Chapter 4 - The Man Who Died Twice
Marcus had attended his father's funeral eighteen years earlier.
He remembered every detail.
Rain falling against black umbrellas.
His mother standing beside the grave without crying.
Dominic, seventeen years old, staring at the coffin as though he expected it to open.
Marcus himself had been twenty-two.
Angry.
Confused.
And relieved.
Victor Voss had been many things.
A father.
A criminal.
A tyrant.
A man whose approval Marcus had spent his childhood chasing and his adulthood rejecting.
He had supposedly been shot outside a warehouse.
The body was badly burned after the building caught fire.
Identification had been made through dental records.
Marcus had never questioned it.
Until now.
“Father?”
Sophia stared at him.
The voice on the phone chuckled.
“You sound disappointed.”
Marcus's face became stone.
“Victor Voss is dead.”
“Victor Voss needed to die.”
“Where are you?”
“You always ask the least interesting question first.”
Marcus looked at Daniel.
The security chief lay against the wall holding his injured wrist.
Sophia picked up the fallen gun but kept it pointed at the floor.
Marcus spoke into the phone.
“Release Daniel's family.”
“Bring Sophia to me.”
“No.”
“You don't even know what I want.”
“I know enough.”
Victor sighed.
“You always were stubborn.”
“And Dominic?”
Silence.
Marcus felt Sophia watching him.
“What about Dominic?”
“Did you kill him?”
The silence lasted longer this time.
“No.”
“Did Mercer?”
“You've been reading your brother's files.”
Marcus's eyes narrowed.
“How do you know?”
“Because Dominic wasn't nearly as clever as he thought.”
Marcus tightened his grip around the phone.
Victor continued.
“He discovered things he shouldn't have. Mercer discovered that Dominic knew. Ethan discovered Sophia.”
“And you?”
“I discovered all of them.”
“Then why didn't you protect your son?”
Victor's voice hardened.
“You think you understand what happened because you've read a few files?”
“Explain it.”
“Not over a telephone.”
Marcus looked at Sophia.
“Where?”
“Your old family house.”
Marcus went still.
The Voss estate outside Lake Forest had been abandoned for more than a decade.
“Midnight.”
“That's thirty minutes.”
“Then you should leave.”
“What do you want with Sophia?”
Victor answered quietly.
“I don't want Sophia.”
Marcus already knew the next words.
“I want Lily.”
Sophia shook her head violently.
Marcus's voice became ice.
“You go near that child and whatever relationship we once had ends permanently.”
Victor laughed.
“Relationship?”
“You heard me.”
“You still think this is about family.”
“What is it about?”
“Survival.”
The line disconnected.
Sophia immediately spoke.
“You're not giving him Lily.”
“No.”
“Promise me.”
Marcus turned.
“I will never hand your daughter to anyone.”
“Your niece.”
The words stopped him.
Sophia looked toward the laptop.
“If Dominic was her father, she's your niece.”
Marcus had not allowed himself to think the word.
Niece.
Family.
For eighteen years, Marcus had believed Dominic was the last person who shared his childhood.
Now a five-year-old girl with asthma and a stuffed rabbit was sleeping in a hospital six miles away.
His brother's daughter.
Marcus called Rafael.
“Move Lily.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere nobody connected to Voss knows.”
“What happened?”
“My father is alive.”
Silence.
Rafael didn't laugh.
That was why Marcus trusted him.
“How sure?”
“I heard his voice.”
“Voices can be faked.”
“He knew things.”
“Still can be faked.”
Marcus appreciated the skepticism.
“Move Lily anyway.”
“Her doctors won't discharge her.”
“Then protect the hospital.”
“Already adding people.”
“Only people you personally trust.”
“Understood.”
Marcus hung up.
Sophia said, “I'm going to the hospital.”
“No.”
Her eyes flashed.
“Marcus.”
“If my father wants Lily, the hospital is the obvious target. You arriving creates another vulnerability.”
“She needs me.”
“And you need to be alive when she wakes up.”
Sophia stared at him.
She hated that he was right.
Daniel groaned.
Marcus crouched beside him.
“Where is your family?”
“I don't know.”
“When did they take them?”
“Tonight.”
“How did Mercer contact you?”
Daniel handed over his phone.
Marcus inspected the messages.
Photographs of Daniel's wife and teenage son tied to chairs.
One image contained a clock.
Marcus enlarged it.
A warehouse wall stood behind them.
Faded blue paint.
A red fire suppression pipe.
He recognized it.
“Warehouse Twelve.”
Daniel looked up.
“What?”
“One of my father's old properties.”
Marcus called Rafael again.
“Send a team to Warehouse Twelve on Cicero.”
“How many?”
“Enough.”
Marcus ended the call.
Sophia studied him.
“You have teams for this?”
Marcus looked at her.
“You've worked for me three years and never wondered why my logistics division has former Marines on payroll?”
