Chapter 3 - The Silver Star
“THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! I NEVER SIGNED A DEATH CERTIFICATE FOR THAT CHILD!”
Dr. Evelyn Price stared at the document on Detective Ortiz's phone.
Her face had drained of color.
“I didn't even know this girl existed until Mr. Bennett brought her here.”
Lena remained calm.
“Then somebody used your credentials.”
“Someone accessed my medical authorization?”
“That's what we're investigating.”
I stood beside them, feeling a familiar anger rising in my chest.
Not the explosive anger my enemies feared.
Something colder.
More dangerous.
Someone had treated an eight-year-old girl's death as an administrative task.
A form to complete.
A problem to erase.
“Whoever did this expected her body to be found,” I said.
Lena nodded.
“Or expected nobody to question the record.”
Dr. Price looked toward the treatment room.
“She's a child.”
“That's apparently something these people forgot,” I replied.
Lena arranged for additional police protection while Dr. Price contacted hospital information security.
Then we entered Nora's room.
She lay beneath thick blankets, an intravenous line secured to her hand.
My wool coat rested on a nearby chair.
Her gray eyes followed me as I approached.
“Hey, sweetheart.”
She looked at the door.
“Are they here?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
I pulled a chair beside her bed.
“I'm sure nobody is taking you anywhere without a fight.”
Lena moved closer.
“Nora, my name is Detective Ortiz. We're trying to find your mother.”
At the mention of her mother, Nora's expression crumpled.
“Mommy didn't leave me.”
“I believe you,” Lena said gently.
“She told them to take her instead.”
I stopped breathing.
“Who did?”
Nora looked at me.
“The men who came to our apartment.”
She explained in broken sentences.
Her mother, Natalie Reed, worked as a financial analyst for the HarborLight Children's Foundation, the charity organization chaired by Julian Mercer.
Three nights earlier, Natalie had come home frightened.
She had packed a small bag and told Nora they might need to stay somewhere else.
Then men arrived at their apartment.
One wore a dark suit.
Another had a silver ring with an unusual design.
Nora remembered hearing her mother shouting.
“Leave my daughter alone!”
Then someone dragged Natalie into the hallway.
Nora had been taken separately.
She remembered a dark vehicle, the smell of gasoline, and a man telling her to stop asking questions.
Eventually, they drove into the mountains.
The man forced her out beside the road.
“He said nobody would come looking,” Nora whispered.
My jaw tightened.
“Did he tell you why?”
She shook her head.
“He said Mommy made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
Nora's lips trembled.
“She found the children.”
Lena and I exchanged a glance.
“What children?” Lena asked.
Nora pulled the blanket closer.
“I don't know. Mommy said they weren't where people thought they were.”
Then she began crying quietly.
I reached for a tissue and handed it to her.
“Nora, listen to me. You don't have to tell us everything tonight.”
She looked up.
“Are you going to find Mommy?”
I wanted to promise her.
But I had made promises once before.
Promises I couldn't keep.
Instead, I said something I knew I could do.
“I'm going to do everything in my power to bring her home.”
Nora studied my face.
Then she reached beneath her hospital gown.
A delicate silver necklace hung around her neck.
Attached to it was a tiny star-shaped pendant.
“Mommy gave me this,” she whispered.
“She told me if anything happened, I should remember where the stars sleep.”
Lena leaned forward.
“What does that mean?”
Nora shook her head.
“I don't know.”
She removed the necklace and placed it in my palm.
I examined the pendant.
It had a narrow seam around its edge.
With Lena watching, I carefully opened it.
Inside was a tiny folded strip of waterproof paper.
Three pieces of information were written in Natalie's handwriting.
NORTH STATION
14C
428
Lena stared at the paper.
“A storage locker.”
I nodded.
Natalie had hidden something.
Something she believed was worth risking her life to protect.
My phone vibrated.
A message from Thomas Rourke appeared.
Michael, I know about the girl. We need to talk before you make a mistake you can't undo.
I looked at the message.
Thomas had no reason to know Nora existed.
I hadn't told him.
Neither had Lena.
Before I could respond, another message arrived.
Whatever you do, don't trust the police with what she gave you.
I slowly raised my eyes toward Nora.
Someone inside my own organization knew about her necklace.
May you like
And suddenly, I wasn't sure whether the greatest threat was outside the hospital.
Or already standing somewhere within my empire.
