Chapter 14 - THE HUSBAND’S FINAL BETRAYAL
Preston demanded one thing.
Emily had to come alone.
Raymond refused immediately.
Detective Ortiz began tracing the broadcast.
Preston anticipated it.
The signal bounced through multiple servers.
Thomas appeared injured but conscious.
Preston stood behind him.
“You have six hours.”
Emily stared at the screen.
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
Preston smiled.
“But Thomas knows what happened to your mother.”
Thomas lifted his head.
“Emily.”
His voice was weak.
“I’m sorry.”
The screen went black.
Raymond grabbed Emily’s shoulders.
“You are not going.”
Emily looked at him.
“I know.”
She had finally learned something.
Never obey the person creating the rules.
Instead, she created her own.
Alicia traced an accounting transfer made from Preston’s burner phone.
Nathan contacted firefighter colleagues familiar with abandoned industrial properties.
Ortiz compared electrical backgrounds from the video.
Three hours later, they identified an old Whitmore-owned medical warehouse.
Police moved in.
The building was empty.
Thomas’s chair sat beneath a hanging light.
A phone rested on the floor.
It rang.
Emily answered from the command vehicle outside.
Preston laughed.
“Still predictable.”
Emily said nothing.
“Where are you?”
“Close enough.”
Then a second call reached Raymond.
Hospital security.
Vanessa Cross had entered Saint Claire Medical Center wearing scrubs.
Emily’s blood ran cold.
“My baby.”
Raymond understood immediately.
Her medical records.
Her scheduled examinations.
Her delivery plan.
Vanessa was not hiding with Preston.
She had gone after Emily’s unborn son.
They raced back to the hospital.
Security locked every maternity entrance.
Vanessa was found inside a supply closet.
She carried stolen medication.
A syringe.
And a fake nurse badge.
But when police dragged her into the hallway, Vanessa screamed one sentence that changed the case.
“You idiots.”
“I wasn’t going after the baby.”
Emily stopped.
Vanessa’s eyes filled with panic.
“I was trying to protect him.”
“From who?”
May you like
Vanessa looked straight at Raymond.
“From Preston.”
