Chapter 2 - THE RULES OF HER ESCAPE
Hannah did not let Daniel choose the car.
That became rule one.
They left the hospital through a service stairwell while alarms echoed above them. Dr. Morris remained with security after confirming the outage was not hospital-wide.
Only the women’s imaging floor had lost power.
That was not an electrical failure.
Daniel’s men spread through the parking structure, but Hannah refused the black SUV waiting at the lower exit.
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“We need to move.”
“I know.”
“Then get in.”
“No.”
His jaw tightened.
She pointed at a blue hospital transport van.
“That.”
“You want to leave in a medical shuttle.”
“I want to leave in something nobody expects you to use.”
One of Daniel’s men looked like he wanted to object.
Daniel held up a hand.
“The van.”
The man blinked.
“Boss?”
“You heard her.”
Five minutes later, one of the richest and most feared men in Boston sat in the passenger seat of a hospital shuttle while Hannah drove.
She almost appreciated the absurdity.
Almost.
“Where are we going?” Daniel asked.
“My apartment.”
“No.”
Hannah laughed sharply.
“Rule two. You don’t answer decisions about my life with one word.”
He looked out the windshield.
“Fine.”
“Try again.”
“Your apartment may be compromised.”
“Better.”
“I want to check it before you enter.”
“You can have someone check the building.”
“Yes.”
“I go in after.”
“If it’s clean.”
“We’ll discuss it if it’s not.”
Daniel turned toward her.
“You’ve been rehearsing this.”
“For six months.”
That silenced him.
Providence passed beyond the windows.
Rain had begun.
Not heavy.
A thin cold rain that made headlights smear across the street.
Daniel’s phone rang repeatedly.
He ignored the first two calls.
On the third, Hannah said, “Answer it.”
“I’m listening to you.”
“You can do two things.”
“Debatable.”
That almost sounded like the man she remembered.
Before control had swallowed everything else.
Daniel answered.
“Mercer.”
A pause.
His expression hardened.
“How many?”
Another pause.
“Anyone dead?”
Hannah’s hands tightened on the steering wheel.
Daniel listened.
“Move the household staff to the Brighton property. No one goes home alone.”
He ended the call.
“What happened at your house?”
“Three men entered through the west garage.”
“Your security?”
“One injured.”
“Why were they there?”
“They were looking for something.”
“What?”
“You.”
Hannah’s mouth went dry.
“I don’t live there.”
“They may not know.”
“You said someone had my address.”
“One person did.”
“Maybe more.”
“Yes.”
She drove another block.
“Who was trying to sell my address?”
“A man named Carson Bell.”
“Never heard of him.”
“He worked for a private investigations firm.”
“Who hired him?”
“That’s what I’m trying to learn.”
Hannah glanced at him.
“And he’s dead.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Daniel took a moment.
“Car accident.”
She stared ahead.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
“At least you’re honest.”
His gaze moved to her stomach.
“I’m trying.”
The baby kicked again.
Hannah shifted.
Daniel noticed every movement.
“You don’t need to look like the baby just punched you.”
“He did.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“Does that hurt?”
“Sometimes.”
“Is that normal?”
“Yes.”
“How often does he move?”
“A lot.”
“Does he sleep?”
“Apparently when I don’t.”
Daniel nodded as though storing every detail.
It irritated her.
It also hurt.
Because he should have known these things gradually.
Not as an emergency briefing at twenty-four weeks.
Her apartment sat above a bakery on a narrow street.
Daniel’s men arrived first.
Hannah parked half a block away.
“You stay here,” Daniel said.
She looked at him.
He closed his eyes.
“Sorry.”
“Progress.”
He corrected.
“Would you wait here until they check it?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”
One of his men returned six minutes later.
“Apartment’s empty. Rear window was forced.”
Hannah’s stomach dropped.
“What?”
Daniel’s face became stone.
“Anything missing?”
“Hard to tell. Bedroom searched.”
Hannah opened the van door.
Daniel caught himself before stopping her.
He stepped out too.
They climbed the stairs.
The door was intact.
Inside, drawers hung open.
Mattress shifted.
Closet emptied.
Her thrift-store dishes remained on the shelf.
Her cheap curtains still hung crooked.
But someone had gone through every private inch of her life.
Hannah stood in the center of the room.
Daniel remained by the door.
He did not enter until she looked at him.
“Come in.”
He did.
She walked to the bedroom.
The small jewelry box on the dresser was open.
Nothing valuable had been inside.
She kept no jewelry anymore.
Daniel looked around.
“This is where you’ve been living?”
She turned.
“Do not.”
“What?”
“Do not look at my apartment like it failed an inspection.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You were.”
His jaw tightened.
“I was imagining you here alone.”
“I wasn’t helpless.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“You were thinking it.”
Daniel exhaled.
“Yes.”
“At least you’re improving.”
She opened the kitchen cabinet.
Passport still there.
Emergency cash gone.
“Hannah.”
“What?”
“Someone found the money.”
“I see that.”
“Anything else important?”
She walked to the nightstand.
Opened the bottom drawer.
Empty.
Her heart stopped.
“No.”
Daniel moved closer.
“What?”
“A folder.”
“What folder?”
“Medical records.”
His face changed.
“Pregnancy records?”
“Yes.”
“Your name?”
“Hannah Cole.”
“Any address?”
“This one.”
“Doctor?”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked toward his men.
“Call Morris. Increase security.”
Hannah stepped in front of him.
“No.”
“What?”
“You do not deploy armed men around my doctor without asking her.”
