Chapter 7 - THE NIGHT CLAIRE DISAPPEARED
At 2:13 a.m., the hospital's security desk received a call requesting access to Claire's room.
The caller claimed to be a specialist sent by the obstetric department.
The nurse on duty checked the electronic schedule.
No specialist had been assigned.
She refused entry.
Twenty minutes later, another request arrived.
This time, the caller said Claire needed to be transferred to a different unit for additional testing.
Again, the nurse refused.
She notified hospital security.
By dawn, the hospital had identified three suspicious calls, all originating from a number registered to a temporary business account.
Ethan learned about them at breakfast.
He went straight to Claire's room.
She was awake, watching the morning light move across the wall.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
He sat beside her.
"Someone tried to get you moved during the night."
Claire's face tightened.
"Who?"
"We don't know yet."
She reached for his hand.
"They're getting desperate."
He nodded.
"Rachel believes Vale has the envelope."
Claire closed her eyes.
"Then he knows about the trust."
"Probably."
"There's another document he doesn't have."
Ethan leaned forward.
"What document?"
"The original certificate showing my digital signature was revoked before the transfer was authorized."
He stared at her.
"You revoked it?"
"Yes. Two weeks before the first suspicious transfer. I noticed someone had attempted to access my account, so I contacted the company's security department."
"Can we get the certificate?"
"The original is in my secure email archive. But I never downloaded the revocation confirmation."
"Where is the email?"
"On my laptop at home."
Ethan stood.
"I'll get it."
"Be careful."
He kissed her forehead.
"I will."
When he reached the mansion, he discovered that his private office had been searched.
The desk drawers were open. The filing cabinet stood empty. Papers littered the carpet.
The safe remained locked, but someone had scratched the metal around the keypad.
Ethan called security.
Within minutes, Rachel arrived with a digital forensics specialist.
They found no evidence that the safe had been opened. The encrypted drive containing the security footage remained inside.
But the office computer had been accessed remotely.
The login originated from a network associated with Valecrest Capital.
Rachel's expression turned grim.
"Vale is trying to erase our evidence."
"Can he?"
"Not if we've preserved the originals. But he may be trying to discover what we have."
The forensics specialist recovered a deleted email from Claire's archive.
It contained the digital certificate revocation notice.
The timestamp proved that Claire's signature authorization had been disabled before the questionable transfer was made.
That meant the document claiming her approval could not have been generated legitimately.
Rachel immediately sent the record to the forensic accountant.
Then her phone rang.
She listened for several seconds before turning toward Ethan.
"Claire is missing."
His heart stopped.
"What?"
"The hospital says she was taken for a scan. The nurse who accompanied her has just discovered the transport order was false."
Ethan ran.
He reached the hospital in less than twenty minutes.
Security staff were already reviewing the cameras. Claire had been moved from her room in a wheelchair by a man wearing hospital scrubs.
He had used a forged staff badge.
The footage showed him taking her through a service corridor toward the loading area.
Then the camera lost sight of them.
Ethan felt cold terror climb through his chest.
"Call the police," he ordered.
Rachel was already dialing.
A hospital administrator approached.
"We're checking every exit."
"Check the ambulance bay. The parking garage. Every vehicle that left in the last hour."
A security officer hurried toward them.
"We found her wheelchair near the service elevator."
Ethan's hands shook.
"Where is my wife?"
The officer pointed toward the loading area.
A nurse stood beside an open maintenance room.
Inside, Claire sat on the floor, frightened but conscious. Her wrists had been loosely tied with medical tape, and a discarded uniform lay beside her.
Ethan dropped to his knees.
"Claire!"
She reached for him.
He pulled her into his arms, trembling with relief.
"They said the baby needed emergency treatment," she whispered. "Then I recognized the man's voice. He was the one who called my room last night."
"Did you see his face?"
"Yes."
A police officer entered.
Claire swallowed.
"It was Adrian Vale."
Ethan held her more tightly.
"You're safe now."
But Claire was staring at the floor.
"What is it?"
She looked up.
"He said the envelope was only the beginning. He said the company would belong to him before the end of the week."
Rachel approached.
"Did he say where the documents are?"
Claire nodded slowly.
"He said he was taking them to the shareholder meeting."
Ethan rose.
"Then we'll be there."
Claire caught his hand.
"No."
He looked at her.
"Claire—"
"He wants you angry. He wants you to confront him without proof. If you do that, he'll claim you're unstable and try to remove you from the company."
Ethan stared at her.
Even after being attacked, threatened, and nearly abducted, she was thinking clearly.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Let the evidence speak."
Rachel nodded.
"She's right. We need to coordinate with the investigators. If Vale brings the original documents to the meeting, we may be able to establish the chain of custody and prove the attempted fraud."
Ethan looked at Claire.
"Then that's what we'll do."
She squeezed his hand.
"And Ethan?"
"Yes?"
"Don't let them turn you into someone you don't recognize."
He bent and kissed her.
"I won't."
Outside, the police secured the hospital entrance.
For the first time, the investigation had moved beyond financial misconduct.
Adrian Vale had attempted to abduct a pregnant woman.
May you like
And he had made one fatal mistake.
Claire had seen his face.
