Chapter 2 - THE MAN IN THE STAIRWELLThe emergency lights turned the hospital red.
Emma hated red lights.
She said they made everyone look guilty.
That night, she was right.
Adrian moved before anyone else.
He grabbed me with one arm and Emma with the other.
“Down.”
We dropped behind the nurses' station.
Grandma shouted our names.
A crash came from Mom's room.
Then another.
Adrian's bodyguards ran through the darkness.
“Lock the floor!” Adrian yelled.
The lights returned twelve seconds later.
I counted.
I count when I'm scared.
It gives numbers something useful to do.
Mom was still in bed.
Grandma was beside her.
The doctors were checking every machine.
But one of Adrian's security men stood near the stairwell holding a stranger against the wall.
The stranger wore blue hospital scrubs.
There was blood on his mouth.
“Who is he?” Adrian asked.
“No badge,” the guard said.
The stranger smiled.
That smile scared me.
He looked directly at Mom's room.
Then at Adrian.
“You should have stayed dead in the park.”
The hallway became silent.
Adrian walked toward him.
“Who sent you?”
The man laughed.
“You really don't know.”
Adrian hit him.
Grandma covered my eyes too late.
Emma said, “I saw it.”
“So did I.”
“You weren't supposed to.”
“Neither were you.”
The stranger spit blood.
Then he said, “Ask Claire about Black Harbor.”
Adrian stopped.
The stranger's smile widened.
“If she wakes up.”
Police arrived.
Then more security.
Then hospital administrators who suddenly discovered they could run very fast when a billionaire was angry.
Mom was transferred again.
Not to another room.
To another hospital.
Adrian owned part of it.
Grandma didn't like that.
But she liked the man in fake scrubs even less.
We traveled in a black SUV.
Emma and I sat between Grandma and a woman named Mara who carried a gun under her jacket.
I knew because Emma whispered it.
“You're not supposed to stare,” I whispered.
“You stared too.”
“I was checking if you were right.”
Mara looked at us.
“Yes, it's a gun.”
Emma nodded.
“Thank you.”
Grandma rubbed her forehead.
At the new hospital, Mom was taken upstairs.
Adrian disappeared into a room with his security team.
Grandma tried to take us to a waiting area.
Emma refused.
So did I.
Finally Grandma sat down.
She looked older than she had that morning.
“Tell us,” Emma said.
Grandma looked at her.
“Tell you what?”
“Everything.”
“You're eight.”
“We were eight yesterday too,” I said. “Nobody told us anything then, and a fake nurse tried to hurt Mom.”
Grandma's eyes filled with tears.
I hated seeing Grandma cry.
She was the person other people cried against.
She reached for our hands.
“Your mother met Adrian Vale when she was twenty-three.”
“Was he rich?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Like now?”
“No. His father controlled the company then.”
Emma asked, “Did Mommy love him?”
Grandma looked toward the glass doors.
“Yes.”
The answer hurt, although I didn't know why.
“What happened?”
“Your mother worked in accounting at Vale Meridian. She was very good with numbers.”
“So is Lucy,” Emma said.
“I'm better at multiplication.”
“You still count on your fingers.”
“Only difficult ones.”
Grandma almost smiled.
Then it disappeared.
“Claire found payments that didn't make sense. Money moving through shipping companies that didn't exist. She thought someone was stealing from Vale Meridian.”
“Were they?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Grandma looked toward the room where Adrian had disappeared.
“But Claire believed Adrian's father was involved.”
“Did she tell Adrian?”
“She tried.”
“What did he do?”
Grandma's voice became quiet.
“He didn't believe her.”
The door opened.
Adrian stood there.
“I believed her too late.”
Grandma stiffened.
Adrian walked closer.
He looked tired.
“I confronted my father,” he said. “He told me Claire was manipulating me.”
Grandma said nothing.
“I was twenty-eight. Arrogant. Stupid.”
“Rich,” Emma added.
Adrian looked at her.
“Yes. Very rich.”
“Mom says rich people can still be stupid.”
Grandma closed her eyes.
Adrian almost smiled.
“Your mother was correct.”
He sat across from us.
“Two weeks after our argument, Claire disappeared.”
“You thought she died,” I said.
“Yes.”
“Did you cry?”
Grandma said, “Lucy.”
“What? People cry.”
Adrian looked at me.
“Yes.”
His answer was simple.
“I cried.”
I believed him.
Emma did too.
“What is Black Harbor?” she asked.
Adrian's face changed.
Grandma stared at her.
“How do you know that?”
“The bad man said it.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“Black Harbor was the name of an internal project at Vale Meridian.”
“What kind of project?”
“I don't know.”
Emma frowned.
“You own the company.”
“I do now.”
“So find out.”
Adrian looked at her for several seconds.
“You remind me of someone.”
“Mom?”
His eyes softened.
“Yes.”
Mara entered the room.
“Mr. Vale.”
Something in her voice made Adrian stand.
She handed him a tablet.
He read the screen.
Then read it again.
“What?” Grandma asked.
Adrian turned toward us.
“The man at the hospital has been identified.”
“Who is he?”
“A private contractor named Daniel Rusk.”
Grandma went pale.
Adrian noticed.
“You know him.”
“No.”
“You recognize the name.”
Grandma stood.
“I need coffee.”
“Ruth.”
“I said I need coffee.”
She walked away.
Adrian watched her.
Emma watched Adrian.
I watched Emma.
“What?” I whispered.
“Grandma lied.”
“I know.”
“You always say that.”
“I did know this time.”
That afternoon, Mom moved her hand again.
The doctors reduced some of her medication.
They said waking could take hours.
Or days.
Adrian stayed.
At midnight, Grandma fell asleep in a chair.
Emma slept against my shoulder.
I woke when Adrian whispered.
He stood near the window.
On his phone.
“No,” he said. “Do not alert the board.”
A pause.
“Find every record connected to Black Harbor.”
Another pause.
Then Adrian's voice became colder.
“And find Daniel Rusk's connection to my brother.”
I opened my eyes.
Adrian turned.
He saw me.
Neither of us spoke.
Then Mom gasped.
Her eyes opened.
I screamed for Grandma.
Emma woke.
Doctors rushed inside.
Mom's eyes moved wildly.
Then she saw us.
“Girls.”
Her voice was broken.
We ran to her.
Grandma cried.
I cried.
Emma said she didn't cry, but she did.
Adrian stayed near the door.
Mom held our hands.
Then she looked past us.
She saw him.
All the happiness left her face.
“No.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Claire.”
“No.”
Her monitor began beeping faster.
“Mommy?” I whispered.
Mom stared at Adrian.
“You have to leave.”
“Claire, someone tried to—”
“Take my daughters and go.”
Adrian froze.
Mom's eyes filled with terror.
“Claire—”
“They know.”
“Who?”
She looked at us.
Then at Adrian.
“The people who killed their father.”
Adrian became completely still.
May you like
Mom whispered the next words.
“And Adrian... they think it was you.”
Related Stories
