Chapter 3 - THEY NEEDED MY BABY ALIVE
“What do you mean they need your daughter?”
My father's voice was calm.
Mine wasn't.
“Six months ago, Silas insisted we update Vance Dynamics' continuity protocols.”
I tried to sit straighter.
Pain pulled across my bruised shoulder.
“He said investors were nervous because so much of our core intellectual property was tied to me personally.”
“Your patents,” Dad said.
“Yes. But some of the newer systems aren't merely patented. They're encrypted around founder-level biometric credentials.”
Elena frowned.
“Explain that without engineering language.”
I looked at her.
“Certain prototype systems can only be transferred with authorization from me or my legal descendants.”
Dad's expression hardened.
“Why would you agree to that?”
“Because I thought it protected my work.”
It had.
Just not from my husband.
I remembered Silas bringing the documents home.
He'd cooked dinner.
That should have warned me.
Silas never cooked unless he wanted something.
He'd poured sparkling water because I was pregnant and kissed the back of my neck while explaining that the board wanted “legacy protection.”
At the time, I'd thought it was sweet.
Now every memory felt contaminated.
“The system recognizes your unborn child?”
Elena asked.
“Not yet. But succession rights activate at birth.”
My father understood first.
“If you're declared incompetent…”
“Silas could become temporary custodian of my voting rights.”
“And after the baby is born?”
“He could petition to control her interests as her father.”
Elena cursed softly.
I looked toward the fetal monitor.
My daughter.
She wasn't even born, and Silas had already turned her into a corporate asset.
Something inside me changed.
Until that moment, I had been frightened.
Hurt.
Confused.
But fear has limits.
Sometimes, if someone pushes far enough, fear burns away and leaves something cleaner.
Rage.
“Get me a laptop.”
Dad shook his head.
“No.”
“Dad.”
“You were beaten less than two hours ago.”
“And my husband is trying to steal my daughter's future.”
“My people will handle it.”
“No.”
He stopped.
“My company. My patents. My marriage. My child.”
I looked directly at him.
“You don't get to hide me behind armed men and call it protection.”
For several seconds, Marcus Osei—the man who apparently controlled an international criminal network—looked exactly like my father.
Annoyed.
Proud.
Terrified.
“You sound like your mother.”
“Good.”
“She was impossible.”
“So am I.”
He sighed.
“Laptop.”
One appeared in less than a minute.
That disturbed me.
I opened Vance Dynamics' secure network.
My credentials failed.
I tried again.
ACCESS REVOKED.
Silas had removed me.
From my own company.
“Call Daniel Cho.”
“Who?”
Dad asked.
“Chief technology officer. He owes me.”
“For what?”
“I kept Silas from firing him three years ago.”
Dad gestured.
Elena dialed.
Daniel answered on the fourth ring.
“Amara?”
His voice was barely a whisper.
“Where are you?”
“Hospital.”
Silence.
Then:
“Oh God.”
“You heard?”
“I heard you had an episode.”
My jaw tightened.
“What kind of episode?”
“Silas told the executive team you attacked Odalys.”
I almost crushed the phone.
“He said what?”
“He said she visited because she was worried about you. He said you became violent.”
“Daniel, she beat me with a belt.”
Silence.
“Amara…”
“I'm thirty-three weeks pregnant and covered in bruises.”
“I didn't know.”
“Now you do.”
I forced myself to breathe.
“Is Silas there?”
“No.”
“Has anyone accessed Sublevel Four?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Someone tried.”
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
My father looked at me.
“Who?”
“Silas's credential.”
“Did it work?”
“No. Your lockout protocol triggered.”
Relief.
Temporary.
“What about my access?”
“Board security revoked it.”
“On whose authority?”
“Emergency governance.”
Of course.
The petition.
Silas was building the appearance of legal control while simultaneously stealing the company.
“Daniel, listen carefully. Do not let anyone into Sublevel Four.”
“I can't override board security.”
“You designed half of it.”
“You designed the other half.”
“Then use my ghost key.”
Silence.
“You told me never to use that.”
“I've changed my mind.”
Dad raised an eyebrow.
“What is a ghost key?”
“Something Silas doesn't know exists.”
For the first time that day, I smiled.
When I built Vance Dynamics' original security architecture, I created an emergency access layer independent from executive credentials.
Silas called me paranoid.
Maybe I was.
Paranoia looked remarkably similar to foresight when your husband turned out to be a thief.
