Chapter 6 - The Park Deception
Morning came too quickly.
The mansion felt suffocating, as if the walls were closing in.
I dressed Sophia in play clothes and packed a discreet duffel bag.
I shoved it into the bottom of the twin stroller.
I strapped Eli in next to Sophia.
As I rolled the stroller toward the front door, Marcus appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Going out so early, Clara?” he asked.
He was sipping coffee, dressed in a sharp gray suit.
“Yes, sir,” I kept my voice light. “It’s a beautiful morning. Taking the kids to Centennial Park.”
Marcus slowly descended the stairs.
He stopped right in front of the stroller.
He leaned down and looked at Eli.
“Uncle Marcus loves you, buddy,” he whispered.
Then he looked at Sophia.
“And you’re the little dancer, aren’t you?”
Sophia hid her face in her hands.
Marcus stood up and looked at me. His eyes were completely dead.
“The park is a lovely idea, Clara. Just make sure they don't wander off.”
He smiled.
“Accidents happen so easily these days.”
A chill shot violently down my spine.
He knew.
He knew we found something.
“We will be careful,” I managed to say.
I pushed the stroller out the front door and down the driveway.
I didn't go to the park.
I walked three blocks, turned into an alley, and found the black SUV Nathaniel had promised.
The driver was a man named Thomas, Nathaniel’s most trusted head of security.
“Get in,” Thomas said urgently.
I threw the stroller and the kids into the back.
As the SUV sped away toward the airfield, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
It was a text from an unknown number.
“Did you really think I wouldn't check the piano?”
My heart stopped.
Marcus had gone back to the ballroom.
May you like
He knew the ledgers were gone.
And Nathaniel was trapped in the corporate building with him.
