Chapter 8 - THE EMPTY WAREHOUSE
We reached the river warehouse in twenty-three minutes.
Police units waited three blocks away.
The building looked abandoned.
Rain hammered the metal roof.
“Ethan!” I shouted.
My voice echoed through the empty space.
A chair sat beneath a single hanging light.
Rope lay on the floor.
No child.
No Vanessa.
Daniel found Ethan’s blue watch inside a bucket of water.
“She wanted us to think he drowned.”
A speaker crackled overhead.
Vanessa’s voice filled the warehouse.
“You always were predictable, Michael.”
I looked upward.
“Where is my son?”
“Closer than you think.”
A screen lowered from the ceiling.
Live video showed Ethan inside my company headquarters.
The executive boardroom.
Henry’s private floor.
Robert stared.
“They’re forcing a transfer.”
Vanessa appeared beside Ethan.
She held a folder.
“Sign over control of Carter Industries and the family trust.”
“You won’t get away with this.”
“I already did.”
She smiled.
“The board believes you suffered a violent breakdown.”
A second screen displayed security footage from my mansion.
Edited footage.
It showed me pushing Vanessa.
It did not show the hanger.
It did not show the children.
“You manipulated the video.”
“People believe what fits the story they already want.”
My phone rang.
The chairman of my board.
“Michael,” he said, “we’ve received evidence that you assaulted your wife and endangered your children.”
“My son has been kidnapped.”
“Your wife says she removed him for his safety.”
I looked at Robert.
He mouthed, Keep him talking.
The chairman continued.
“An emergency vote begins in forty minutes.”
Vanessa’s voice came through the speaker.
“Bring the original ledger to headquarters.”
“And if I don’t?”
“She takes your company,” Henry said from behind us.
We turned.
May you like
He had escaped.
And the gun in his hand was pointed at Lily.
