's expression darkened.
“That's what I've been trying to find out.”
Ava looked toward the door.
“And you think he's behind the shooting?”
“I think someone wants us frightened enough to make a mistake.”
His phone rang.
Marcus.
Daniel answered.
“Talk.”
He listened.
Then his expression changed.
“Where?”
A pause.
“Don't touch it.”
He ended the call.
“What?” Ava asked.
Daniel stood.
“The shooters are gone. They left something at the gate.”
“What?”
“A photograph.”
He hesitated.
“Of you.”
Twenty minutes later, Marcus entered the study carrying a sealed evidence bag.
Inside was a photograph taken through the window of the Harborview Hotel.
Ava was standing beside Daniel.
She wore the blue dress she'd chosen for the conference dinner.
Daniel's hand rested gently against her waist.
Someone had photographed them from across the street.
On the back, printed in black ink, were six words.
THE CHILD DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU.
Ava stared.
“How could they know?”
Daniel's eyes moved toward her stomach.
“They may not. They may only suspect.”
Marcus looked uncomfortable.
“There's something else.”
He placed a second photograph on the desk.
It showed Ava entering a medical clinic in Baltimore.
The date was three days before the wedding.
Ava frowned.
“I went there for routine bloodwork.”
Daniel looked at Marcus.
“Find out who accessed those records.”
Marcus nodded.
Then Ava noticed something in the photograph.
A man stood behind her near the clinic entrance.
She leaned closer.
“Wait.”
Daniel followed her gaze.
The man's face was partially hidden beneath a baseball cap.
But Ava recognized the jacket.
And the silver watch.
Her father owned that watch.
“That's Dad.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
She swallowed.
“He told me he was in Philadelphia that day.”
Marcus's phone vibrated.
He glanced at the message.
Then looked at Daniel.
“We have another problem.”
Daniel's expression sharpened.
“What?”
“Michael Bennett checked out of his Baltimore hotel yesterday morning.”
Ava stood.
“Where did he go?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Nobody knows.”
Ava reached for her phone and called her father.
Straight to voicemail.
She called again.
Nothing.
Then a message appeared from an unknown number.
A photograph loaded.
Her father sat tied to a chair in a dimly lit room.
His face was bruised.
May you like
Beneath the photograph was a single sentence.
TELL DANIEL TO SIGN THE SUCCESSION AGREEMENT, OR YOUR FATHER DIES BEFORE SUNRISE.
