Chapter 4 - Dawn And Empty Precincts
The Manhattan dawn broke in cold, slate-gray shades through the tall arched windows of my study. I hadn't slept. I sat behind the mahogany desk with a cold cup of black coffee, reviewing the encrypted incident reports Marcus had compiled overnight. Local police precincts, private missing-persons databases, and regional hospital admissions yielded a complete blank. No child matching Lily's description, wearing a pale pink dress with a hair bow, had been reported missing anywhere in the tri-state area.
That impossibility bothered me more than the security breach itself. Children do not vanish without leaving a ripple in the administrative machinery of a city.
A soft knock rapped against the study door, and Marcus stepped inside, holding a thick manila folder. His dark suit was unwrinkled, but exhaustion shadowed his eyes.
"Sir. I checked every private registry, foster network, and domestic agency within a fifty-mile radius. Nothing. It's as if she doesn't exist on paper."
"People don't just appear out of nowhere, Marcus," I said, rubbing the back of my neck where the dark ink of my tattoos met my collar. "Someone dropped her here. Or someone smuggled her onto the grounds to send a message. Check the vehicle logs for the delivery vans that serviced the south kitchen yesterday afternoon. I want every license plate cross-referenced."
"Already on it, sir. But there's another complication." Marcus hesitated, shifting his weight. "Lily woke up a few minutes ago. She's asking for you. Refuses to eat breakfast unless you're in the room."
I let out a slow breath, setting the cold coffee cup down on the blotter. The fortress I had built to keep the world at bay was proving remarkably porous to a three-year-old girl.
"Where is she?"
"In the kitchen. Mrs. Gable is trying to feed her pancakes, but she's standing by the door waiting for you."
I stood up, adjusting the cuffs of my crisp white dress shirt and smoothing my black silk tie. "Bring the vehicle logs to the boardroom by noon. I'm taking her with me to the foundation tower today. I'm not leaving her here unattended until I know who has access to this estate."
May you like
Marcus blinked in surprise. "Sir, taking her downtown? To a public foundation board meeting? That's going to draw immediate press attention."
"Let them look," I said coldly, walking toward the door. "Maybe a high-profile media circus will flush out whoever dropped her on my doorstep."
