Chapter 6 - Someone Else Knew Ruby Was Alive
Samuel Pike had disappeared from Graves Tower twenty-seven minutes before Ruby did.
That was the first fact Daniel confirmed.
The second was worse.
Pike had used Nathaniel's executive authorization.
His personal credentials.
His private access code.
Information possessed by fewer than six people.
Nathaniel stood in the security center watching footage from the underground garage.
Samuel's silver sedan exited at 5:42 p.m.
Ruby disappeared at 6:09.
“The vehicle in the video isn't Pike's,” Daniel said.
Nathaniel didn't look away from the monitors.
“He wouldn't use his own.”
Claire paced behind them.
“Can you track Ruby's phone?”
“She doesn't have one,” Nathaniel said.
Claire stopped.
“Her school tablet.”
Daniel looked over.
“What?”
“Ruby keeps her school tablet in her backpack.”
Daniel immediately sat at another terminal.
“Account?”
Claire gave him the details.
Nathaniel stared toward her.
“You know the password?”
“I'm her mother.”
The words carried more weight than Claire intended.
Nathaniel turned away.
Daniel typed.
“It's offline.”
Claire's shoulders fell.
“But,” Daniel continued, “the school software logs the last Wi-Fi network it touched.”
“When?”
“Sixteen minutes ago.”
“Where?”
Daniel entered coordinates.
A map appeared.
Industrial district.
East Aldridge.
Victor, standing near the door, frowned.
“That area belonged to Malcolm.”
Nathaniel looked at him.
“What?”
“Warehouses. Years ago.”
“We sold them.”
“Some.”
Daniel enlarged the map.
The signal came from an abandoned textile facility near the river.
Nathaniel knew it.
Building 14.
Malcolm had used it for private meetings before Graves Tower existed.
Nathaniel grabbed his jacket.
Claire blocked him.
“I'm coming.”
“No.”
“She is my daughter.”
“And mine.”
The words came out before Nathaniel could stop them.
Claire stared.
Nathaniel softened his voice.
“If Pike sees you, he has both of you.”
“You think I'm staying here?”
“Yes.”
“Then you haven't learned anything about me in eight years.”
Victor stepped between them.
“She should come.”
Nathaniel's eyes snapped toward him.
“Your opinion wasn't requested.”
“Pike isn't stupid. He expects you.”
“Good.”
“He may not expect Claire.”
“That isn't a reason to put her in danger.”
Claire folded her arms.
“I don't need either of you deciding whether I'm allowed to protect my child.”
Nathaniel looked at her.
She hadn't changed.
Still stubborn.
Still terrified.
Still willing to walk into fire.
He understood why Ruby had returned the wallet.
“Fine.”
Daniel stared.
“Nathaniel.”
“She stays in the second vehicle.”
Claire opened her mouth.
“That's the compromise.”
“Fine.”
The convoy left Graves Tower six minutes later.
No police.
Claire noticed.
“Why aren't we calling them?”
Nathaniel sat across from her in the armored SUV.
“Some can be trusted.”
“Some?”
“Malcolm spent decades buying loyalty.”
“And you kept the system.”
Nathaniel met her gaze.
“I inherited more rot than I understood.”
Claire looked out the window.
“You always have an explanation.”
“No.”
Nathaniel's voice surprised her.
“I have responsibility.”
She looked back.
He continued.
“I spent years telling myself I was different from my father because I had rules.”
“What rules?”
“Families were off limits. Children were off limits. Certain businesses were banned. Certain people were removed.”
“And that made everything else acceptable?”
“No.”
Claire expected defensiveness.
It didn't come.
Nathaniel looked at his hands.
“It made it easier to sleep.”
For the first time that evening, Claire saw something beneath his power.
Exhaustion.
Nathaniel Graves looked like a man who had built a fortress around something wounded.
Claire almost felt sympathy.
Then she remembered Ruby was missing.
The vehicles stopped two blocks from Building 14.
