Chapter 3 - The First Threat
Sofia did not scream.
That surprised her.
She simply stared at the receipt until Detective Brooks noticed her face.
“What is it?”
Sofia handed it over.
Brooks read the words.
“Who brought these clothes?”
“My manager.”
“Ben Holloway?”
“Yes.”
“Did he pack them personally?”
“I don’t know.”
Brooks sealed the note inside an evidence bag.
Michael returned twenty minutes later carrying Emma.
The baby had been changed into a hospital onesie. Her white blanket was inside a clear plastic bag because police had collected it as evidence.
Michael saw the evidence bag in Brooks’s hand.
“What happened?”
“Someone sent Ms. Ramirez a message.”
Sofia wished Brooks had not told him.
Michael read it.
His expression changed.
“I’ll arrange protection.”
Sofia laughed once.
“You don’t arrange my life.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“I know what you meant.”
She pulled on the borrowed cardigan.
“And I know you’re used to solving problems by paying for them.”
“My daughter is alive because of you.”
“That doesn’t make me yours to manage.”
Grant stood near the elevators.
He watched the exchange without interrupting.
Then he said, “She’s right, Michael.”
Sofia looked at him.
Grant continued.
“Your instinct is always control.”
Michael turned.
“And yours?”
Grant smiled.
“Survival.”
Detective Brooks requested the Park family’s phone before they left.
Owen’s mother, Celia, hesitated.
“My son shouldn’t be involved in this.”
“He already is,” Brooks said gently. “The safest thing now is preserving what he recorded.”
Owen looked at Sofia.
“Will I get my phone back?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t delete the river videos.”
“I won’t.”
He nodded seriously.
“I was filming because my dad likes boats.”
Sofia crouched despite the ache in her muscles.
“You did something important tonight.”
Owen swallowed.
“I should’ve yelled sooner.”
“No.”
His eyes filled.
“No, listen to me. What Natalie did belongs to Natalie. Not you.”
Michael heard her.
His face tightened.
Perhaps because he knew the same sentence applied to him.
Outside the hospital, photographers had already gathered.
Someone had leaked the story.
The headlines were brutal.
WAITRESS ACCUSED AFTER CEO’S BABY PLUNGES INTO RIVER.
FIANCÉE CLAIMS EMPLOYEE PUSHED INFANT.
The video had not been released publicly.
Natalie’s accusation had.
“That was fast,” Sofia whispered.
Michael stared at his phone.
“Too fast.”
Grant stood beside him.
“Your communications team needs to respond.”
“My communications team shouldn’t know anything yet.”
Grant’s eyes shifted.
Michael caught it.
“Who told them?”
“I don’t know.”
Michael called Hayes Meridian’s public-relations director.
“Who gave you the restaurant incident?”
A pause.
Michael’s face changed.
“Say that again.”
He ended the call.
Grant asked, “What?”
“The first alert came from your office.”
Grant’s expression froze.
“My assistant monitors police scanners.”
“At eleven thirty at night?”
“She was working.”
“Convenient.”
Grant stepped forward.
“Be careful.”
“With what?”
“With turning terror into paranoia.”
Michael’s voice was quiet.
“My fiancée tried to murder my daughter.”
“And she will answer for it.”
“She spoke to a man first.”
“You heard four distorted words.”
“I heard enough.”
Grant leaned closer.
“You want me to be guilty because betrayal hurts less when it comes from someone you never trusted.”
Michael hit him.
One punch.
Grant staggered against a car.
Photographers exploded into flashes.
Sofia swore.
Grant touched blood at his lip and smiled.
“There.”
Michael looked horrified by what he had done.
Grant lowered his voice.
“Now everyone gets to see the unstable grieving father.”
The next morning, every news station in Chicago showed Michael Hayes striking his brother.
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By noon, Hayes Meridian’s board announced an emergency meeting to evaluate Michael’s fitness as CEO.
And at 12:17 p.m., Natalie Mercer’s attorney publicly claimed Sofia Ramirez had been stalking the Hayes family for weeks.
