Chapter 5 - THE STRANGER IN THE APARTMENT
"Don't open the door!" Maya screamed into the phone, her voice shattering the silence of Room 814.
"He's banging really hard, Maya," the boy cried, the sound of heavy, rhythmic pounding echoing through the phone’s receiver. "He says he has a key."
Maya’s blood ran cold.
Richard. He hadn't waited for tomorrow. He had sent someone immediately.
"Caleb, listen to me," Maya said, forcing her voice to steady, even as panic clawed at her throat. "Go to the fire escape window in the kitchen. Lock it behind you. Go down two flights to Mrs. Gable's apartment and bang on her glass until she lets you in. Do not stop running."
"I'm scared!"
"Do it now!" Maya yelled.
A loud CRACK came through the speaker, the sound of wood splintering.
"He's inside!" the boy screamed.
"Caleb!"
The phone clattered to the floor on the other end. Maya heard the sound of a scuffle, a man's gruff voice, and then a sharp click.
The line went dead.
"No, no, no," Maya chanted, frantically redialing the number.
It went straight to voicemail.
Evelyn grabbed Maya's shoulders, her slate-grey eyes fierce and focused.
"Who has him?" Evelyn demanded.
"Richard sent someone," Maya gasped, shoving the phone into her pocket. She looked at the Polaroid photo still gripped in her hand. The photo of her mother holding a newborn Maya, sitting next to a ten-year-old boy named Caleb. Twenty-two years ago.
"Evelyn," Maya said, her mind struggling to process the impossible reality. "The boy I've been raising... he's ten years old. He looks exactly like the boy in this photo. But he can't be. The math is impossible."
Evelyn took the photograph. She stared at the ten-year-old boy sitting on the hospital bed.
The Chairman’s face drained of color.
"That isn't Caleb," Evelyn whispered, her hands shaking violently.
"What do you mean?" Maya asked. "My mother wrote 'Julian's son Caleb' on the back!"
"Maya," Evelyn looked up, tears pooling in her eyes. "Julian didn't have a son named Caleb. I would have known. But I know this boy's face."
Evelyn turned the photo back around, tracing the boy's sharp jawline and dark eyes.
"This isn't Julian's son," Evelyn said. "This is Richard's son."
Maya stepped back as if she had been struck.
"Richard has a son?"
"He had one," Evelyn corrected, her voice trembling. "His name was Thomas. He died in a boating accident ten years ago."
Maya felt her knees give out. She leaned heavily against the mahogany dresser.
Ten years ago.
The exact age of the boy Maya was raising.
"My mother told me Caleb was my younger brother," Maya said, her voice cracking. "She brought him home ten years ago as a newborn. She said he was a miracle baby. But if... if Caleb is..."
"He's Thomas's son," Evelyn finished, the horrific truth finally settling in the room. "Richard's grandson."
Maya’s mind raced, her flawless memory piecing together the fragmented history of her life.
Her mother hadn't just run away with Julian's baby.
Ten years ago, Sarah had somehow taken Richard's grandson and raised him as her own.
"Why?" Maya breathed. "Why would she take him?"
"To protect him," Evelyn said, her eyes flashing with a sudden, terrifying fury. "Richard's son, Thomas, was a monster. Just like his father. If Thomas had a child... Richard would have turned him into the exact same thing. Or worse."
Evelyn looked at Maya.
"Your mother didn't just hide you, Maya. She stole Richard’s only heir to save the boy's life."
And now, Richard had him back.
"We have to go," Maya said, pushing off the dresser. She didn't care about the money. She didn't care about the hotel. She only cared about the little boy who loved dinosaurs and burnt toast, the boy she had promised her dying mother to protect.
"Wait," Evelyn said. She walked over to the floorboards and picked up the marriage certificate. She folded it carefully and placed it in her coat pocket.
"Richard doesn't know we have this," Evelyn said. "This is the only thing that proves you own this hotel. Without it, he controls the trust. With it, you can destroy him."
