Chapter 4 - The Night Sarah Disappeared
“My father died in a car accident.”
Sarah's voice echoed through the abandoned warehouse.
Declan stood beneath the hanging light holding the old file.
“That is what my mother told me.”
He opened another page.
Michael Mitchell.
Customs investigator.
Date of death: October 18, 2004.
Official cause: vehicle accident.
Internal Hayes document:
Problem resolved.
Sarah's face lost color.
“No.”
Declan wanted to close the file.
He couldn't.
She took it from him.
Her fingers trembled as she read.
Michael Mitchell had discovered a shipping route Patrick Hayes used to move weapons through Boston Harbor.
He had refused a bribe.
Three weeks later, his brakes failed on Interstate 93.
Sarah had been seven.
“I remember that night,” she whispered.
Declan said nothing.
“My mother woke me up. My aunt was crying in the kitchen.” Sarah's eyes filled. “They told me Dad had fallen asleep driving.”
Declan looked at the floor.
“My father killed him.”
Sarah turned toward him.
“You knew?”
“Not about the murder.”
“But you recognized his name.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“When I inherited Patrick's records, I read names.”
“All of them?”
“Thousands.”
“And you never thought my last name—”
“Mitchell is not unusual.”
“My résumé listed my father.”
Declan remembered.
Her application had included a background questionnaire.
Father: Michael Mitchell, deceased.
He had not connected it.
Daniel had.
Sarah whispered, “Daniel knew.”
The warehouse speakers activated again.
Emily's voice returned.
“Now you understand.”
Declan raised his gun toward the darkness.
“Come out.”
“Your father killed mine. Your father killed hers.”
Sarah looked upward.
Emily continued.
“Daniel believed bringing Sarah into the company would give her something back.”
Sarah's voice shook.
“A job?”
“Access.”
Declan understood immediately.
Emily laughed.
“Daniel wanted her close enough to discover the truth.”
Sarah stared at him.
“Daniel hired me to investigate your family?”
“No,” Declan said. “If that was his intention, he never told me.”
“Of course he didn't.”
Suddenly every light went out.
Declan moved toward Sarah.
“Down!”
A gunshot exploded.
Glass shattered.
His men returned fire toward the ceiling.
Declan grabbed Sarah and pulled her behind a steel support.
“Are you hit?”
“No.”
“Stay down.”
Smoke flooded the warehouse.
Not poisonous.
Disorienting.
Marcus shouted through the radio.
“North exit!”
Declan turned.
A figure moved through the haze.
He fired.
The figure disappeared.
Then Sarah cried out.
Declan spun.
A woman wearing a respirator grabbed Sarah from behind.
Emily.
Declan aimed.
Emily pressed a pistol against Sarah's neck.
“Drop it.”
Every man froze.
Sarah's hand covered her stomach.
Declan lowered the gun.
“Let her go.”
Emily's eyes burned above the mask.
“She is carrying your child.”
“Yes.”
“The next Hayes.”
“The child has done nothing to you.”
“My father did nothing to your father.”
“You're right.”
Emily hesitated.
Declan continued.
“Patrick Hayes murdered Thomas Vale.”
Sarah looked at him.
He didn't soften the truth.
“He murdered Michael Mitchell too.”
Emily's grip shifted.
“You admit it.”
“I admit my father was a monster.”
“And you inherited everything.”
“Yes.”
“Money. Power. Buildings.”
“Yes.”
“What did we inherit?”
Declan looked at her.
“Graves.”
The word silenced the warehouse.
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
Declan lowered his gun completely and placed it on the floor.
“You wanted me to understand what Patrick did.”
“Yes.”
“I understand.”
“No, you don't.”
“You think killing a pregnant woman will make me understand losing family?”
Emily's face tightened.
“Yes.”
“No.”
Declan stepped forward.
Marcus whispered, “Boss.”
Declan ignored him.
“It will make you Patrick.”
Emily's gun trembled.
“You don't get to say that.”
“I do because I became him long enough to recognize it.”
Sarah stared at Declan.
He took another step.
“You poisoned someone who never hurt you.”
“She worked for Hayes.”
“She was seven when her father died.”
Emily's breathing changed.
“You followed her. Watched her. Learned she was pregnant.”
Emily said nothing.
“You could have told her the truth.”
“She wouldn't believe me.”
“So you tried to kill her child?”
Tears filled Emily's eyes.
“I wanted the Hayes line to end.”
Declan pointed toward Sarah.
“Then kill me.”
Sarah's head snapped toward him.
“No.”
Emily stared.
Declan stepped closer.
“You want Hayes blood?”
“Declan, stop.”
“Mine is standing here.”
Emily's weapon shifted toward him.
Declan opened his arms.
“Let Sarah walk out.”
Emily's expression became confused.
“You'd trade yourself?”
“Yes.”
Sarah's eyes flooded.
“No.”
Declan looked at her.
For once, the man who measured every decision in leverage wasn't calculating.
“Take her home,” he told Marcus.
Emily laughed shakily.
“You think sacrifice makes you different?”
“No.”
Declan met her eyes.
“But what happens next might.”
Emily's pistol moved away from Sarah.
For one second.
That was enough.
Sarah drove her elbow backward.
Emily stumbled.
Declan lunged.
A shot fired.
Sarah screamed.
Declan struck Emily's wrist.
The gun skidded across concrete.
Marcus's men rushed forward.
Emily was pinned down.
