Chapter 10 - The Empty Pediatric Room
I do not remember driving back to the hospital.
I remember the empty bed.
The stuffed rabbit on the floor.
Lucas sitting against the wall with blood near his temple.
“I tried to stop him,” he said.
“Who?”
“A man dressed like an orderly.”
Security footage showed the man pushing Maisie in a wheelchair through a service elevator.
His face remained hidden.
But the camera captured his right hand.
He wore Warren’s heavy gold ring.
My father had walked into a guarded hospital and taken my child.
Detective Hayes locked down every exit, but he was already gone.
A stolen medical van was found abandoned near the interstate.
Inside was Maisie’s IV tape and one pink slipper.
I held it against my chest while officers searched.
Then my phone rang.
Warren.
“Put her on.”
“She’s sleeping.”
“If you hurt her—”
“You are in no position to threaten me.”
“What do you want?”
“The original evidence Rachel gave Hannah.”
“You already have the metal case.”
“I have records. I do not have Rachel’s testimony.”
“You kidnapped my daughter because you cannot control a witness?”
“I took Maisie because you will make Rachel disappear for me.”
My stomach turned.
He wanted me to deliver Rachel to him.
“No.”
“Then your daughter remains with me.”
“You drugged her once. She needs medical care.”
“She is awake.”
Maisie’s frightened voice came through the phone.
“Mommy?”
“I’m here, baby.”
“Grandpa says you’re mad at me.”
“I am not mad at you.”
Warren took the phone back.
“Midnight. Old sawmill north of the lake. Bring Rachel.”
The call ended.
Rachel refused to hide.
“I will go.”
“No.”
“He kept me alive because I was useful. He will not kill me before opening the accounts.”
“He may kill Maisie.”
“That is why we make him believe he won.”
Detective Hayes created a plan.
Rachel would wear a tracking device and a bulletproof vest.
Police would surround the sawmill.
But Hannah, recovering after surgery, warned us.
“Warren built that place.”
“What does that mean?”
“There are tunnels beneath it.”
The sawmill once connected to underground storage rooms near the lake. Warren could escape without using the main road.
Lucas insisted on coming.
I looked at him.
“You hid Hannah’s letter from me.”
“I know.”
“You left Maisie alone in that office.”
“I know.”
“I cannot trust you the way I did.”
“I understand.”
“But she is your daughter.”
“Yes.”
“You stay behind the police line.”
He nodded.
At eleven fifty-eight, Rachel and I entered the sawmill.
Maisie sat tied to a chair beneath a hanging work light.
Warren stood behind her with a gun.
The metal case lay open on a table.
“You brought her,” he said.
I looked at my daughter.
Her eyes were red, but she was awake.
“Let Maisie go.”
Warren smiled.
“Not until Rachel opens the final account.”
Rachel stepped forward.
“You cannot access it without Rebecca’s biometric approval.”
Warren’s smile vanished.
That was why he needed me alive too.
Then the sawmill doors slammed shut.
May you like
Gasoline began pouring from pipes along the walls.
👉 Warren had trapped Rebecca, Rachel, and Maisie inside a building he planned to burn after stealing the last of the family fortune.
