Chapter 11 - THE NURSERY FIRE
Grace reached the stairs before Luka caught her arm.
It was the first time he had grabbed her without asking.
She spun toward him.
"Let go."
"The nursery is upstairs."
"My daughter is upstairs."
"Sophie is in your bedroom."
Grace froze.
Then she remembered.
She had moved the bassinet beside her bed after the last feeding.
The fire alarm had shattered her thoughts so completely that she had forgotten.
Luka released her immediately.
"Go to Sophie."
"What about the fire?"
"My people have it."
Black smoke rolled across the upstairs landing.
A security officer appeared through it carrying a fire extinguisher.
Another man shouted from the hall.
"Nursery clear."
Grace ran to her bedroom.
The bassinet was empty.
For one second, her mind refused to understand what she was seeing.
Then the scream came out of her.
"Sophie!"
Luka was behind her instantly.
His face changed when he saw the empty bassinet.
He touched the mattress.
"Warm."
Grace could barely hear him over the alarm.
"Where is she?"
Luka pressed a hand to the radio at his shoulder.
"Lock every exit."
His voice changed completely.
"No vehicle moves."
"No one leaves the property."
Grace ran toward the bathroom.
Empty.
She opened the closet.
Empty.
She looked under the bed even though she knew how ridiculous it was.
"Sophie!"
Luka caught her shoulders.
"Grace."
"Don't tell me to calm down."
"I wasn't going to."
His eyes locked on hers.
"I need you to remember exactly where she was five minutes ago."
Grace forced air into her lungs.
"Bassinet."
"Who was in the room?"
"Me."
"Anyone else?"
"One of your security women brought diapers."
"Name?"
Grace's mind raced.
"Tessa."
Luka's expression sharpened.
He pressed the radio.
"Find Tessa Ward."
Silence answered.
Then a male voice.
"She is not responding."
Grace went cold.
Luka stepped into the hall.
A security monitor was mounted beside the stairwell.
The live feeds showed the front door, rear courtyard, garage, and side alley.
One screen had gone black.
"Which camera?"
"East service entrance."
Luka's face became dangerous.
"How long?"
"Four minutes."
The nursery fire had not been an attack by itself.
It had been a distraction.
Luka looked at Grace.
"Stay with Maya."
"No."
"Grace."
"No."
She pushed past him.
"If somebody has my daughter, I am not sitting in a kitchen while men with radios tell me what happened afterward."
Luka studied her for one beat.
Then he nodded.
"Stay behind me."
They moved toward the service stairwell.
Smoke was thinner there.
The east door was slightly open.
Cold air poured through the gap.
Outside, the narrow alley was empty.
A delivery van turned at the far end.
Grace saw a pink blanket through the rear window.
"There."
Luka was already moving.
He ran faster than Grace thought a man in dress shoes could run.
The van accelerated.
A black Moretti SUV swung across the alley and blocked the exit.
The delivery van braked hard.
The side door slid open.
A woman jumped out.
It was not Tessa.
It was Linda Price.
The nurse from the hospital.
Grace's heart slammed against her ribs.
"Where is my baby?"
Linda ran.
Luka did not chase her.
He went directly to the van.
Grace reached it one second later.
Grace's body moved faster than her pain allowed.
Every step pulled at stitches and muscles that had barely begun to recover.
She did not care.
Luka did.
"Slow down."
"No."
"If you collapse, I have two emergencies."
"Then keep up."
He did.
The delivery van fishtailed near the alley entrance before the Moretti SUV blocked it.
One of Luka's guards approached from the driver's side with his weapon holstered but his hand ready.
The driver tried to reverse.
A second SUV boxed him in.
Grace heard the baby-shaped absence in every sound.
No crying.
No tiny grunt.
No movement from behind the van doors.
That silence terrified her more than screaming would have.
Linda Price jumped from the passenger side and ran toward a fenced service yard.
A female guard intercepted her.
Linda shoved the guard and slipped on wet pavement.
She hit the ground hard.
Grace wanted to go to her.
She wanted to demand answers.
Luka pointed at the van.
"Baby first."
The words brought Grace back.
He was right.
Sophie first.
Always Sophie first.
The driver raised both hands.
"I was paid."
"I don't know anything about a baby."
Grace shouted at him.
"Then why is her blanket in your van?"
The driver looked genuinely confused.
"They gave us the carrier already covered."
"Who is they?"
"A woman and a man."
"Where?"
"Parking garage two blocks away."
Luka's eyes narrowed.
"Describe the man."
"Mid-forties."
"Gray coat."
"Scar under his chin."
One of Luka's officers heard the description and looked sharply at him.
"Victor Sloane."
Grace turned.
"Who is that?"
Luka's face had gone cold.
"A former driver for Charles Vale."
"Former?"
"He disappeared after your father's crash."
Grace felt the alley spin.
The past was no longer behind them.
It was running the operation around them.
Luka grabbed the driver by the collar.
"Where is Sloane now?"
"I don't know."
"He left before we did."
"He said the decoy only had to last five minutes."
Grace checked her watch.
Almost six minutes had passed since the alarm.
Every second suddenly felt lethal.
The rear doors were locked.
Luka smashed the side window with the metal end of a security baton.
He reached inside and unlocked the door.
Grace tore it open.
A baby carrier sat on the floor.
It was empty.
The pink blanket had been arranged across it deliberately.
Grace made a sound she did not recognize.
Luka grabbed the driver's collar before the man could escape.
"Where is the child?"
"I don't know."
Luka slammed him against the van.
"Wrong answer."
The driver looked terrified.
"We were told to make you follow us."
Grace stared at him.
"Who told you?"
"A woman."
"Which woman?"
"Blonde."
Grace thought of Vanessa.
The driver shook his head rapidly.
"Not the red-dress woman from the news."
"Older."
"Maybe fifty."
Luka's grip tightened.
"Where did she take the baby?"
"She didn't have a baby."
Grace's body went numb.
"Then who does?"
A radio crackled behind them.
"Mr. Moretti."
The voice belonged to one of Luka's officers.
"We found Ward."
Luka released the driver.
"Status?"
"Unconscious in the laundry room."
"Alive."
"We also found a second woman on the third floor."
Grace held her breath.
"She is wearing hospital scrubs."
"She has the infant."
Grace ran back toward the townhouse.
Luka followed.
They reached the third floor as two guards cornered a woman beside a window.
She held Sophie against one shoulder.
Grace recognized her.
The woman had been at the fertility clinic during Grace's final embryo transfer.
Her name was Dr. Helen Marr.
She had introduced herself as a laboratory director.
"Give me my daughter."
Grace's voice shook.
Helen looked at her with tears in her eyes.
"I was trying to get her out before they came."
"Who?"
"Vale's people."
Luka stepped closer.
Helen backed toward the window.
"Do not come near me."
"I'm not going to hurt you."
"You should."
Helen looked at Grace.
"I helped them."
Grace felt sick.
"Helped them do what?"
Helen looked at Sophie.
"Your husband paid us to falsify the donor record."
Grace stopped breathing.
"What donor record?"
May you like
Helen's eyes filled with shame.
"The sample used to create your daughter did not come from Ethan Cole."
