—————–
I returned to the city, but before I could move on the warehouse, my phone buzzed. It was a text from an unknown number.
I know what you’re doing. I can help. But you need to know the truth about Tessa.
I stared at the screen. Reply: Who is this?
Response: Someone who hates Victor as much as you do. Meet me at the diner on Route 9. Alone.
It was a trap. It had to be. But my instincts told me something else. I turned the truck around.
The diner was a greasy spoon with flickering neon. A woman sat in the back booth, wearing a trench coat and sunglasses at 04:00. She was older, maybe fifty.
“My name is Eleanor,” she said as I sat down. “I was Victor’s personal assistant for twenty years. He fired me last week because I refused to shred the files on Tessa.”
“Why did they do it, Eleanor?” I asked. “Money isn’t enough of a reason for thirty-one hammer strikes.”
Eleanor slid a manila envelope across the table. “Open it.”
Inside was a medical report. It was dated two weeks ago.
Patient: Tessa Hunter. Status: Pregnant.
My heart stopped. The world tilted on its axis.
“Pregnant?”
“She didn’t tell you yet,” Eleanor whispered. “She wanted to surprise you when you came home. She went to Victor that night to tell him she was leaving the family for good. She told him, ‘My child will not grow up around a monster like you.’“
I stared at the paper. A baby. We were having a baby.
“Victor couldn’t handle that,” Eleanor continued. “He wanted to wipe the slate clean. He wanted to kill the baby.”
“Did… did the baby survive?” I asked, my voice cracking.
Eleanor looked down. “The report from the ER said trauma to the abdomen. I don’t know, Hunter.”
I stood up. The rage I felt before was a candle flame. What I felt now was a nuclear explosion.
