Chapter 9 - SHADOWS ON THE PATIO
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I killed the desk lamp instantly, plunging the bedroom into complete darkness.
“Marcus, they’re here,” I whispered into the phone, pressing my back flat against the wall beside the window.
“How did they find you?” Marcus demanded, his voice urgent.
“I don't know,” I breathed out, watching Viktor through the thin slit in the velvet curtains. “Aunt Rosa’s trust was completely off the books.”
“The medical app,” Marcus cursed under his breath. “Your prenatal monitoring band! Did you take off the smart wristband your doctor gave you?”
My eyes widened in horror. I looked down at my left wrist. Resting against my skin was a sleek black health tracker Dominic had insisted I wear to monitor my fetal heart rate.
It wasn't just monitoring my baby’s heart. It was transmitting my real-time GPS coordinates directly to Dominic’s private server.
“Clare, get out of there now!” Marcus ordered. “The back garden opens into an alley behind 5th Street. I’m ten minutes away!”
I unclasped the tracker, threw it onto the mattress, grabbed my overnight bag, and slipped out of the bedroom into the dark hallway.
Downstairs, the heavy iron knocker on the front door echoed through the empty brownstone. Three slow, heavy thuds.
“Mrs. Callahan,” Viktor’s muffled voice called out from the front porch. “Dominic is very worried about you. Please open the door so we can take you to the hospital.”
I didn't answer. I tiptoed into the kitchen, unlatched the rusty back door, and stepped out into the pouring rain of the rear garden.
The cold water plastered my clothes to my skin as I navigated the muddy path toward the wooden garden gate. Behind me, the sound of splintering wood shattered the quiet night as Viktor forced his way through the front door of the brownstone.
I burst through the back gate into the narrow alley, my lungs burning, clutching my heavy stomach with both hands.
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Headlights flashed at the end of the alley. A gray sedan screeched to a halt, and the passenger door swung open.
“Get in!” Marcus yelled.
