Chapter 10 - The First Attempt
"She told me not to tell you," Maria said.
"Why?"
"She said she needed proof first."
Adrian's guilt came in waves.
He had been in Singapore that week.
Claire had called him three times.
He returned one call.
For eight minutes.
He remembered telling her he was walking into a dinner.
"I left her alone."
Maria squeezed his hand.
"You didn't know."
"I should have."
Ortiz interrupted.
"We recovered warehouse surveillance from an old backup unit."
They watched on a laptop.
The footage was grainy.
Graham entered.
Vanessa entered five minutes later.
Then another person.
Adrian leaned closer.
"No."
Daniel stared too.
It was Nolan Price.
Adrian's current head of security.
The man who had guarded Sophie's bedroom after Claire's death.
The man who had told Adrian the pool footage was deleted by a "system error."
Ortiz's jaw tightened.
"Where is he now?"
Sophie.
Adrian ran for the door.
Rachel answered on the first ring.
"We're okay."
"Where are you?"
"Hotel. Room 804."
"Leave. Now."
"Why?"
"Nolan."
A knock sounded through her phone.
Rachel went silent.
Another knock.
"Hotel security," a man called.
Adrian shouted, "Don't open it!"
Sophie whispered, "Aunt Rachel?"
Rachel moved away from the door.
The handle turned.
Someone had a key.
Rachel grabbed Sophie and ran into the bathroom.
Adrian could hear pounding.
"Rachel!"
Then glass shattered.
Sophie screamed.
The call cut.
Adrian drove like a man possessed.
Police reached the hotel first.
Room 804 was empty.
The bathroom window was broken.
On the floor was Sophie's pink hair clip.
Adrian stared at it.
Ortiz checked the stairwell cameras.
"Nolan took them through the service corridor."
Adrian's voice disappeared.
"Took them where?"
Daniel's phone rang.
He answered, listened, then looked sick.
"What?"
"The trust transfer was reactivated."
Adrian turned.
"How?"
Daniel swallowed.
"It requires Sophie's biometric confirmation."
Adrian understood.
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They hadn't taken Sophie to hide her.
They had taken her to steal eighteen million dollars.
