Chapter 12 - The Original Sterling Hotel
Police entered through the lower lobby.
I went with Captain Ortiz.
Elena remained in the command vehicle because her injuries limited movement.
She hated the decision.
She accepted it because Sophia needed the rescue to succeed more than Elena needed to be physically present.
The building’s emergency power flickered.
Old chandeliers swayed above the ruined lobby.
A voice came through the hotel speakers.
Victoria.
“Grant.”
“You always did arrive too late.”
I ignored her.
Thomas guided us through the employee tunnels.
The third heat source moved toward the boiler room.
Officers found Conrad Mills attempting to burn the private ledger inside an industrial furnace.
They arrested him before the pages ignited.
Conrad shouted that Victoria had promised immunity.
Captain Ortiz removed the ledger from his hands.
Every payment was there.
Dr. Voss.
Judge Weaver.
Marcus.
Hospital administrators.
Hotel employees.
Private investigators.
Even my Singapore assistant had received money.
He had informed Victoria of my return.
She rewarded him through a consulting contract.
The ledger also contained a final transfer.
Fifty million dollars from Sterling International into an offshore account.
Scheduled for midnight.
Sophia’s biometric authorization was required because part of the money came from her trust.
Victoria had not taken her only as leverage.
She needed the child’s fingerprint.
The freight elevator began moving.
I ran toward the shaft.
The elevator passed the fifth floor.
Then the sixth.
The roof was eight.
We reached the emergency stairs.
Victoria’s voice followed through the speakers.
“Your father chose the company over you.”
“Marcus chose me.”
“Elena chose poverty rather than obedience.”
“Everyone makes a choice.”
I climbed faster.
Sophia’s cry came faintly through the elevator doors.
At the seventh floor, the car stopped.
Police forced the outer doors.
The elevator was empty.
A hidden service panel stood open.
Victoria had moved through the wall into the presidential suite.
The suite had been destroyed by fire years earlier.
Only the outer rooms remained stable.
Inside, we found Sophia’s hotel bear.
One plastic eye had been removed.
A small red light blinked inside.
Elena’s voice came through my phone.
“Sophia activated the toy camera.”
She had taught our daughter to press the bear’s ear if she ever felt unsafe.
The live feed showed Victoria dragging Sophia toward the roof stairs.
A man waited above them.
It was Judge Harold Weaver.
The judge whose order gave Victoria custody.
He was supposed to have died in a car accident the previous night.
The death report was false.
May you like
Victoria had hidden him because he knew too much.
Now he held a gun.