Daniel's teams spread through the area.
Nathaniel checked his weapon.
Claire noticed.
“I don't want Ruby seeing that.”
“She won't.”
“How can you promise?”
“I can't.”
Claire flinched.
Nathaniel added softly, “But I'll try.”
Victor approached.
“No exterior guards.”
“Cameras?”
“Dead.”
Nathaniel frowned.
“Too easy.”
Daniel agreed.
“Could be a trap.”
Claire said, “Of course it's a trap.”
Nathaniel looked at her.
“Stay in the car.”
She nodded.
Nathaniel didn't believe her.
He entered through the south loading door.
The warehouse smelled of rust, dust and river water.
Rows of abandoned machines disappeared into darkness.
Daniel pointed.
Small footprints.
Dust disturbed.
Ruby had been there.
Nathaniel's heartbeat increased.
They followed the trail.
It ended beside an office.
Inside was Ruby's backpack.
Claire's pink eviction notice lay on the desk.
And beside it sat the school tablet.
No Ruby.
Nathaniel picked up the backpack.
A sound came from the ceiling speakers.
Samuel Pike's voice.
“Nathaniel.”
Nathaniel looked upward.
“Where is she?”
“I always wondered what would finally make you afraid.”
“You have ten seconds.”
Samuel chuckled.
“Your father used to speak that way.”
Nathaniel's jaw clenched.
“Don't compare me to him.”
“Why not? You inherited his buildings. His people. His enemies. His methods.”
“Where is Ruby?”
“Safe.”
“Let me hear her.”
A pause.
Then Ruby's voice.
“Mom?”
Nathaniel closed his eyes.
“Ruby!”
She couldn't hear him.
Samuel said, “She is remarkably calm.”
“If you touch her—”
“There he is. Malcolm's son.”
Nathaniel forced himself to breathe.
“What do you want?”
“Truth.”
Nathaniel frowned.
Samuel continued.
“Claire told you I was after the trust.”
“You aren't?”
“I spent thirty years protecting your family from itself.”
“You helped hide my daughter.”
“I kept her alive.”
Nathaniel's gaze shifted toward Victor.
Victor looked uncomfortable.
Nathaniel noticed.
“Victor told me you hunted her.”
Samuel laughed.
“Victor Hale told you that?”
Nathaniel's stomach tightened.
Victor said nothing.
Samuel continued.
“Ask Victor who delivered the false death certificate.”
Nathaniel slowly turned.
Victor's expression gave him the answer.
“You.”
Victor raised his hands.
“Nathaniel—”
“You gave me the proof Claire died?”
“It wasn't real.”
“I know that!”
Daniel aimed at Victor.
Claire had left the vehicle by then.
She entered the warehouse and heard Nathaniel's shout.
“Nathaniel!”
He turned.
“Why are you here?”
“Where's Ruby?”
Samuel's voice echoed.
“Hello, Claire.”
Claire froze.
“Samuel.”
“You should have listened to Evelyn.”
Claire looked around.
“What do you want?”
Samuel replied quietly.
“For Ruby to survive what Nathaniel is about to learn.”
Nathaniel stared upward.
“Enough games.”
“Then ask Victor why your wallet ended up beneath that bus bench.”
Victor's face changed.
Nathaniel saw it.
“You said you didn't take it.”
“I didn't.”
“Then what?”
Victor looked toward Claire.
“Evelyn left instructions.”
Nathaniel stepped closer.
“What instructions?”
“If Ruby was ever discovered, I was supposed to create a controlled path to you.”
Claire stared at him.
“You planted the wallet?”
“No. I gave it to someone.”
“Who?”
Victor swallowed.
“The receptionist.”
Nathaniel's mind raced.
“The woman Ruby spoke to?”
Victor nodded.
“She was supposed to leave it near Harper Court.”
Nathaniel grabbed Victor's jacket.
“You engineered this.”
“Not exactly.”
