Chapter 7 - THE MAN IN THE GARAGE
James stared at the photo of the silver bracelet.
Panic, cold and sharp, flooded his veins. Catherine had been wearing that bracelet when she went up in the private elevator. How could it be in the parking garage?
He scrambled to his feet, his muscles aching, and shoved through the hospital’s heavy stairwell doors. He took the concrete steps two at a time, his breath echoing in the hollow shaft.
Section D. Section D.
He burst into the subterranean parking garage. The air smelled of exhaust and damp concrete. The fluorescent lights buzzed aggressively overhead.
He ran down the rows of parked cars until he reached Section D.
Sitting against a concrete pillar was a sleek, black town car. The engine was off, but the passenger door was wide open.
James slowed down, his heart pounding against his ribs.
“Hello?” he called out, his voice echoing in the cavernous space.
A figure stepped out from the shadows behind the pillar. It wasn’t a corporate spy. It wasn’t an assassin.
It was a man in his late sixties, wearing a faded corduroy jacket and a tired expression. He had James’s jawline, James’s eyes, and the same nervous habit of rubbing his thumb against his index finger.
James stopped dead in his tracks.
“Dad?”
Robert Vance looked at his son. They hadn’t spoken in fifteen years. Robert had walked out on James and his mother when James was a teenager, leaving them bankrupt and drowning in debt. It was the trauma that had driven James to obsess over money, status, and control.
“Hello, Jamie,” Robert said. His voice was raspy, worn down by years of cheap cigarettes and hard labor.
“What are you doing here?” James demanded, his shock quickly turning to fury. “How did you get Catherine’s bracelet?”
Robert reached into his pocket and pulled out the hammered silver band. He tossed it lightly to James, who caught it with fumbling hands.
“I bumped into the old lady near the coffee cart on the first floor before she went up,” Robert said, shrugging. “Slipped it right off her wrist. I still got fast hands.”
“You pickpocketed the matriarch of the Thorne family?” James hissed, looking around frantically to see if Marcus’s security was closing in. “Are you insane? They will bury you under this hospital!”
“They’re not looking for me,” Robert said calmly. “They’re looking at you, kid. You’re the one who just blew the biggest lottery ticket in human history.”
James clenched his jaw. “I didn't blow a lottery ticket. I made a mistake.”
“A mistake is forgetting an anniversary,” Robert scoffed. “Moving a corporate spy into a three-million-dollar penthouse using your billionaire wife’s money? That’s not a mistake, Jamie. That’s a genetic defect. You’re just like me.”
The words hit James like a physical punch. He had spent his entire life trying to be the opposite of this man.
“I am nothing like you,” James spat.
“Sure you are,” Robert smiled, leaning against the black town car. “You want the shortcut. You want the prize without the work. And now you’re standing in a garage with no money, no job, and a wife who despises you.”
Robert opened the back door of the town car and pulled out a heavy canvas duffel bag. He dropped it at James’s feet. It landed with a heavy, metallic thud.
“What is this?” James asked.
“That’s two hundred thousand dollars in untraceable cash,” Robert said. “And a fake passport.”
James stared at the bag. “Where did you get this?”
“From the people who hired Delilah,” Robert said casually. “Apex Innovations isn’t just a tech company, Jamie. They’re a front for a private intelligence firm. They wanted the Aether algorithm, but Delilah screwed up. They know Thorne is going to crush them legally.”
Robert stepped closer, lowering his voice.
“They want insurance. And you are going to give it to them.”
Robert reached into his coat and pulled out a small, black plastic keycard. He held it up to the dim garage light.
“This is a master override key for Mount Sinai’s VIP wing,” Robert whispered. “Go up there. Get into her room. And you bring me the baby’s ultrasound scans and her medical chart.”
“Are you crazy?” James backed away. “Why would they want her medical files?”
May you like
Robert’s eyes went cold. “Because if Apex knows exactly what medical condition the Thorne heir has, they have leverage against Marcus. Now take the key, or I leave you here to rot.”
TITLE: THE CASHMERE BLANKET
