Chapter 10 - The Saboteur’s BlueprintThe silence in the room was deafening. The only sound was the steady drip of rain falling off the porch roof outside.
"She... what?" My breath caught in my throat.
"Valerie was diagnosed with severe borderline personality disorder and obsessive fixation three years ago," Alex explained, his hands shaking as he opened the envelope to reveal bank statements, printed text logs, and internal police reports. "She tracked your schedule for months. She knew you were going to the department store that Saturday to buy baby clothes. She hired an unemployed maintenance worker—a man named Thomas Vance, Chief Vance’s disgraced nephew—to cut the power line."
The pieces of the puzzle began to slam together in my head with terrifying speed.
The backup generator failing within ten minutes of the elevator stopping. Valerie sitting across from me, calmly watching me hyperventilate for seven hours without showing an ounce of real panic until she heard the rescue team outside. Her text to Alex threatening him before the doors even opened.
"She didn't panic in that elevator, Lucy," Alex whispered bitterly. "She was waiting for the oxygen levels to drop low enough to cause you a fatal cardiac arrest or force a stillbirth. She wanted you dead... so she could step in and comfort me as the grieving widow."
I felt nauseous. A cold, visceral terror washed over me.
"Where is she now?" I demanded, my hands clenching into tight fists. "You said she left Chicago after the gala!"
"She didn't leave," Alex said, his eyes burning with fear. "She changed her name. She’s been in Chicago the entire time, Lucy. And two days ago, I found out she bought a house... less than three blocks from your sister's apartment."
Before I could process his words, the quiet night air was shattered by the high-pitched wail of a smoke detector upstairs.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"MAYA!" I screamed.
Alex’s firefighter instincts instantly roared to life. He dropped his duffel bag, ignored his shattered arm, and shoved past me into the hallway.
May you like
Heavy, dark smoke was already pouring down the staircase from the second floor. Thick, toxic fumes filled the air within seconds.
"STAY BACK, LUCY!" Alex yelled, tearing off his jacket and wrapping it around his face as he charged up the burning stairs. "I’M GETTING OUR DAUGHTER!"
