Chapter 3 - THE LOCKER
The brass key opened a safe-deposit box across town.
My father had rented it under a name I had never heard.
Daniel Mercer.
Luka knew because my father had given him the matching account number before he died.
I should have called the police.
I should have called a lawyer.
Instead, I sat in my hospital bed staring at the key while my daughter slept beside me.
I had no husband anymore.
No parents.
No home I trusted.
And somehow the only person giving me answers was a tattooed man who had appeared minutes after Ethan abandoned us.
“What exactly is in that box?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if Michael wanted me to know, he would have told me.”
The way Luka said my father’s first name made something inside me hurt.
“You trusted him.”
“With my life.”
“And he trusted you with mine.”
“Yes.”
I looked at the document Luka had signed.
“And apparently my daughter’s.”
His eyes moved toward the paper.
“That part wasn’t in the promise.”
“Then explain it.”
Luka was silent for several seconds.
“I knew Ethan was leaving.”
My heart stuttered.
“What?”
“I knew before he walked through that door.”
“How?”
“I’ve been watching him.”
Anger immediately replaced fear.
“You’ve been spying on my husband?”
“Your husband met Vanessa Hale six times in the last twelve days.”
I felt physically sick.
“She’s his coworker.”
“She stopped being just a coworker eleven months ago.”
I closed my eyes.
Part of me had known.
The late nights.
The locked phone.
The scent of perfume that wasn’t mine.
But hearing a stranger confirm it made the betrayal feel permanent.
Luka continued.
“Ethan also met with Dr. Pike twice.”
My eyes opened.
“Why?”
“That’s one of the things I’m trying to find out.”
Before I could answer, someone knocked.
A young orderly entered pushing a bassinet.
“Newborn screening.”
The nurse behind him was someone I had never seen.
She smiled too quickly.
“We just need the baby for ten minutes.”
Every word Luka had said in the hallway came back.
Do not let them take your daughter anywhere without you.
“I’ll come.”
The nurse’s smile faded slightly.
“You should rest.”
“I’m coming.”
“It’s hospital policy for mothers to remain—”
“It isn’t.”
The voice came from the doorway.
Nurse Collins stepped inside.
The other nurse stiffened.
Collins looked at her badge.
“Who are you?”
The woman immediately reached toward the bassinet.
Luka moved faster.
He stepped between her and my daughter.
The orderly abandoned the cart and ran.
The woman backed toward the hallway.
Collins reached for the emergency button.
“Security.”
The woman bolted.
Luka followed her only as far as the doorway.
Then he stopped.
He looked down.
Something had fallen from her pocket.
A white access card.
He picked it up.
There was no employee name.
Only a code.
M17-RESEARCH.
I stared at it.
May you like
Luka slowly raised his eyes to mine.
“We’re opening that box tonight.”
