Chapter 14 - The Open Window.
Daniel called building security from the car.
"Lock every exit from my floor."
The supervisor answered quickly.
"Already done."
"Is Elise there?"
"We cannot reach her."
Daniel's heart hammered.
He called Cole.
No answer.
Then his phone rang.
Elise.
He nearly dropped it.
"Where are you?"
"In the nursery."
"Why did the window alarm trigger?"
A pause.
"Someone opened the exterior maintenance panel."
Daniel felt sick.
The nursery windows did not open normally.
Maintenance crews could access a narrow facade platform from outside.
"Take the girls into the hall."
"I already did."
"Lock the nursery."
"Daniel, there is someone outside the glass."
His breath stopped.
"Do not go near it."
"I am not."
Security reached her door as Daniel's car entered the garage.
By the time he arrived upstairs, the maintenance platform was empty.
A suction handle remained attached to the exterior glass.
Someone had tried to remove the emergency ventilation panel.
Cole stood in the hallway with security.
Daniel grabbed him.
"Where were you?"
Cole looked stunned.
"Parking downstairs."
"Why were you not answering?"
"My phone died."
Daniel released him.
Elise emerged from the guest room carrying Rosie.
Maisie was with the housekeeper.
Daniel crossed the distance between them.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
He checked the twins anyway.
Elise watched him.
"Daniel."
He stopped.
"We are okay."
His shoulders shook once with a breath he could not control.
Elise lowered her voice.
"Whoever was outside never got in."
Security found a contractor badge near the roof access door.
The name belonged to a company once used by Carter Holdings.
Daniel called Evelyn.
She answered on the first ring.
"If anything happens to my daughters, I will spend the rest of my life proving exactly who you are."
Evelyn was silent.
Then she said something unexpected.
"I did not send anyone to your apartment."
Daniel laughed without humor.
"I do not believe you."
"You should."
"Why?"
"Because Hale is cleaning his own mess now."
Daniel stopped.
"What does that mean?"
"He knows the records make him criminally vulnerable."
Daniel looked at Elise.
Evelyn continued.
"He will blame me for everything."
"Maybe because you asked him to drug my wife."
Her voice sharpened.
"I asked him to keep Rebecca calm."
"You asked him to make her look unstable."
Silence.
Daniel finally had the admission.
Not enough for a courtroom.
Enough for him.
Evelyn spoke quietly.
"Daniel, listen to me."
"No."
"Your father built this family by surviving scandals nobody else could afford."
"I am not my father."
"You are living in his apartment."
Daniel looked around the hallway.
The art.
The hidden service doors.
The company-paid security.
The inheritance disguised as independence.
For the first time, he saw the cage.
He ended the call.
Elise watched him carefully.
"What are you thinking?"
Daniel looked toward the nursery.
"That Rebecca kept asking me to leave this apartment."
Elise nodded.
"She did."
"I always told her it was safer here."
He stared at the open window sensor.
Then he made a decision.
"Pack the girls' things."
Elise's eyes widened.
"Where are we going?"
May you like
Daniel picked up the pink teddy bear.
"Somewhere my family does not own the walls."
