Chapter 3 - Grace Disappears Behind Locked Doors
Dominic reached the service elevator before anyone else.
The indicator above the doors was descending.
Forty-one.
Thirty-eight.
Thirty-five.
He hit the call button.
Nothing happened.
Aaron ran toward the security panel.
“The system’s been overridden.”
Dominic turned.
“By Marcus?”
“His credentials are active.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
The penthouse occupied the top three floors of Vale Tower.
Every elevator, camera, access door, and alarm had been designed around one assumption.
Marcus Kane could be trusted.
That assumption had just become a weapon.
“Where can the elevator stop?”
“Anywhere from here to the garage.”
Dominic pulled out his phone and called building security.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Then he understood.
“Marcus didn’t compromise one guard.”
Aaron looked at him.
“He compromised the system.”
Dominic ran toward the private staircase.
Victoria followed.
“Dominic, wait.”
He stopped so abruptly she nearly collided with him.
“Why?”
“What?”
“Why should I wait?”
“I can explain.”
“Grace is missing.”
“I didn’t take her.”
“You wore a transmitter.”
“I didn’t know what it was.”
Dominic stared at her.
Victoria’s eyes filled.
“I swear.”
He wanted to believe her.
That was the problem.
Victoria Ashford had been part of his life for four years.
Beautiful, intelligent, socially effortless.
She could enter a room of billionaires and make them compete for her attention without seeming to try.
Dominic had mistaken confidence for transparency.
Now he wondered how much of her life had been rehearsed.
“Who gave you the necklace?”
Victoria looked toward the guests.
Dominic stepped closer.
“Say the name.”
Her voice dropped.
“My brother.”
Dominic frowned.
“Julian?”
Victoria nodded.
Julian Ashford had disappeared from New York eight months earlier after his investment firm collapsed.
Rumors said he had fled to Singapore.
Others said Switzerland.
Dominic had never cared enough to investigate.
“Why would Julian give you surveillance equipment?”
“He said it was a prototype.”
“For what?”
“A personal safety company.”
Dominic almost laughed.
“You wore an untested prototype into my private meetings?”
“I didn’t know it recorded.”
“Did Marcus?”
Victoria’s silence answered.
Dominic turned away.
The elevator indicator reached B2.
Garage level.
Dominic ran.
By the time he reached the underground garage, police sirens were already approaching from outside.
A black SUV tore through the exit gate.
Dominic saw it from across the concrete floor.
He sprinted toward his own car.
Then a voice stopped him.
“Mr. Vale!”
Grace.
Dominic turned.
She stumbled from behind a concrete pillar.
Her maid uniform was torn at the shoulder.
A red mark crossed her cheek.
But she was alive.
Dominic reached her.
“What happened?”
Grace struggled to breathe.
“He grabbed me in the elevator.”
“Marcus?”
She nodded.
“He tried to pull me into the SUV.”
“How did you get away?”
Grace opened her hand.
Inside was a small brass key.
“I stabbed him with this.”
Despite everything, Dominic almost smiled.
Grace looked down.
“I found it in his pocket.”
Dominic took the key.
A number was engraved into the metal.
314.
Marcus’s SUV disappeared onto Fifth Avenue.
Police vehicles arrived seconds later.
Dominic could have ordered a pursuit.
Instead, he looked at Grace.
She was shaking violently now that the danger had passed.
“You’re coming upstairs.”
“No.”
He frowned.
Grace looked terrified.
“Sir, I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because the device under your chair wasn’t the first one I found.”
Dominic went still.
Grace looked toward the ceiling.
“There’s another one in your bedroom.”
Victoria had just reached the garage.
She stopped behind them.
May you like
Dominic turned slowly.
Grace whispered, “And I found it inside Mrs. Ashford’s suitcase.”
