Chapter 6 - THE ROOM THAT WAS NEVER LOCKED
Nia read the sentence twice.
Inside your home.
Her first instinct was to think about the townhouse.
The bedroom.
The kitchen.
The nursery room they had never used.
The places where Adrian kept his personal things.
Then she remembered the security cameras.
“Marcus.”
“Yes?”
“Check the house footage.”
He immediately pulled out his phone.
Minutes later, his expression changed.
“What?”
“There are gaps.”
Adrian stood.
“How many?”
“Thirty-seven.”
“Dates?”
Marcus looked at the screen.
“Most happened during the last two years.”
Nia felt cold.
“Someone has been inside.”
Marcus nodded.
“But whoever it was knew exactly where the cameras were.”
Adrian's face hardened.
“Walter.”
Dr. Grant shook her head.
“You need to understand something.”
Everyone looked at her.
“Walter Crane wasn't simply your father's security chief.”
“What was he?”
“He was the person your father trusted with everything he didn't want documented.”
Adrian stared at her.
“Then why did he disappear?”
“Because he discovered something your father didn't know.”
“What?”
Dr. Grant looked at Nia.
“Your father-in-law wasn't the person controlling the network.”
Adrian went still.
“Who was?”
Dr. Grant swallowed.
“Richard.”
The word hung in the room.
Adrian sat down slowly.
For years, he had believed his father was the center of everything.
Now he understood.
His father had been powerful.
But Richard had been patient.
And patience was sometimes more dangerous than power.
Nia asked, “Why target my pregnancies?”
Dr. Grant looked at her.
“Because your first child would have changed Adrian's inheritance.”
“And my second?”
“Same.”
“And this one?”
“Richard believed Adrian would eventually have to choose between protecting you and protecting his empire.”
Nia shook her head.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if Richard believed Adrian's loyalty could be controlled.”
Adrian looked at her.
“My father taught me that family was everything.”
Nia's voice softened.
“Sometimes people use family to control you.”
Adrian didn't answer.
That sentence stayed with him.
Later that night, Nia returned home alone.
Adrian wanted her to stay somewhere guarded.
She refused.
“I need one place that still feels like mine.”
He didn't argue.
The townhouse was dark.
Nia entered the bedroom.
Nothing appeared different.
Her clothes were untouched.
Her books were still beside the bed.
Then she noticed the nursery door.
It was slightly open.
Nia froze.
She had never opened it.
Not since the second miscarriage.
She pushed it slowly.
Inside were boxes.
Old baby clothes.
A wooden rocking chair.
Two unopened packages.
And on the floor sat a small children's drawing.
Nia picked it up.
It showed three stick figures.
A woman.
A man.
And a baby.
Above them was a black house.
On the back was a date.
The date of Nia's second miscarriage.
Her heart pounded.
Then she noticed the handwriting.
It wasn't Adrian's.
It wasn't hers.
It wasn't anyone she recognized.
A single sentence had been written beneath the drawing.
He was supposed to be the first.
Nia dropped the paper.
Someone had been inside this room.
Someone had known about the babies.
She called Adrian.
He arrived within minutes.
When he saw the drawing, something inside him broke.
“I never saw this.”
“I believe you.”
He looked at her.
That mattered.
More than she expected.
Then they heard a noise downstairs.
Adrian immediately moved in front of her.
Marcus entered the house with two security officers.
They searched every room.
Nothing.
No intruder.
No broken window.
No unlocked door.
But in the kitchen, Marcus found something.
A tiny black camera.
Hidden beneath the underside of a cabinet.
Nia stared at it.
“Who installed it?”
Marcus examined it.
“Professional equipment.”
Adrian's face hardened.
“Can you trace it?”
“Not directly.”
“Then find the receiver.”
Two hours later, they found one.
It was hidden in a utility closet across the street.
Someone had rented the apartment under a false name.
The tenant had left hours earlier.
But they had left one thing behind.
A coat.
Brown wool.
Nia recognized it.
“The same coat from the storage unit.”
Adrian approached it.
Inside the pocket was an old hospital bracelet.
Nia picked it up.
Her name was printed on it.
NIA BROOKS — MATERNITY — ROOM 417.
The date was seven years earlier.
Her first pregnancy.
She looked at Adrian.
“Someone was following me before we even knew this was happening.”
Adrian took the bracelet.
Then Marcus found something else.
A small recorder.
He pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then a man's voice.
Old.
Calm.
Walter Crane.
“You're looking in the wrong place, Adrian.”
Adrian stared at the recorder.
Walter continued.
“Richard wants the ledger.”
A pause.
“But Richard isn't the one who ordered the pregnancies.”
Nia stopped breathing.
Walter's voice continued.
“The order came from someone much closer to you.”
The recording ended.
Adrian stared at the machine.
Nia whispered,
“Who?”
Marcus found another file taped beneath the recorder.
Inside was one photograph.
It showed Adrian's father.
Richard.
Walter.
And one final person.
Nia looked at the face.
She knew him.
She had spoken to him many times.
He had attended their wedding.
He had sent flowers after both miscarriages.
He had hugged Adrian at the funeral of Adrian's father.
Nia whispered his name.
“Elliot Cole.”
Adrian's older cousin.
The man who had been managing Cole Meridian Holdings while Adrian built his legitimate empire.
The man Adrian trusted most.
Adrian stared at the photograph.
Then his phone rang.
Elliot.
Adrian answered.
“Where are you?”
Elliot's voice was calm.
“At your house.”
Nia's blood ran cold.
Adrian looked toward her.
Elliot continued.
May you like
“I think it's time we stopped pretending you can protect her.”
The call ended.
