Chapter 4 - The Midnight SOS
The digital clock on Valerie’s nightstand glowed 3:14 AM.
She had barely slept in forty-eight hours. Every creak of the old oak floors in the mansion sent her instincts into overdrive. Across the hall, Thomas was sleeping fitfully, medicated for shock and exhaustion by the family doctor.
Suddenly, her secure cell phone buzzed violently against the mahogany table.
Valerie snatched it up on the first ring. “Hello?”
“Mrs. Harrington?” A breathless, terrified voice whispered through the static. It was Martha. “He’s gone. Nick slipped out the back window. Men—private contractors, I think—they broke into the house looking for him less than ten minutes after he left. They’re hunting him, Valerie!”
Valerie felt the blood drain entirely from her face. She sat straight up in bed, her mind racing with terrifying clarity. Daniel wasn't just fighting a legal battle from his prison cell; he had unleashed his private enforcers to eliminate the one witness who could bury him forever.
“Calm down, Martha. Tell me exactly what direction he might have gone,” Valerie commanded, her voice dropping into the cold, authoritative tone she had learned from years of moving in high-society corporate circles.
“He... he always talked about the old rail yards near the interstate when he lived in the city. He said that’s where kids without homes hide when the winter gets too cold.”
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“Stay inside, lock all your doors, and call this number if anyone comes back,” Valerie instructed. She hung up immediately, threw on a heavy wool coat over her silk pajamas, and grabbed her car keys.
She didn't wake security. She couldn't risk a leak within the estate staff. She walked silently down the grand staircase, slipped out through the side terrace, and climbed into her private SUV. As she tore down the long, winding drive of the estate, she made a vow to herself: I lost my husband to greed, and I almost lost my son to his cruelty. I will not let them take the boy who saved us.