Declan turned immediately toward Sarah.
She was standing.
Not bleeding.
He grabbed her shoulders.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“The baby?”
“I don't know.”
Panic entered his face.
“We're leaving.”
Behind them, Emily screamed.
“You think this ends with me?”
Declan stopped.
Emily laughed as Marcus restrained her.
“You still don't understand.”
Declan turned.
“What?”
“I poisoned the coffee.”
She smiled.
“But I never touched her water.”
Sarah froze.
Declan looked at Marcus.
The water bottle had tested positive.
If Emily hadn't contaminated it—
Someone else had.
Daniel.
The drive back toward the hospital became a nightmare.
Sarah sat beside Declan while Marcus spoke into multiple phones.
Daniel had escaped security custody.
One guard was unconscious.
A second had been found locked inside a supply room.
Daniel's vehicle was missing.
Declan stared ahead.
Sarah whispered, “Emily wasn't lying.”
“Maybe.”
“Someone else poisoned the water.”
“Yes.”
“Daniel?”
“Maybe.”
“You don't believe it.”
Declan remained silent.
Daniel had betrayed him once by hiding Emily.
But poison?
Sarah?
Declan couldn't make it fit.
At the hospital entrance, his instincts screamed before the danger appeared.
“Stop.”
The driver braked.
“What?”
Declan looked toward the doors.
Too quiet.
The security guard assigned outside Sarah's private entrance wasn't visible.
“Back up.”
Then the vehicle behind them exploded.
The shockwave slammed into their SUV.
Sarah screamed.
Windows cracked.
Declan covered her body with his.
Gunfire erupted from across the street.
“Move!”
The driver accelerated.
A second vehicle blocked the exit.
Men wearing masks emerged.
Declan fired through a broken window.
Marcus's team returned fire.
Sarah crouched beneath Declan.
Then smoke filled the cabin.
A side door opened.
Declan turned.
A masked man struck him with the stock of a rifle.
Pain exploded across his skull.
He fell.
“Declan!”
Sarah reached for him.
Hands grabbed her.
He tried to stand.
Another blow.
His vision fractured.
The last thing he saw was Sarah being dragged from the SUV.
Her hand reached toward him.
“Declan!”
Then darkness.
He woke thirteen minutes later with blood running down his face.
Marcus was shouting.
“Boss!”
Declan sat upright violently.
“Sarah.”
“Ambulance is coming.”
“Sarah!”
Marcus's expression answered.
Gone.
Declan staggered from the SUV.
Bodies lay on wet pavement.
Sirens approached.
“Where?”
“We're tracking every camera.”
“Who took her?”
“We don't know.”
Declan grabbed Marcus by the jacket.
“Find her.”
“We will.”
“No.”
His voice became something Marcus had never heard.
Not rage.
Fear.
“Find my family.”
Two hours later, Declan stood inside his office staring at the ultrasound Sarah had left behind.
His cheek was stitched.
His shirt was stained with blood.
Nobody dared speak.
Then his phone rang.
Daniel Mercer.
Declan answered immediately.
“If she dies—”
“Listen to me.”
“Where is Sarah?”
“I don't have her.”
“You ran.”
“Because the men guarding me tried to kill me.”
Declan stopped.
Daniel continued.
“They weren't yours.”
“What?”
“Someone replaced two members of the detail.”
“How?”
“I don't know.”
Declan looked toward Marcus.
“Sarah was taken fifteen minutes later,” Declan said.
Daniel swore.
Then his voice changed.
“Declan, this isn't Emily.”
“I know.”
“It isn't me either.”
“Then who?”
Silence.
“Daniel.”
“I think Patrick left something behind.”
Declan's blood chilled.
“What?”
“A contingency structure.”
“For what?”
“For you.”
Daniel breathed hard.
“Your father never trusted you to keep the empire the way he built it.”
Declan remembered Patrick calling him weak when he ended human trafficking routes.
Calling him sentimental when he allowed certain union leaders independence.
Calling him unworthy.
Daniel continued.
“There were men loyal to Patrick, not you. People inside accounting, port security, government offices.”
“Patrick has been dead eleven years.”
“Organizations survive people.”
“Who leads it?”
“I don't know.”
Then another call appeared on Declan's phone.
Unknown.
He switched lines.
A man's voice spoke.
“Your secretary is alive.”
Declan closed his eyes.
“Let me hear her.”
A pause.
Then:
“Declan?”
Sarah.
Weak.
Terrified.
Alive.
His entire body changed.
“Sarah.”
“I'm okay.”
A man pulled the phone away.
“For now.”
Declan's voice became deadly.
“What do you want?”
“What Patrick Hayes wanted.”
“And that is?”
“The Hayes empire restored.”
Declan stared at the city.
“You kidnapped the wrong person if you want cooperation.”
“No.”
The caller laughed softly.
“We kidnapped the only person who can make you cooperate.”
Declan looked at Sarah's ultrasound.
“What do I have to do?”
“Come alone.”
“Where?”
“Pier Seventeen.”
Declan understood.
One of the oldest Hayes-controlled docks.
The place where Patrick had built his empire.
The caller spoke one final sentence.
“Come claim your inheritance, Declan.”
The line disconnected.
Declan picked up his weapon.
Marcus stepped forward.
“You cannot go alone.”
Declan looked at him.
“They have Sarah.”
“So we make a plan.”
“We have one.”
“What?”
Declan chambered a round.
May you like
“I bring her home.”
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