Chapter 6 - The Night Someone Came for Noah
The first alarm sounded at 2:13 in the morning.
I was already awake.
After the threatening photograph, I had moved Noah and Grace into the secure family wing, replaced the night security team, and ordered every entrance monitored.
Still, someone got inside.
Marcus called my private line.
"East garden. Unauthorized movement."
I reached the hallway just as the nursery door opened.
Grace stood there holding Noah.
He was crying against her shoulder.
"Adrian, somebody knocked on his window."
The nursery was on the second floor.
I looked at Marcus.
He understood immediately.
Outside, security lights flooded the garden.
A figure dressed in black was climbing down the maintenance ladder.
Two guards intercepted the intruder near the fountain.
Minutes later, Marcus brought me a confiscated phone.
The man had been carrying a forged maintenance badge and detailed photographs of the house.
He claimed he had been hired to leave another warning.
Not to kidnap Noah.
I didn't believe him.
Grace sat beside me in the upstairs sitting room while Noah finally fell asleep.
"I should leave," she whispered.
I turned.
"What?"
"Whoever is doing this wants me involved. Maybe Noah would be safer if—"
"No."
"Adrian—"
"Noah needs you. And I won't let someone frighten you out of his life."
Her eyes filled.
"You're not hearing me. These people have already hurt your family."
I reached for her hand.
"Then we face them together."
For a long moment, neither of us moved.
Her fingers slowly closed around mine.
It was the first time I had held her hand without a child between us.
Then Marcus appeared.
"Sir, we identified the intruder."
"Who hired him?"
"He received instructions through a private number. We're preserving the phone for the police."
"Whose number?"
Marcus hesitated.
"It was registered to Vanessa Hart's personal assistant."
I stood.
"Bring Vanessa in for questioning."
"She's gone, sir."
"Gone where?"
"Her apartment is empty. Her phone is disconnected."
I looked toward Grace.
She had turned pale.
"Adrian," she whispered, "there's something else you need to know."
"What?"
"The night before Claire went into labor, Vanessa visited her."
I stared.
"How do you know?"
"Because I was there."
May you like
Grace's voice cracked.
"And I heard Vanessa tell Claire she had exactly forty-eight hours to sign away her baby's inheritance."