Maya didn't care. "I just want my brother back."
"He isn't your brother, Maya," Evelyn said gently.
"He is mine," Maya snapped, her eyes blazing with fierce defiance. "I fed him. I rocked him to sleep. I paid for his shoes. He is my brother. And I am going to get him back."
Evelyn looked at her granddaughter. For the first time, she smiled a true, proud smile.
"Then let's go get your brother," Evelyn said.
They left Room 814, running down the carpeted hallway to the service elevator. Maya used her employee badge to call the lift.
As the doors opened, Maya's phone buzzed in her pocket.
She pulled it out.
It was a text message from an unknown number.
If you want to see him again, bring the marriage certificate to the old Marlowe Estate in Lake Forest. Come alone. Or the boy pays for what your mother did.
Maya showed the screen to Evelyn.
The Chairman's face hardened.
"The Lake Forest estate," Evelyn said. "It's been boarded up for fifteen years."
"He wants the certificate," Maya said, stepping into the elevator.
"He wants to burn it," Evelyn corrected, stepping in beside her. "And he wants to burn us with it. Once he has the certificate, there is nothing tying you to the Marlowe fortune. And there is no one left to challenge his claim to Caleb."
"We have to give it to him," Maya said.
"No," Evelyn said, her voice turning icy. "We are going to give Richard exactly what he deserves."
They rode the elevator down to the underground parking garage.
Evelyn marched past the rows of employee cars and walked directly to a sleek, black town car parked in the VIP section.
She opened the driver's side door and looked at Maya.
"Get in," Evelyn commanded.
"You're driving?" Maya asked, shocked.
"I may be a billionaire, Maya, but I still know how to drive a car," Evelyn said dryly.
Maya jumped into the passenger seat. Evelyn fired up the engine, the powerful motor roaring to life in the concrete cavern.
The tires squealed as Evelyn slammed her foot on the gas, tearing out of the parking garage and into the freezing Chicago snowstorm.
The drive north toward Lake Forest was a blur of white snow and flashing taillights. Maya sat clutching the door handle, her heart pounding a frantic rhythm against her ribs.
She kept picturing Caleb's terrified face.
I'm coming, buddy, Maya thought. Hold on.
Forty-five minutes later, the town car turned onto a long, unplowed gravel driveway hidden behind massive wrought-iron gates.
The Marlowe Estate loomed at the end of the drive, a sprawling, gothic mansion that looked like a black tooth against the snow-covered hills.
There were no lights on inside.
Except for one.
A single window on the second floor glowed with a faint, flickering orange light.
Fire.
"He's in the study," Evelyn said, throwing the car into park before it had even fully stopped.
Maya leaped out of the car, sprinting through the knee-deep snow toward the massive oak front doors.
She grabbed the heavy iron handles and pulled.
Locked.
"Around back!" Evelyn shouted over the howling wind, struggling through the snow behind her. "The kitchen entrance!"
Maya ran around the side of the stone mansion. The kitchen door was slightly ajar.
She pushed it open and stepped into the freezing darkness of the house.
The air smelled heavily of dust, damp wood, and something else.
Gasoline.
"Caleb!" Maya screamed, her voice echoing through the cavernous halls.
A muffled cry came from the floor above them.
Maya didn't wait for Evelyn. She bolted up the grand staircase, taking the steps two at a time, guided by the flickering orange light spilling from under the heavy double doors of the study.
She reached the landing and threw her weight against the doors.
They crashed open.
Inside, the study was a nightmare.
Richard Sloan stood by the grand fireplace, holding a silver lighter.
And tied to a heavy oak chair in the center of the room, crying silently, was Caleb.
Around the chair, the antique Persian rug was soaked in gasoline.
"You didn't come alone," Richard said, looking past Maya to where Evelyn had just appeared in the doorway.
May you like
He sparked the lighter. A small flame danced in his hand.
"Give me the certificate, Maya," Richard said calmly. "Or my grandson burns with the sins of your mother."
