CHAPTER 2: THE BASEMENT APARTMENT
Twenty-five minutes later, Alexander’s black sedan stopped in front of a decaying apartment building in Queens.
The brick exterior was cracked.
A rusted fire escape clung to the wall.
Water from a broken gutter spilled onto the sidewalk even though the rain had stopped hours ago.
Alexander stared through the window.
“This is where you live?”
Sophia nodded.
“The basement door is around the side.”
His driver, Marcus Reed, glanced at him through the rearview mirror.
Marcus had worked for Alexander for twelve years. He had driven him to billion-dollar negotiations, charity events, and meetings with senators.
He had never seen his employer look so shattered.
Alexander stepped out and followed Sophia down a narrow alley.
The basement entrance was below street level. A bare lightbulb flickered above the door.
Sophia took a key from the pocket of her dress.
When she opened the door, the smell hit him first.
Mold.
Damp concrete.
Medicine.
The apartment consisted of one small room, a narrow kitchen, and a bathroom with a curtain instead of a door.
Buckets had been placed beneath leaks in the ceiling.
A mattress rested on the floor beside an old couch.
Lauren lay beneath a thin blanket.
Even in the dim light, Alexander could see how pale she was.
Her cheeks were hollow. Dark circles surrounded her eyes. A bloodstained towel rested near her hand.
Sophia rushed to her.
“Mommy, I brought food.”
Lauren opened her eyes.
For a moment, she smiled weakly at her daughter.
Then she saw Alexander.
The smile vanished.
She struggled to sit up.
“No.”
Alexander stopped near the doorway.
“Lauren—”
“You can’t be here.”
Her voice was barely stronger than a whisper.
Sophia looked between them.
“Mommy, Daddy found me.”
Lauren’s gaze dropped to the plastic bag.
Understanding crossed her face.
“You went to the hotel?”
“I wanted to bring you bread.”
Lauren closed her eyes.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
She pulled Sophia close, hiding her tears in the little girl’s hair.
Alexander felt something break inside him.
He remembered Lauren as she had been before their marriage collapsed—intelligent, warm, stubborn, and impossible to intimidate.
The woman before him looked as though life had been draining out of her one day at a time.
“I’ve been sending money,” he said.
Lauren looked up.
“What money?”
“Five thousand dollars every month.”
She laughed once, but there was no humor in it.
“Your mother told me you refused to give us anything.”
Alexander stepped forward.
“She told me you left with another man.”
Lauren stared at him.
Then she slowly reached beneath the mattress and pulled out a worn envelope.
Inside was a copy of a letter.
Alexander recognized the signature immediately.
His own.
The letter stated that he wanted no contact with Lauren or Sophia. It accused Lauren of humiliating the Sterling name and warned that any attempt to approach him would result in criminal charges.
Alexander read it twice.
“I never wrote this.”
Lauren’s eyes filled with bitter disbelief.
“There were dozens.”
She pointed toward a cardboard box in the corner.
“Letters from your attorneys. Notices from private investigators. Threats that Sophia would be taken away if I came near you.”
Alexander knelt beside the box.
Every document carried the Sterling corporate letterhead.
Every page appeared official.
Some contained his signature.
Others contained the signature of Nathan Cole, the Sterling family attorney.
Alexander felt sick.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“I tried.”
Lauren’s voice cracked.
“Your number was changed. Your office blocked me. Security removed me from your building.”
She looked at Sophia.
“Then your mother came to see me.”
Alexander slowly lifted his head.
Lauren’s expression darkened.
“She told me that you hated me. She said you wanted Sophia raised quietly, away from your new life. She offered me money to disappear.”
“But you didn’t take it.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I loved you.”
The words struck harder than an accusation.
Lauren looked away.
“And because I believed someday you would realize the truth.”
A violent coughing fit seized her.
She covered her mouth with the towel.
Fresh blood appeared.
Alexander immediately reached for his phone.
“We’re going to the hospital.”
“No.”
“That is not a request.”
Lauren tried to stand, but her legs gave way.
Alexander caught her before she hit the floor.
She was frighteningly light in his arms.
Sophia began to cry.
“Please don’t let Mommy die.”
Alexander held Lauren against his chest.
He looked around the mold-covered room, at the buckets, the empty refrigerator, and the box filled with forged threats.
Then he made a promise.
Not to Lauren.
Not to Sophia.
To himself.
May you like
He would discover every person responsible for this.
And he would tear apart anything they had built with his family’s suffering.
