But those three lines would change everything.

UNKNOWN NUMBER:
Michael Jenkins didn’t steal your money. He was paid to retrieve the original surveillance footage from the night Camille died.

The person who ordered the footage is still inside your organization.

And Rachel Jenkins is in danger.

I read the message twice.

My fingers тιԍнтened around Leo.

“What does that mean?” I whispered.

Daniel immediately took the baby from my arms and handed him carefully to the attending nurse.

“Take Leo into the adjoining nursery. Lock the door. Nobody enters without my authorization.”

The nurse hesitated.

“Mr. Russo, what’s happening?”

“Now.”

She hurried away with Leo.

The moment the door closed, Daniel turned toward me.

“Rachel, I need you to tell me everything about your brother.”

“I’ve already told you. Michael has been in trouble, but I don’t know anything about your company or your wife’s murder.”

“Think carefully. Has he mentioned a man named Victor?”

I shook my head.

“What about a woman named Elena?”

“No.”

Daniel paced toward the window, his phone clenched in his hand.

“Victor Hale is my chief security officer. He’s worked for me for eleven years. He managed Camille’s security detail.”

I felt a chill travel down my spine.

“And Elena?”

“My executive ᴀssistant.”

He stopped.

“Both of them had access to the security records from the night my wife was killed.”

I stared at him.

“Are you saying someone inside your company arranged the ambush?”

“I’m saying someone knew exactly where Camille would be, what vehicle she would be traveling in, and when her security escort would be changing.”

His voice became dangerously quiet.

“That information could only have come from a handful of people.”

I struggled to process everything.

“Why would Michael get involved?”

Daniel looked at me.

“That’s what we’re going to find out.”

Before I could respond, his phone rang.

The screen displayed a name.

VICTOR HALE.

Daniel answered and put the call on speaker.

“Where are you?” Victor asked.

“At the hospital.”

“I heard about the incident with your son. I’m coming over.”

“Don’t.”

There was a brief silence.

“Excuse me?”

“I said don’t come here.”

Victor chuckled nervously.

“Daniel, you’ve been under enormous stress. Let me handle security.”

Daniel’s eyes narrowed.

“Tell me something, Victor. Who authorized Camille’s route change on the night she died?”

Silence.

Then Victor replied.

“We’ve discussed this already. The police have the report.”

“I’m asking you a question.”

“The route change came from the security office.”

“Whose authorization?”

Another pause.

“I’ll check the records.”

Daniel ended the call.

He didn’t look relieved.

He looked furious.

“He’s lying,” he said.

I swallowed.

“How do you know?”

“Because I personally approved Camille’s original route. Nobody was supposed to change it.”

He looked down at his phone.

“And someone just admitted that the security office did.”

A sudden knock interrupted us.

A hospital administrator entered, looking visibly uncomfortable.

“Mr. Russo, I’m sorry to disturb you. There’s a man downstairs asking for Rachel Jenkins.”

My heart stopped.

“Who?”

“He says his name is Michael.”

I immediately stood.

“Where is he?”

The administrator glanced at Daniel.

“Security has him in the main lobby. He appears injured.”

I was already moving toward the door.

Daniel caught my arm.

“Wait.”

“That’s my brother!”

“And someone has just sent us a message saying you’re in danger.”

“I don’t care! I haven’t heard from him in three weeks!”

Daniel released my arm.

For a moment, he seemed to be fighting with himself.

Then he reached for his jacket.

“Fine. But you don’t go anywhere without me.”

We took the private elevator to the ground floor.

Two security guards stood near the reception desk.

Between them was a young man wearing a dark hoodie. His face was bruised, his lower lip split, and one sleeve was torn.

Michael.

“Rachel!”

He pulled away from the guards and rushed toward me.

I threw my arms around him.

“What happened to you? Where have you been?”

He held me тιԍнтly.

“I’m sorry, Rachel. I’m so sorry.”

I pulled back and examined his face.

“Who did this?”

His eyes shifted toward Daniel.

The moment he recognized him, all the color drained from his face.

“Mr. Russo…”

Daniel stepped forward.

“Where is my wife’s footage?”

Michael looked at me.

Then at Daniel.

“I don’t have it anymore.”

Daniel’s jaw тιԍнтened.

“Who has it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not!”

Michael’s voice cracked.

“I was supposed to meet someone in an underground parking garage. They promised me the original security recording in exchange for the money. But when I arrived, three men were waiting.”

He looked down at his hands.

“They took my phone, my wallet, and the money. Then they told me to stop asking questions.”