Daniel activated it.
Three seconds later, my screen changed.
FOUNDER ACCESS RESTORED.
I entered the financial system.
Accounts were locked.
Not by me.
By someone else.
Dad.
I looked at him.
“You froze Vance?”
“Only external transfers connected to Kade.”
“How?”
He smiled faintly.
“I know bankers.”
“Apparently.”
I searched internal logs.
Silas had tried to authorize an emergency sale of the QuantumGrid prototype portfolio.
Buyer:
ORISON STRATEGIC HOLDINGS.
Never heard of it.
Dad had.
His face changed.
“What?”
I asked.
“Orison.”
“You know them?”
“Yes.”
“Who are they?”
He looked at Elena.
She closed the door.
Dad's answer was quiet.
“They're mine.”
I stared.
“What?”
“Indirectly.”
“You own the company Silas is trying to sell my patents to?”
“Not exactly.”
“Dad.”
“I control the fund that controls the fund that controls Orison.”
I stared at him.
“You realize normal fathers own fishing boats?”
“I own several.”
“That isn't helping.”
Elena interrupted.
“If Orison is under your control, then Silas is selling the technology directly into Marcus's hands.”
“Which means he doesn't know who controls the buyer,” Dad said.
I looked at the proposed transaction.
Then I saw the price.
Three hundred million dollars.
The portfolio was worth at least two billion.
“He's dumping it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Dad and I reached the same conclusion.
“He needs cash.”
“For what?”
Elena asked.
Dad didn't answer.
His phone vibrated.
He read a message.
Something in his face went still.
“Marcus?”
I said.
He looked at me.
“Silas has been borrowing.”
“How much?”
“More than Kade stole.”
“From whom?”
Dad turned the phone toward me.
A photograph.
Silas.
Odalys.
A third man.
Older.
Silver hair.
Scar running from his left ear toward his jaw.
I had seen him once.
At my wedding.
He hadn't introduced himself.
He stood at the back during the reception.
My father had disappeared for twenty minutes after noticing him.
“You know him,” I whispered.
Dad nodded.
“Gabriel Kade.”
My breath stopped.
“Kade.”
As in Kade Capital.
“He's real?”
“Yes.”
“Who is he?”
Dad's voice dropped.
“The man who tried to kill me twenty-six years ago.”
The room seemed colder.
“Why would Silas be working with him?”
“Because Gabriel doesn't lend money.”
Dad stared at the photograph.
“He buys people.”
A second message arrived.
This one contained video.
Silas and Odalys entering Vance Dynamics through the underground garage.
They weren't alone.
Four men followed.
Dad moved immediately.
“Prepare transport.”
“No.”
He turned.
“I am going.”
“You are not leaving this hospital.”
“Watch me.”
“Amara.”
“Dad, there is a server beneath that building containing every prototype I've developed in twelve years.”
“I don't care.”
“I do.”
“I care about you.”
“So protect me while I fix it.”
He stared.
Then the fetal monitor changed.
A contraction.
Strong.
I gripped the blanket.
Priya rushed in.
“Mrs. Vance?”
“I'm fine.”
“You are absolutely not fine.”
The contraction intensified.
I breathed through it.
Dad looked ready to cancel the existence of stress.
Priya examined the monitor.
“You're contracting again.”
“Baby?”
“Heartbeat is stable.”
“How long?”
“Maybe nothing. Maybe early labor.”
Dad looked horrified.
I almost laughed.
The international crime lord was afraid of obstetrics.
“Dad.”
“No.”
“I haven't said anything.”
“You were going to.”
“I need to stop Silas.”
“You need to keep my granddaughter inside you.”
Priya nodded enthusiastically.
“I agree with the terrifying gentleman.”
Dad looked at her.
“Thank you.”
“You're welcome.”
Then Daniel called again.
I answered.
His voice was frantic.
“Amara.”
“What?”
“They're inside Sublevel Four.”
My blood turned cold.
“How?”
“I don't know.”
“Ghost key?”
“Still active.”
“Then how?”
A pause.
“They didn't use executive access.”
“What did they use?”
Daniel swallowed audibly.
“Your biometric signature.”
Impossible.
“I am in the hospital.”
“I know.”
“Then whose biometric signature?”
Another pause.
Then Daniel said something that made my father stop moving.
“Amara, the system says the authorization came from Evelyn Osei.”
May you like
My mother.
My dead mother.
