Chapter 3: "Don't Let Him Take Her"
For one endless second...
Nobody moved.
Lily buried her face against Sarah's shoulder.
Sarah's entire body began trembling.
Across the station, Richard Hale stood perfectly still, one hand resting on the handle of his expensive leather suitcase.
Then he smiled.
It was the same polished smile that appeared on magazine covers and charity gala photographs.
The smile the public trusted.
Only Sarah knew what it meant.
"He knows we're here," she whispered.
Daniel kept his eyes on Richard.
"No."
"He suspects."
"We still have a few seconds."
Sarah looked at him in disbelief.
"Seconds?"
Daniel nodded.
"Sometimes seconds are enough."
Richard didn't rush.
He never needed to.
Powerful men rarely did.
Instead, he straightened his tie and began walking through the station at an unhurried pace, greeting strangers with polite nods as though he had nowhere important to be.
People smiled back.
One elderly couple even recognized him.
"Mr. Hale!"
"What a pleasure!"
Richard stopped long enough to shake their hands.
He signed an autograph for their grandson.
Then he continued walking.
To everyone else...
He looked like a generous businessman.
To Sarah...
He looked like a predator who enjoyed watching his prey panic.
Daniel turned to the security guard.
"Could you do me a favor?"
"Of course, Mr. Morrison."
"I've misplaced an important document."
The guard looked confused.
"I think I left it near Platform Four."
"I'll check immediately."
"Thank you."
The guard hurried away.
Sarah frowned.
"There wasn't any document."
"I know."
"You lied."
"I needed him out of the way."
Daniel looked toward the station map.
Three exits.
One taxi rank.
A service corridor for staff.
A loading entrance.
He had visited King's Cross dozens of times.
Today, for the first time, he studied it like an escape route.
"Can you walk quickly?" he asked Sarah.
"If Lily can."
"I can run," Lily whispered.
Daniel smiled gently.
"I hope it won't come to that."
His phone vibrated again.
This time it was Olivia.
He answered without taking his eyes off Richard.
"Daniel, where are you?"
"Still at the station."
"You need to know something."
"What?"
"There are reporters outside the meeting."
"So?"
"They're not waiting for the merger anymore."
Daniel frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"Someone leaked that Richard Hale arrived unexpectedly."
"And?"
"They're saying he's making a surprise investment announcement."
Daniel looked at Richard again.
The man wasn't here by accident.
He hadn't simply arrived early.
He had another reason for being at King's Cross.
Sarah suddenly grabbed Daniel's sleeve.
"He isn't here for business."
"What makes you so sure?"
She swallowed hard.
"Because this morning..."
"...I emptied one of his safes."
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
"You what?"
"I wasn't looking for money."
"I wanted Lily's birth certificate."
"My passport."
Our marriage papers."
"But I found something else."
She reached into the lining of her old coat.
Very carefully.
Very slowly.
She pulled out a small black memory card.
No larger than a fingernail.
Daniel stared at it.
"What's on that?"
"I don't know."
"I grabbed it because Richard saw me holding it."
"He stopped shouting."
"He stopped chasing me."
"And he only said one thing."
She could barely force out the words.
"'Give me that card... and I'll forget you ever existed.'"
Daniel took a slow breath.
A man like Richard Hale would never beg for family photographs.
Or tax documents.
Or old emails.
Whatever was stored on that tiny memory card...
...was worth more to him than his own reputation.
Perhaps even his freedom.
Richard was closer now.
Only thirty feet away.
He wasn't looking frightened.
He wasn't angry.
He looked...
Confident.
As if the outcome had already been decided.
Daniel leaned closer.
"Does he know you have it?"
Sarah nodded.
"I think so."
"And no one else knows?"
"I didn't even know what it was until now."
Daniel slipped the memory card into the inside pocket of his own suit jacket.
Sarah looked shocked.
"What are you doing?"
"If he searches you..."
"...he won't find it."
"No!"
"If he comes after anyone..."
Daniel looked directly at Richard.
"...he'll come after me."
At that exact moment...
Richard finally reached them.
He stopped a few feet away.
His smile never faded.
"Daniel."
"As always..."
"...right where I least expected to find you."
Daniel returned the smile.
"Richard."
"What an unusual coincidence."
Richard glanced toward Sarah.
Then to Lily.
Finally back to Daniel.
"I hope I'm not interrupting."
Sarah lowered her head, refusing to speak.
Richard sighed dramatically.
"My wife has been under a great deal of stress."
Several nearby travelers looked over.
A husband calmly searching for his frightened family.
Nothing unusual.
Richard spread his hands politely.
"I'm sorry you've had to witness this."
Daniel said nothing.
Richard continued.
"Sarah suffers from severe anxiety."
"Sometimes she believes people are trying to hurt her."
Sarah's nails dug into her palms.
"You know how mental illness can be."
A few strangers nearby nodded sympathetically.
Richard looked heartbroken.
"My only concern is bringing my family home safely."
One woman quietly whispered to her husband,
"That poor man."
Daniel watched the scene unfold.
Every sentence was measured.
Every expression rehearsed.
Richard wasn't talking to Daniel.
He was performing.
Creating witnesses.
Building a story.
A story in which he was the caring husband...
...and Sarah was the unstable wife.
Then Richard slowly knelt in front of Lily.
His voice became gentle.
"Come here, sweetheart."
Lily hid behind Daniel's leg.
Richard's smile tightened for the briefest instant.
Then he spoke the words that made Daniel's heart stop.
"You still have Bunny."
Lily's tiny hand instinctively clutched the worn teddy bear.
Richard chuckled softly.
"I remember."
"I stitched something special inside that teddy bear years ago."
Sarah's face turned white.
Daniel looked down at the old bear.
Richard wasn't looking at his daughter anymore.
He was looking...
...at the teddy bear.
And in that instant, Daniel realized something terrifying.
The memory card might not be the only thing Sarah had unknowingly taken from Richard.
Whatever he was truly searching for...
May you like
...could be hidden inside Lily's old teddy bear.
End of Chapter 3...