“I assumed you liked punctual deliveries.”
Despite everything, Marcus almost smiled.
Then Sophia's phone rang.
Hospital.
She answered immediately.
“Hello?”
A nurse spoke rapidly.
Sophia's face changed.
“What do you mean she's gone?”
Marcus turned.
“What?”
Sophia gripped the phone.
“No, I didn't authorize that.”
Her knees nearly gave out.
Marcus caught her.
“What happened?”
The nurse continued speaking.
Sophia whispered, “Someone transferred Lily.”
Marcus took the phone.
“This is Marcus Voss. Who authorized it?”
The nurse sounded frightened.
“A physician order was entered electronically. Transfer to Children's Memorial for respiratory observation.”
“When?”
“Eleven minutes ago.”
“Who transported her?”
“Private ambulance.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
Too late.
“What company?”
The nurse gave him the name.
Marcus searched it.
No company existed.
Sophia began shaking.
“They took her.”
Marcus called Rafael.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then Rafael called back.
His voice was breathless.
“Marcus.”
“Where are you?”
“Parking garage.”
“What happened?”
“Two men jumped me. I'm fine.”
“Lily?”
“Gone.”
Sophia made a sound Marcus would remember for the rest of his life.
Not a scream.
Something worse.
A mother's hope breaking.
Marcus held her shoulders.
“Look at me.”
“They have her.”
“Look at me.”
Sophia did.
“I will find her.”
“You don't know that.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because they need something.”
Marcus looked at the laptop.
Dominic's files.
“They could have taken Lily anytime. They waited until tonight because tonight they discovered I had the audit.”
Sophia wiped her tears.
“What does Lily have to do with an audit?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why take her?”
“Because she's leverage.”
Against Sophia.
Against Marcus.
Maybe against Victor.
Marcus's phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A photograph arrived.
Lily.
Awake.
Terrified.
Holding her stuffed rabbit.
Behind her stood a grandfather clock.
Marcus recognized it.
The Voss estate.
Another message followed.
MIDNIGHT.
COME ALONE.
BRING DOMINIC'S DRIVE.
Marcus checked the time.
11:42.
Sophia read the message.
“I'm coming.”
“No.”
“She's my daughter.”
“Exactly.”
“She'll be terrified.”
“Sophia—”
“She wakes up from asthma attacks looking for me.”
Marcus stopped.
Sophia's voice broke.
“She asks me to put my hand on her chest because she thinks if I can feel her breathing, she'll keep breathing.”
Marcus looked away.
He had no argument against that.
“I spent five years protecting her alone,” Sophia said. “You don't get to decide I'm suddenly too fragile to protect her now.”
Marcus looked at her for several seconds.
Then nodded.
“Stay beside me.”
They left Voss Tower.
Twenty-six minutes later, Marcus's black sedan approached the abandoned Voss estate.
The gates were open.
No guards.
No lights except one upstairs window.
Marcus parked.
Sophia reached for the door.
“Wait.”
He checked his phone.
No signal.
Jammed.
Of course.
They entered the mansion.
Dust covered the furniture.
Family portraits remained on the walls.
Marcus hadn't been there since his mother's death.
A voice came from the dining room.
“You brought her.”
Marcus stopped.
An elderly man stepped into the light.
Gray hair.
A cane.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakable.
Victor Voss.
Sophia stared.
Marcus did not move.
“Where is Lily?”
Victor looked at Sophia.
“So you're the girl Dominic loved.”
“Where is my daughter?”
Victor's expression softened.
“Safe. For now.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“Where is Mercer?”
Victor's face changed.
“You think I'm working with Mercer?”
“You kidnapped Lily.”
“No.”
Marcus stopped.
Victor looked genuinely alarmed.
“I told you to bring Lily because I thought she was still at the hospital.”
Sophia whispered, “You're lying.”
Victor shook his head.
“Mercer took her.”
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
Marcus looked toward the staircase.
Then came a child's voice.
“Mommy?”
Sophia ran.
“Sophia, wait!”
She raced upstairs.
Marcus followed.
“Lily!”
A bedroom door stood open.
Sophia entered.
Empty.
A small speaker sat on the bed.
Recording.
“Mommy?”
Sophia froze.
Then the mansion doors slammed shut downstairs.
Victor shouted.
“Marcus!”
An explosion tore through the first floor.
The windows shattered.
Fire rolled across the hallway.
Sophia screamed.
Marcus threw himself over her.
Below them, flames swallowed the staircase.
And through the smoke, Victor Voss looked up at his son and shouted:
“Mercer doesn't want the drive anymore!”
Marcus covered his mouth against the smoke.
“What does he want?”
Victor's answer came through the flames.
“He wants the only living witness who can prove who murdered Dominic.”
Marcus stared down.
Victor pointed upstairs.
May you like
At Sophia.
“He wants her.”
