Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9: BLIND SPOT
My heart stopped beating. The blood in my veins turned to pure ice. I violently swiped out of the video call and opened the secure, encrypted security app linked to the penthouse nursery.
The screen loaded. The crib was empty.
The room was in total disarray. The nanny was slumped against the wall, bound with heavy zip-ties, an open gash bleeding across her forehead.
"Leo!" I screamed, a sound so primal and raw it tore through my throat. The phone slipped from my hand, shattering against the hardwood floor.
I didn't wait for my father. I didn't wait for Sofia to call the police. I ran out of the executive suite, sprinting past the stunned federal agents, and threw myself into the elevator. I burst through the lobby into the torrential New York rain, lunging into the first yellow cab I saw at the curb. "St. Regis! Drive! Go!" I screamed at the driver, my chest heaving in ragged, hysterical gasps.
When I kicked open the door to the penthouse, the silence inside was deafening. It was the silence of a tomb. I sprinted down the hallway, my wet heels leaving tracks on the carpet, and burst into the nursery.
The room was freezing. The window was wide open, the rain soaking the curtains. The crib was entirely empty, save for one object resting perfectly in the center of the mattress: a small, antique silver clock. It was the exact same model I had used to secretly record Santiago's abuse in Mexico City.
A shadow shifted near the curtains.
I spun around, expecting to see Julian Rivas holding a gun. Instead, standing there, casually pouring a glass of my father’s hundred-dollar scotch, was Evelyn Vance.
"You're about twenty minutes too late, Valeria," Evelyn said, her voice dripping with casual malice as she took a slow sip. "The boat already cleared the pier. They’re entering international waters before the coast guard even gets the report."
"Where is my son?!" I shrieked, lunging at her with my bare hands, ready to tear her throat out.
But before I could reach her, two massive hands grabbed my upper arms from behind, throwing me violently against the wall. I gasped for air, looking up into the face of my captor. It was Alejandro—my father’s lead security detail. The man who had protected me for a year. The man who slept outside my door.
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"Alejandro... why?" I choked out, tears finally spilling over my eyelids.
Evelyn walked over, using her manicured finger to gently pat my wet cheek. "Oh, sweetie. Everyone has a price. Your father paid him in loyalty and a very nice salary. But Julian? Julian paid him in ten million dollars cash settled in a Cayman account. New York is an expensive city, Valeria. You should have checked your blind spots."
