Chapter 2 - Twenty-Two Missed Calls
Adrian was three hundred miles away when his parents threw Emma outside.
He had spent the afternoon inside a secure conference facility finalizing the acquisition of a medical technology company. Personal devices were prohibited during negotiations, so his phone remained with his assistant, Caleb.
At 7:14 p.m., Caleb noticed something unusual.
Emma had not called Adrian all day.
That was strange because she usually sent at least one photograph of Lily before dinner.
Caleb checked Adrian’s phone.
There were no missed calls.
No messages.
No photographs.
At first, he assumed Emma was busy.
Then an incoming call appeared from an unknown number.
Caleb answered.
“Mr. Vale’s office.”
A woman was crying on the other end.
“Is this Adrian?”
“No. This is his assistant.”
“I need to speak to him. It’s Emma.”
Caleb sat straighter.
“Mrs. Vale?”
“They took my phone. I’m calling from a gas station.”
“Who took your phone?”
“His parents.”
In the background, Caleb heard Lily crying.
Emma’s voice shook.
“They locked us outside. Please tell Adrian we’re near the north highway. I don’t know exactly where.”
The call ended.
Caleb entered the conference room without knocking.
Every attorney at the table looked up.
Adrian saw his assistant’s face and immediately stood.
“What happened?”
“It’s Emma.”
That was all Caleb needed to say.
Adrian abandoned the negotiation without explanation.
On the drive north, he repeatedly called his mother.
Vivian answered on the third attempt.
“Adrian, you are making a serious mistake.”
“Where is my wife?”
“She left.”
“In a storm?”
“She was asked to leave after we discovered what she had done.”
“What did she do?”
Vivian hesitated.
“She has been stealing from you.”
Adrian looked through the windshield at the snow.
“Where is Lily?”
“With Emma.”
“You let my infant daughter leave the estate in this weather?”
“We did not know she had no transportation.”
“You kept her car.”
“It is registered to the family trust.”
Adrian ended the call.
Caleb was already contacting emergency services and searching nearby security cameras.
The first camera showed Emma walking along the estate road with Lily wrapped beneath her coat.
The second showed a black vehicle passing her without stopping.
The third showed her reaching a closed bus shelter.
After that, the road disappeared beneath snow.
Adrian called every hospital within forty miles.
Nothing.
He called police dispatch again.
Nothing.
He called Emma’s closest friend, Nora.
Nora answered immediately.
“Adrian, what happened? Emma called me from a borrowed phone, but the call cut off.”
“What did she say?”
“She found documents in your father’s office. She said someone had been taking money you sent for Lily.”
Adrian gripped the phone.
“What documents?”
“She didn’t have time to explain. She said there were forged signatures.”
Caleb turned toward Adrian.
A location alert had appeared on his screen.
“Emergency services found them.”
Adrian’s relief lasted less than a second.
“Where?”
“An abandoned service station near Highway Nine.”
“Are they conscious?”
Caleb’s expression told him the answer was complicated.
“The mother is. The baby is breathing. An ambulance is on the way.”
Adrian ordered the driver to turn around.
They found Emma before the ambulance arrived.
She was sitting on the floor inside the empty service station, leaning against a vending machine. One window had been broken, allowing snow to blow across the tiles.
Emma had wrapped her own coat, scarf, and sweater around Lily.
She wore only a wet blouse.
When Adrian ran inside, Emma looked at him without recognition.
Then she whispered his name.
He lifted both of them.
“I’m here.”
Emma’s head fell against his shoulder.
“They used your signature.”
“I know.”
“No,” she said. “You don’t know all of it.”
“What do you mean?”
Emma reached beneath Lily’s blanket and removed a small memory card.
“I copied the office camera recording.”
Adrian stared at it.
“Why would my father have a camera inside his own office?”
Emma closed her fingers around the card.
“Because he wasn’t watching the office.”
May you like
Her eyes moved toward Lily.
“He was watching us.”
