Chapter 3 - The Room Above the Wedding
The service staircase led to the thirty-third floor, a level not shown on the guest elevators.
The hotel’s public floors ended at thirty-two. Above them were private offices, maintenance spaces, and an unfinished penthouse suite Theodore Mercer had once planned to use as a residence.
Daniel entered his security code.
The door remained locked.
“My access has been revoked.”
Claire tried the bronze charm against the narrow seam beside the handle, but it was too thick.
Footsteps approached from below.
A hotel security officer appeared with two guards.
“Mr. Mercer, your father has ordered us to escort you to the ballroom.”
Daniel stared at him.
“My father ordered you to stop me from searching for a bleeding child?”
The officer’s face tightened.
“He said the report was a misunderstanding.”
Claire held up the bronze horse.
“This has blood on it.”
The guards exchanged glances.
Daniel pointed to the locked door.
“Open it.”
“I’m not authorized.”
“Then authorize yourself.”
“I could lose my job.”
“A child could lose his life.”
The officer hesitated before entering an override code.
The lock clicked.
The thirty-third floor was dim and silent.
Plastic sheets covered unfinished walls. Chandeliers wrapped in protective fabric hung from the ceiling. Dust coated marble tiles that had never been polished.
At the end of the corridor, a door slowly swung closed.
Daniel ran toward it.
Inside, they found an abandoned sitting room. A leather belt lay on the floor. One end was stained red.
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“Noah!” she called.
Something moved behind a curtain.
Daniel pulled it aside.
A man fell forward.
He was tall, perhaps forty, wearing dark trousers and a gray shirt soaked with blood near the ribs. His wrists had been bound with electrical cable. A deep wound marked the side of his head.
Claire dropped to her knees.
“He has a pulse.”
Daniel froze.
“Adrian?”
The man’s eyelids moved.
Claire pressed cloth against his wound.
“Adrian, can you hear me?”
His lips formed a word.
“Noah.”
“He’s alive,” Claire said. “We’re looking for him.”
Adrian gripped Daniel’s wrist with sudden strength.
“Don’t trust him.”
Daniel leaned closer.
“Who?”
Adrian’s eyes shifted toward the security officer.
The officer stepped back.
A gun appeared in his hand.
One of the guards shouted.
The officer fired into the ceiling.
Dust and plaster rained down.
“Everyone against the wall,” he ordered.
Daniel moved in front of Claire and Adrian.
“What are you doing, Harris?”
The officer’s hand shook.
“I was told the floor would be empty.”
“By whom?”
Harris looked toward the door.
A second figure entered.
Julian Cross.
He no longer looked irritated. He looked cold.
“I told you to go downstairs,” Julian said.
Daniel stared at his oldest friend.
“You knew Adrian was here.”
“I knew Vanessa brought him.”
“Why?”
“To force him to reveal where he hid the original records.”
Adrian tried to rise.
Julian stepped on the cable binding his wrists.
Claire glared at him.
“He needs an ambulance.”
“He needs to answer a question.”
Daniel lunged forward, but Harris aimed the gun at Claire.
Julian crouched beside Adrian.
“You have spent two years running,” he said. “You have endangered your son, destroyed your wife, and dragged all of us back into a matter that should have remained buried.”
Adrian’s voice was weak.
“Vanessa is not my wife.”
Julian’s eyes narrowed.
Claire looked at Daniel.
“What does that mean?”
Adrian coughed.
“Vanessa married my brother.”
“Your brother is dead,” Daniel said.
“That’s what she told everyone.”
Julian struck Adrian across the face.
“Where are the records?”
Adrian smiled through the blood.
“Already delivered.”
“To whom?”
Adrian looked at Claire.
Before he could answer, a fire alarm erupted throughout the floor.
Red lights flashed.
Sprinklers activated, releasing cold water across the room.
Harris turned toward the alarm panel.
Daniel attacked him.
They crashed into a table. The gun slid across the wet marble.
Claire dragged Adrian toward the corridor while the two guards tackled Harris.
Julian ran after her.
Then a small figure emerged from the maintenance passage.
Noah.
He held a red fire-alarm handle in his hand.
“Dad!”
Adrian lifted his head.
“Noah, run!”
Vanessa appeared behind the boy.
In one hand, she held Claire’s bridal veil, torn from the suite.
In the other, she carried a bronze paperweight shaped like a horse.
She raised it.
Adrian threw himself between Vanessa and Noah.
The bronze horse struck his temple.
Blood sprayed across Noah’s white shirt.
Claire screamed.
Noah ran.
May you like
Vanessa followed.
By the time Claire reached the stairwell, both had disappeared.
