Chapter 10 - The Missing Heir
Claire’s heart plummeted into her stomach. ""Drive! Faster!"" she yelled at Thomas, gripping the dashboard.
The armored truck tore through the deserted streets, red lights blurring past in a streak of panic. The thirty-minute drive felt like an eternity. All the corporate triumphs, the boardroom victories, and the millions of dollars vanished from her mind. Nothing mattered except the two tiny heartbeats she had left under the protection of her trusted nanny at the secondary downtown apartment.
When they arrived at the residential tower, the lobby was in chaos. Building security guards were huddled near the elevator bank, speaking frantically into their radios.
Claire pushed past them, ignoring their greetings, and dashed up the stairs to the fourth-floor penthouse suite. The front door was slightly ajar, the lock scratched and broken.
""Leo! Lucas!"" Claire screamed, bursting into the living room.
The apartment was turned upside down. Drawers were pulled out, cushions tossed on the floor, and glass figurines shattered against the hearth. In the corner of the nursery, the elderly nanny, Maria, was weeping hysterically, clutching an ice pack to a bruised temple.
In the crib, only one baby was crying.
Lucas was safe, his tiny fists waving in the air. But the second crib was empty.
Leo was gone.
""Maria! What happened?!"" Claire dropped to her knees beside the nanny, lifting Lucas into her arms and holding him against her chest. ""Where is Leo?!""
""Two women..."" Maria sobbed, gasping for breath. ""They had maintenance uniforms... One knocked me down, and the other grabbed the boy from his cradle. She said... she said Julian sent her to collect his insurance policy!""
Claire felt the room spin. Evelyn.
Evelyn hadn't taken the flight. She had realized that without Julian or the money, she had no leverage—unless she possessed the living key to the Vance fortune. Under the trust, if anything happened to Claire, the father or his appointed proxy could claim custody of an heir.
Claire stood up, her grief instantly burning into white-hot fury. She wiped a tear from her cheek, handing Lucas to Thomas Drake, who stood by the doorway with his gun drawn, his face dark with fury.
""Thomas,"" Claire said, her voice shaking with lethal quietness. ""Assemble every man you trust. Lock down the city airports, the train stations, and the marinas. She couldn't have gotten far.""
Thomas nodded gravely. ""What about the police?""
""No police,"" Claire said, picking up her phone. ""Evelyn is desperate, and desperate people panic when they hear sirens. I will find her myself.""
May you like
Her phone suddenly vibrated with a video incoming message. Claire clicked the screen.
Evelyn’s tear-stained face appeared, holding baby Leo in the backseat of a moving taxi. ""Fifty million, Claire! Wire it to an offshore trust by midnight, or your son disappears across the border where you will never see him again!""