“My daughter found that wallet because of you!”
Victor's voice rose.
“Because Pike had already found Claire!”
Nathaniel stopped.
Victor continued.
“We needed Ruby inside Graves Tower before Pike could reach her.”
Claire's face twisted.
“You used my child as bait?”
“No. As protection.”
“Then why was she kidnapped from the tower?”
Victor looked toward the ceiling.
“Because someone inside betrayed us.”
Samuel's voice came again.
“Finally.”
Nathaniel released Victor.
“You didn't take her?”
“No,” Samuel said.
“Then who did?”
Silence.
Nathaniel's stomach turned.
The video earlier had shown Samuel's ring.
But rings could be copied.
Voices manipulated.
Nathaniel said, “Prove Ruby is with you.”
Samuel answered, “She isn't.”
Claire nearly collapsed.
“What?”
“She was taken from the people who took her.”
Nathaniel stared.
“By who?”
“That is what I have been trying to determine.”
Daniel's phone vibrated.
He looked at the message.
“Nathaniel.”
“Not now.”
“You need to see this.”
Daniel showed him footage from a traffic camera.
The vehicle carrying Ruby had stopped beneath an overpass.
Another SUV blocked it.
Masked men removed Ruby.
One turned toward the camera.
Nathaniel enlarged the frame.
A tattoo was visible on the man's wrist.
A crowned serpent.
Nathaniel recognized the symbol.
So did Victor.
Claire whispered, “Who are they?”
Nathaniel's face darkened.
“A crew my father used years ago.”
Victor corrected him.
“A crew you destroyed.”
Nathaniel's eyes stayed on the image.
The Serpents had controlled weapons routes through the eastern docks.
Nathaniel had shut them down six years earlier.
Their leader, Dominic Rane, had disappeared afterward.
Everyone assumed he was dead.
Samuel's voice came softly through the speakers.
“He isn't.”
Nathaniel looked upward.
Samuel continued.
“And now Dominic Rane has the one thing in this city Nathaniel Graves cannot replace.”
Claire's eyes filled with terror.
Ruby.
Daniel's phone rang.
Unknown number.
Nathaniel answered.
A man's voice came through.
Rough.
Amused.
“King of Aldridge.”
Nathaniel's face emptied of emotion.
“Dominic.”
Claire covered her mouth.
Dominic laughed.
“It's been a long time.”
“Let Ruby go.”
“Ruby. Pretty name.”
Nathaniel squeezed the phone.
“She has nothing to do with us.”
“That didn't matter when you destroyed my family.”
Nathaniel closed his eyes.
There it was.
Revenge.
Dominic continued.
“Come to me alone.”
“Where?”
“You'll receive an address.”
“If she's hurt—”
“She isn't.”
Nathaniel's voice became low.
“She stays that way.”
Dominic laughed again.
“Still giving orders.”
Then Ruby's voice appeared faintly in the background.
“Mr. Graves?”
Nathaniel's chest tightened.
She still didn't call him Dad.
He couldn't blame her.
“Ruby?”
“I lost my backpack.”
Nathaniel almost laughed and cried at the same time.
“I have it.”
“Mom's going to be mad.”
Claire shouted, “Ruby!”
“Mom?”
Dominic grabbed the phone away.
“One hour, Nathaniel.”
The call ended.
Nathaniel stared at the screen.
Then Claire grabbed his arm.
“You are not going alone.”
Nathaniel looked at her.
“I am if that's what gets her back.”
“What if they kill you?”
Nathaniel's expression softened.
“Then make sure she knows I came.”
Claire's eyes filled.
Before she could respond, Daniel received the address.
He read it.
Then slowly raised his eyes.
“Nathaniel.”
“What?”
Daniel turned the screen around.
The meeting location wasn't a warehouse.
It wasn't a dock.
It wasn't an abandoned property.
It was Harper Court.
May you like
Ruby's home.
Apartment 3B.
