Chapter 5 - The Red Hair
I ran through the hospital corridors until I reached the pediatric intensive care unit.
The doctor met me at the door with a relieved smile.
He said Chloe had miraculously fought off the toxin and was breathing on her own.
I rushed to her bedside and hugged her fragile body.
She was pale and exhausted, but her eyes were clear.
I asked her exactly what happened when she got home from school.
Chloe whispered that she found Daddy sleeping on the kitchen floor.
She said she felt dizzy because the house smelled like weird chemicals.
I asked her if she saw Aunt Rachel in the house.
Chloe shook her head slowly.
She said the lady with the red hair told her to drink a special medicine to feel better.
My blood ran completely ice cold.
Rachel had blonde hair.
The only person I knew with bright red hair was my corporate boss, Veronica.
Veronica was the CEO of the logistics company where I worked.
Mark was the senior accountant who audited Veronica's private corporate accounts last month.
The pieces violently slammed together in my mind.
Mark had discovered that Veronica was laundering massive amounts of cartel money through our company.
He was trying to secure fake passports to get us out of the country before she found out.
He hid my passport somewhere else to keep me legally separated from the crime.
Veronica must have realized Mark knew her secret.
She hired Rachel to drug him so she could enter the house easily.
Then Veronica deployed the nerve toxin to silence my family forever.
I kissed Chloe on the forehead and promised I would be right back.
I walked into the empty hallway and pulled out Mark's burner phone.
I typed a text message to the number that had called me earlier.
I told Veronica that I had the digital ledger and I was ready to trade it for our lives.
The reply came through three seconds later.
The message said to meet in the hospital parking garage in exactly ten minutes.
If I brought the police, my daughter would never leave her room alive.
May you like
I looked down at the end of the hallway.
The police officer assigned to guard Chloe's door was lying unconscious on the floor.
