Chapter 1 - The Panic in the Courtyard “Your baby's in the car!”
“What are you talking about? That’s impossible, Lily!”
“I saw him! He’s right inside the back seat, Adrian! Open the door now!”
“Step back, everyone! Give me some room, right now!”
“Adrian, wait! The keys are in your pocket, just use the fob!”
“There’s no time for the fob, the glass is too thick!”
The gravel courtyard of the corporate office complex felt suddenly suffocating under the midday sun. Adrian stood frozen for a fraction of a second, his mind struggling to bridge the impossible gap between the business meeting he had just left and the frantic reality screaming at him from his five-year-old niece. Lily stood hopping on her small sneakers, her toy stethoscope dangling against her bright pink dress as she pointed with a trembling finger toward the tinted windows of his black luxury SUV. The afternoon heat radiating off the asphalt was oppressive, turning the vehicle into a potential oven within minutes. Adrian’s dark eyes widened in sudden, absolute horror, his breath catching painfully in his throat as the chilling implication washed over him. He had completely forgotten. In the crushing stress of the morning's merger negotiations, the safety routine had shattered. He began to sprint across the paved expanse, his heavy boots pounding the concrete, while a group of suited board members watched in stunned, paralyzed silence from the steps. Helen, his estranged wife, stumbled out of the glass double doors, her white blazer fluttering as she clutched her chest in utter panic, gasping for air. Adrian reached the driver’s side door, but the electronic locks refused to cycle. Without hesitation, he pulled back his tattooed right arm and drove his bare fist directly into the reinforced glass. The window spider-webbed violently with a deafening crack, showering the black leather interior with jagged shards. From the rear seat, muffled and weak, came a terrifyingly small voice.
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“He's not crying anymore!”
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