Chapter 1 - The Missing Mother
Vincent became very still.
He looked at the little girl who had just shattered his carefully constructed wall with a single sentence.
“Rachel said that?” he repeated quietly.
Emma nodded, taking a bite of the cheesy pasta Owen had set in front of her.
“She told Mommy that you were rich and scary to other people, but that you needed someone to remind you how to breathe.”
Vincent closed his eyes for a fraction of a second.
His cousin Rachel had always been reckless, but arranging a blind date with a civilian while describing him as a broken monster was a new level of insanity.
He looked at his watch.
It was past eight o'clock.
He pulled his phone out again and dialed the main desk of Manhattan General Hospital.
A receptionist answered after four rings, her voice tight with stress.
Vincent did not bother with pleasantries.
“I need to speak to Claire Bennett in the emergency department.”
The receptionist hesitated.
“I’m sorry, sir, but it’s a chaotic night and Claire isn’t on the floor.”
Vincent frowned.
“Emma said she was held back for a mass casualty event.”
There was a heavy pause on the line.
“There was no accident tonight, sir,” the receptionist said nervously.
Vincent’s blood turned to ice.
“Claire clocked out at seven-fifteen to go on a date.”
Vincent hung up the phone.
He looked at the little girl swinging her legs under the table.
Someone had lied to Emma.
Someone had intercepted Claire between the hospital and the restaurant.
Vincent stood up, his hand instinctually brushing the heavy steel of his concealed weapon.
“Emma, grab Walter,” Vincent said, his voice dropping into the cold, commanding tone that made grown men tremble.
“We are going to find your mother.”
As they stepped out of the restaurant into the pouring rain, Vincent’s burner phone vibrated in his pocket.
He answered it.
May you like
A distorted, mechanical voice spoke through the speaker.
“If you want the nurse alive, Calder, you will come to the docks alone.”