“She is connected to you now.”
“Because of you.”
“Because someone took your records.”
She stared at him.
“So ask.”
His face tightened.
Then he took out his phone.
He called Dr. Morris himself.
“Doctor, this is Daniel Mercer.”
Pause.
“Yes. I know.”
Another pause.
Hannah almost smiled.
Dr. Morris was apparently not impressed.
Daniel continued.
“Someone broke into Hannah’s apartment and took medical records. I would like to place security outside your office.”
Pause.
His expression became irritated.
“I understand.”
Another pause.
“No weapons visible.”
Hannah folded her arms.
Daniel glanced at her.
“And you choose the security company.”
He listened.
“Agreed.”
He ended the call.
“What did she say?”
“She called me controlling.”
Hannah smiled.
“She’s excellent.”
“She also said she would accept one guard.”
“Her choice.”
“Yes.”
Daniel’s gaze stayed on Hannah.
“Yes.”
They searched the apartment.
Nothing else critical was missing.
But someone had taken the one thing connecting Hannah to her pregnancy care.
Daniel looked at the small kitchen table.
“You can’t stay here.”
Hannah tensed.
He immediately corrected.
“I don’t think it’s safe.”
“Better.”
“I have places.”
“No.”
“Not my house.”
“No.”
“A hotel.”
“Too obvious.”
“A private apartment.”
“Whose?”
“Mine.”
“That is still your house with fewer rooms.”
He rubbed his face.
“What do you want?”
The question mattered.
Hannah looked around.
“I want somewhere anonymous.”
“I can arrange that.”
“No guards inside.”
“Agreed.”
“One outside.”
“Two.”
“One.”
“Two, one visible.”
She considered.
“Fine.”
“Your phone stays with you.”
“That was already happening.”
“It needs secure software.”
“No tracking.”
“Emergency tracking if you disappear.”
“No.”
“Hannah.”
“No.”
Daniel looked like a man negotiating with a judge who had personally offended him.
“Then location sharing only if you activate it.”
“Yes.”
“Medical appointments.”
“What about them?”
“I want to come.”
“No.”
The answer cut him.
She saw it.
He nodded once.
“Can I ask again later?”
“Yes.”
That surprised both of them.
Daniel looked at her stomach.
“Thank you.”
She hated how much that affected her.
One of his men entered.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found something downstairs.”
They followed him to the bakery.
The owner, Mrs. Alvarez, stood behind the counter wringing her hands.
A small cardboard box sat near the register.
“It came this morning,” she told Hannah. “A man said it was for you.”
“Did you open it?”
“No.”
Daniel’s security scanned it.
No explosive.
Daniel opened it only after Hannah nodded.
Inside was a baby blanket.
Blue.
Soft.
New.
Hannah stared.
There was a card.
Daniel read it first.
His face changed.
“What does it say?”
He handed it to her.
CONGRATULATIONS ON THE BOY.
SEE YOU SOON.
Hannah’s skin turned cold.
“No one knew.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
“The sex.”
She held the card tighter.
“I learned twenty minutes before you found me.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Doctor?”
“No.”
“Staff?”
“Maybe.”
“But someone knew before they delivered this.”
Hannah looked at the bakery owner.
“When did this arrive?”
“About an hour ago.”
Before the ultrasound.
Before she knew.
Daniel’s eyes sharpened.
“That means they had access to more than your appointment.”
“How?”
He took the blanket with a gloved hand.
“Genetic testing?”
Hannah froze.
At twelve weeks she had done noninvasive prenatal screening.
The results included fetal sex.
She had chosen not to look.
The laboratory knew.
Dr. Morris’s office knew only if the result was in the chart.
Someone had accessed it.
Daniel understood.
“This started before today.”
“Yes.”
He looked at the message again.
“Someone knew about the pregnancy.”
“And didn’t tell you.”
“No.”
“Why?”
His face became cold.
“Because they were waiting.”
“For what?”
Daniel met her eyes.
“For the child to become useful.”
Hannah covered her belly.
The words were unbearable.
Daniel saw her reaction and immediately lowered his voice.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
“Hannah—”
“No one uses him.”
“They won’t.”
“You cannot promise that.”
“No.”
Another difference.
The old Daniel would have promised violence could solve certainty.
This Daniel said no.
Then one of his men’s phones rang.
The man answered, listened, and looked at Daniel.
“Mercer.”
“What?”
“The lab that processed her genetic test had a breach four months ago.”
Hannah stared.
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Public?”
“No. Internal. Covered up.”
“By whom?”
The man hesitated.
“Company legal says the access request came from Boston.”
Daniel’s voice went quiet.
“Name.”
The man looked at Hannah.
Then back at Daniel.
“Mercer Holdings.”
Silence.
Hannah stared at him.
Daniel looked genuinely confused.
“That’s impossible.”
“Is it?”
“Hannah.”
“You owned the company that accessed my pregnancy test.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You found me today.”
“Yes.”
“You had people searching for me.”
“Yes.”
“You expect me to believe your own company accessed my medical information four months ago and never told you?”
Daniel’s face changed.
He looked at the security man.
“Who authorized it?”
“We’re checking.”
Hannah stepped backward.
Daniel noticed.
“Do not come closer.”
He stopped instantly.
Her heart pounded.
For six months she had feared Daniel finding her.
Now a worse possibility entered.
Maybe he had never lost her at all.
May you like
Maybe someone inside his empire had known exactly where she was.
And chosen silence for reasons neither of them understood.
