Chapter 5 - THEY TOOK SOPHIE
For five days, nothing happened.
That frightened me more than another threat.
Men like Sebastian Laurent did not become quiet because they changed their minds.
They became quiet because they were preparing.
The triplets improved rapidly once the emitters were removed.
Theo slept through the night for the first time in months.
Miles stopped banging his crib.
Nora no longer covered her ears whenever someone entered the nursery.
Sophie became their shadow.
Or perhaps they became hers.
She built block towers.
They destroyed them.
She laughed.
They laughed.
She sat down.
Three toddlers climbed on top of her.
Elena repeatedly apologized.
Sophie never complained.
Watching them did something dangerous to me.
It made the estate feel like a home again.
I had spent eighteen months preserving Isabelle’s memory by making sure nothing changed.
Her paintings remained in the same places.
Her piano stayed untouched.
Her closet remained closed.
My life had become a museum to a woman I loved.
Then Sophie arrived with crayons.
Nora threw applesauce against a wall.
Miles discovered how to remove his diaper during dinner.
Theo began calling Elena “Lena.”
Chaos returned.
So did laughter.
One evening, I found Elena in the nursery while Sophie slept in a chair with Nora curled against her.
“You should wake her.”
Elena smiled.
“Try.”
I looked at Sophie.
“No.”
“She slept through a fire alarm once.”
“That explains several things.”
Elena laughed.
The sound caught me off guard.
She rarely laughed around me.
I realized I wanted to hear it again.
That realization was inconvenient.
Possibly dangerous.
And absolutely something I was not ready to examine.
Then Elena became serious.
“What happens when this is over?”
“What do you mean?”
“You won’t need us here anymore.”
I frowned.
“You work here.”
“Yes. As a maid.”
There was something behind the words.
An expectation that once Sophie was no longer useful, we would return to separate worlds.
Perhaps we would.
Before I could answer, Marco entered.
“Boss.”
His expression killed the conversation.
“We found Camille.”
“Where?”
“A cabin in the Catskills.”
“Sebastian?”
“No.”
“Pierce?”
“No.”
“When do we move?”
“Federal team is already approaching.”
I watched live footage from Marco’s command room.
Agents surrounded the cabin.
Camille emerged with her hands raised.
For one brief second, relief moved through me.
Then Camille began screaming.
“HE’S GOING TO TAKE THE LITTLE GIRL!”
My blood froze.
“Who?”
She looked toward the camera.
“MY FATHER!”
I spun.
“Marco.”
He was already moving.
Every security channel activated.
I ran toward the residential wing.
Elena was coming out of Sophie’s room.
“What happened?”
“Where is Sophie?”
She froze.
“She was with Mrs. Alvarez.”
My blood became ice.
We raced downstairs.
Mrs. Alvarez lay unconscious near the service elevator.
Alive.
Breathing.
Sophie was gone.
Elena made a sound I will hear until the day I die.
Not a scream.
Something deeper.
A mother realizing her child had vanished.
“No.”
She ran toward the elevator.
I caught her.
“Let me go!”
“Elena.”
“My baby!”
“We will find her.”
“You promised we were safe!”
The words hit me like bullets.
Because I had.
And I had failed.
Again.
Marco found the breach.
A catering van entered through the service gate carrying supplies for an event my staff had not actually scheduled.
Forged credentials.
Stolen uniforms.
Professional operation.
One guard had been bribed.
Another drugged.
Security footage showed Sophie walking beside a woman wearing a housekeeping uniform.
She was not struggling.
The woman held the cloth doll.
“Sophie thought she knew her,” Elena whispered.
The van left nineteen minutes before we realized anything was wrong.
Marco tracked it to the highway.
Then the signal disappeared.
The phone rang.
Sebastian.
I answered.
“You touch her and you die.”
Elena stared at me.
Sebastian laughed.
“There he is. Adrien Moretti. I was wondering how long before the civilized widower disappeared.”
“Let me speak to Sophie.”
“No.”
“Then you have nothing.”
A pause.
Then Sophie’s frightened voice.
“Mr. Adrien?”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“I’m here, sweetheart.”
“I want Mommy.”
Elena covered her mouth.
“I know.”
“Dolly is gone.”
“We’ll get you another doll.”
“I want that one.”
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
Of course she did.
“Listen to me, Sophie. Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Is anyone near you?”
“A grandpa man.”
Sebastian’s voice returned.
“Enough.”
Elena grabbed the phone.
“If you hurt my daughter—”
“Ms. Ramirez.”
Sebastian sounded bored.
