Chapter 12 - The Stairwell
Daniel pulled Emily away from the garage exit.
“Back upstairs.”
People pushed around them, confused by the alarm.
A security guard shouted directions.
Then the lights went out.
Emergency red strips glowed along the stairwell floor.
Emily felt the baby shift low in her belly.
“Daniel.”
“I’m here.”
A door slammed three floors below.
Footsteps climbed fast.
Not panicked footsteps.
Deliberate ones.
Daniel moved Emily behind him.
“Call 911.”
She already had.
The dispatcher stayed on the line.
The footsteps stopped one landing below.
Then a man’s voice echoed upward.
“Daniel.”
Evan Pike.
Daniel’s shoulders tightened.
“Stay where you are.”
Pike laughed softly.
“Your mother wants the documents.”
Emily whispered, “What documents?”
Daniel shook his head.
Pike climbed one step.
“Give me the trust copies and this ends.”
Daniel shouted, “Police are coming.”
“I know.”
Then Pike rushed upward.
Daniel shoved Emily through the apartment-level fire door and slammed it behind them.
Pike hit it from the other side.
Once.
Twice.
The latch bent.
Daniel grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall.
Emily backed toward the elevator lobby, one hand on her belly.
The door burst open.
Pike came through.
Daniel sprayed him directly in the face.
White chemical powder filled the hall.
Pike cursed and swung blindly.
Daniel tackled him.
They hit the floor hard.
Emily heard sirens below.
Then pain tore through her abdomen.
She folded over.
“No.”
Warm fluid soaked her leggings.
Not water this time.
Blood.
“Daniel.”
He looked up from the struggle.
His face changed instantly.
Emily pressed both hands under her belly.
“The baby.”
Pike stopped fighting long enough to stare.
Police poured into the hallway seconds later.
Daniel crawled toward Emily.
“Stay with me.”
She gripped his shirt.
The contraction hit like a wave.
Emily screamed.
May you like
At thirty-seven weeks exactly, their son had decided he was coming.
And this time, nobody knew if he was safe.