Daniel moved closer.

“Who sent you?”

Michael hesitated.

I grabbed his hand.

“Michael, tell us the truth.”

He looked at me with tears in his eyes.

“It was Camille.”

I stared at him.

“What?”

“Your wife contacted me two days before she died.”

Daniel went completely still.

“That’s impossible.”

Michael shook his head.

“She found out someone was stealing money from your company. She discovered suspicious payments being transferred through a shell company. She thought someone was using your business to finance something illegal.”

Daniel’s expression darkened.

“Why would she contact you?”

Michael swallowed.

“Because I used to work for a private cybersecurity contractor. She found my old contact information and asked me to help recover some deleted financial records.”

Daniel looked stunned.

“Camille never told me.”

“She was afraid someone was monitoring your communications.”

Michael reached into his jacket and pulled out a small, damaged flash drive.

“I managed to recover part of the information before they attacked me.”

Daniel took it.

“What’s on here?”

“Financial transfers. Messages. And a video.”

“What video?”

Michael looked at Daniel.

“The recording from the night Camille died.”

For several seconds, the lobby seemed to disappear around us.

Daniel stared at the tiny flash drive in his palm.

Then he asked the question I was afraid to hear.

“Did you see the footage?”

Michael nodded.

“Yes.”

“And?”

Michael’s eyes filled with tears.

“Mr. Russo, your wife wasn’t killed because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Daniel’s face became rigid.

“Explain.”

Michael looked around nervously.

“She recognized the man who stopped her vehicle.”

“Who?”

He opened his mouth.

But before he could answer, every security guard in the lobby suddenly received an alert on their radios.

One of them touched his earpiece.

“Sir, we have a problem.”

Daniel turned.

“What now?”

“The private neonatal suite has been accessed.”

My blood ran cold.

“Leo?”

The guard looked at me.

“Someone entered the nursery using an authorized security credential.”

Daniel grabbed his phone.

“Who?”

The guard hesitated.

Then he said something that made Daniel’s expression collapse.

“Victor Hale, sir.”

Daniel immediately called the nursery.

No answer.

He called again.

Nothing.

I felt my knees weaken.

“Leo is in there alone…”

Daniel turned toward the elevator.

“Get me every available security officer. Nobody leaves this building.”

We ran upstairs.

The elevator doors opened.

I rushed down the corridor, my heart pounding so violently I could barely breathe.

The neonatal suite door was open.

The nurse was standing outside, crying.

“Where’s my son?” Daniel demanded.

“Mr. Russo, I stepped away for less than a minute. When I returned…”

She couldn’t finish.

Daniel pushed past her.

The incubator was empty.

Leo was gone.

A small white blanket lay on the mattress.

And beside it was a folded piece of paper.

Daniel picked it up with trembling hands.

There were only two sentences.

STOP LOOKING INTO CAMILLE’S DEATH.

OR YOUR SON WILL DISAPPEAR JUST LIKE HIS MOTHER.

Daniel crushed the paper in his fist.

For the first time since I had met him, the billionaire looked completely helpless.

Then Michael spoke from the doorway.

“There’s something else you need to know.”

We turned toward him.

His face was pale.

“Victor didn’t take Leo because of the investigation.”

Daniel stared at him.

“Then why?”

Michael looked directly at me.

“Because Camille discovered who really ordered the murder.”

He took a shaky breath.

“And the person behind it isn’t Victor.”

He pointed toward the security office at the end of the corridor.

“It’s someone who has been standing beside you every single day.”

Before Daniel could respond, the hospital’s emergency lights flickered.

A loud crash echoed from the stairwell.

Then every monitor in the neonatal corridor went dark.

My phone vibrated.

An unknown number.

I opened the message.

It contained a pH๏τograph of Leo, peacefully sleeping in someone’s arms.

Beneath it were six words.

Rachel, bring the original flash drive.

And then another message appeared.

Come alone. Your brother knows where.

I looked at Michael.

He was already shaking his head.

“Rachel, don’t go.”

Daniel stepped between us.

“Nobody is going anywhere alone.”

But I couldn’t stop staring at the pH๏τograph.

Leo was alive.

And whoever had taken him knew exactly who I was.

Then Michael whispered something that made my blood run cold.

“Rachel… there’s a reason Camille chose me.”

I turned toward him.

“What reason?”

He lowered his voice.

“Because she knew the person who ordered her murder had been looking for you long before she ever met me.”

TO BE CONTINUED — PART 3.