“You saw my daughter outside a medication room eighteen months ago. You should have forgotten.”
“I did!”
“That is unfortunate. Camille did not believe you.”
“What do you want?”
“Isabelle’s original phone.”
I stared at Marco.
Sebastian knew.
“Bring it to Pier 47 at midnight.”
“Why?”
“It contains copies of documents capable of harming my family.”
“Your family murdered your daughter.”
His voice sharpened.
“Adrien murdered my daughter.”
I nearly laughed.
“You’re insane.”
“She married you. She entered your violent world. She stopped listening to blood.”
“No, Sebastian. She stopped funding your failures.”
Silence.
A dangerous silence.
Then:
“Midnight. Come alone.”
“If Sophie is harmed—”
“She will be unharmed if you obey.”
The call ended.
Elena immediately turned to me.
“You’re going.”
“Yes.”
“No argument?”
“No.”
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
Her eyes flashed.
“She’s my daughter.”
“And Sebastian wants you dead too.”
“I don’t care.”
“I do.”
The words escaped before I could stop them.
Elena stared.
I corrected nothing.
Marco placed photographs of Pier 47 across the table.
Abandoned warehouse.
Multiple entry points.
Water access.
Terrible tactical position.
“Obviously a trap,” he said.
“Yes.”
“We can duplicate Isabelle’s phone.”
“No. Sebastian may test it.”
Elena looked at me.
“You’ll give him the evidence?”
“I’ll give him whatever keeps Sophie alive.”
Marco studied me.
“You know what Isabelle would say.”
“Yes.”
She would tell me evidence could be replaced.
Children could not.
At 11:52 p.m., I entered Pier 47 carrying the phone.
Alone.
At least, that was what Sebastian was meant to believe.
Marco’s team remained beyond the perimeter.
Federal agents covered water exits.
A transmitter was sewn into my jacket.
The warehouse smelled like rust and seawater.
Sebastian stood beneath a hanging light.
Sophie sat in a chair beside him.
Her hands were tied loosely in front.
She had been crying.
My vision narrowed.
“Let her go.”
“Phone first.”
I lifted it.
“Release her.”
“You don’t negotiate here.”
“I always negotiate.”
A gun appeared behind Sophie’s chair.
Dr. Pierce stepped from the darkness.
Alive.
So he had staged the blood on the boat.
“Doctor.”
Pierce looked terrified.
Good.
Sebastian held out his hand.
I walked closer.
Sophie saw me.
Her lower lip trembled.
“It’s okay,” I said.
Sebastian smiled.
“No, Adrien. It really isn’t.”
I handed him the phone.
He checked it.
Then nodded toward Pierce.
Pierce untied Sophie.
“Walk to Mr. Moretti,” he told her.
Sophie ran.
I crouched and pulled her against me.
For the first time all night, I breathed.
“Got you.”
She buried her face against my neck.
Then Sebastian said,
“Now kill him.”
I looked up.
Pierce raised a gun.
But he pointed it at Sebastian.
“I’m done.”
Everyone froze.
Sebastian’s face darkened.
“You coward.”
Pierce’s hand shook.
“I did what you asked. Isabelle is dead. Camille is arrested. This is over.”
“It ends when I say.”
“No.”
Pierce looked at me.
“I have proof.”
Sebastian reached inside his jacket.
A shot exploded.
Sophie screamed.
I covered her with my body.
Then another shot.
Then three.
Marco’s team stormed the warehouse.
Sebastian fell.
Pierce dropped his weapon.
I stayed over Sophie until Marco touched my shoulder.
“Boss. It’s secure.”
I looked up.
Sebastian was alive.
Shot through the shoulder.
Pierce had fired first.
Federal agents handcuffed both men.
I stood with Sophie in my arms.
She refused to let go.
Neither did I.
Outside, Elena ran toward us.
“Sophie!”
Her daughter launched out of my arms.
Elena dropped to her knees and held her.
Both were crying.
I turned away because the sight hurt somewhere I did not have a name for.
Then Sophie reached one arm toward me.
“Mr. Adrien.”
I looked back.
“Come.”
I hesitated.
Elena looked at me through tears.
Then nodded.
I crouched beside them.
Sophie wrapped one arm around her mother.
The other around my neck.
For several seconds, the three of us remained there on dirty concrete beneath flashing federal lights.
I had entered that warehouse believing I was rescuing Sophie because she saved my children.
But holding her, I understood that was no longer the whole truth.
She mattered to me.
May you like
So did Elena.
And after eighteen months of believing my heart had died with Isabelle, that truth frightened me almost as much as losing them had.
