Chapter 2 - MARIA DELGADO
Maria returned to the linen office and found the chair empty.
The coloring book remained open.
A pink crayon had been broken in half.
“Lily?”
No answer came.
Maria searched the hallway.
Her panic grew with every silent room.
She reached the executive corridor and saw the open office door.
Lily sat on the carpet beside Ethan Harrington.
The billionaire’s tie had been pulled loose.
His face was pale.
An inhaler rested in his hand.
Maria stopped so abruptly that the cleaning cart struck her hip.
“Lily.”
The child turned.
“Mama.”
“He could not breathe.”
Maria rushed into the room.
She lifted Lily and checked her from head to toe.
“What did I tell you?”
“I helped.”
“You were supposed to stay in the room.”
“The man was falling.”
Maria closed her eyes.
Relief and terror collided inside her.
Then Ethan spoke.
“Maria Delgado.”
She looked at him.
They had never been formally introduced.
She worked for a contractor three levels beneath the executive staff.
He should not have known her name.
Ethan pushed himself into a sitting position.
“You are Ava’s sister.”
Maria’s face lost its color.
Eleven years earlier, she had been seventeen.
She wore braces and oversized sweaters.
Ethan had seen her only a handful of times.
He remembered anyway.
“You knew?” she asked.
“Not until now.”
Lily held up Mr. Buttons.
“I told him about Aunt Ava.”
Maria pulled the child closer.
“What exactly did you say?”
“That Aunt Ava did not leave him.”
Ethan looked directly at Maria.
“Is that true?”
Footsteps approached.
Ethan’s executive assistant, Rebecca Sloan, entered with two security officers.
She saw him on the floor.
“Mr. Harrington.”
“What happened?”
“My inhaler was out of reach.”
Rebecca moved toward the emergency button.
Ethan stopped her.
“Do not call building security yet.”
She stared at him.
“Someone disabled the office camera.”
The security officer checked his tablet.
“The camera went offline at 2:04.”
“Your medical watch stopped transmitting at 2:06.”
Ethan looked toward the shattered device.
It had not merely broken when he fell.
A sharp cut crossed the wristband.
Someone had damaged it before the attack.
Rebecca examined the inhaler.
“This is the one from your desk?”
“Yes.”
“There should have been another in the wall cabinet.”
The cabinet was empty.
Ethan looked at Maria.
“We need to talk.”
Maria shook her head.
“I need to return Lily to the linen room.”
“You told your daughter that Ava did not leave me.”
“I told her a family story.”
“It was my life.”
Maria’s eyes hardened.
“It was my sister’s life too.”
The truth silenced him.
Rebecca called the private medical team.
As they helped Ethan onto a chair, Lily pointed toward the hallway.
“The shiny man took the other blue thing.”
Everyone turned toward her.
“What shiny man?” Maria asked.
“The man with silver shoes.”
“He came out before I found Mr. Ethan.”
One security officer looked at the other.
Only one executive on the forty-second floor wore custom silver-capped shoes.
Sebastian Harrington.
May you like
Ethan’s cousin.
The company’s chief operating officer.
