Chapter Three
Adrienne’s POV
I watched Beverly throw her tantrum while Curtis stood beside her, his face rigid with anger. The last shred of restraint I had left snapped.
“If you’re going to cry, do it somewhere else. Don’t make a mess of my carpet.” I turned away, walked into the entryway, and picked up my briefcase.
“I’m flying to Chicago this afternoon to handle the merger deal. I’ll be gone for a few days.” I looked back at Curtis.
“Whatever you’re planning, stop now, Curtis. I call the shots in this family. If I come home and find so much as a scratch on Jonah, I promise you’ll regret ever being born.”
It was pouring in Chicago. The merger negotiations were going well, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
For no reason I could name, panic gripped my chest and made it hard to breathe.
I took a sip of coffee and tried to calm myself.
Then my phone vibrated on the table. The caller ID showed Owen, my assistant back at headquarters.
I answered immediately. “Owen, what happened at the company?”
His voice was tense. “Adrienne, Curtis and Beverly forced Jonah to come to the office this morning!”
“What?” I shot to my feet, knocking over the coffee cup beside me. “I warned them not to bring Jonah to the company!”
“Beverly made a scene in the lobby. She said Jonah was the oldest grandson in the Vance family and had to come see the company. Curtis used the opportunity to place Jonah in the public relations department as an intern.” Owen rushed on. “And there’s more. He personally assigned an intern named Presley Shaw to show Jonah the ropes one-on-one.”
Presley Shaw.
The moment I heard that name, my blood ran cold.
They had gone through with it anyway.
“Where is Jonah now? Put him on the phone. Right now!” I was nearly shouting.
“I can’t find him!” Owen sounded even more panicked. “Half an hour ago, Presley said she was taking him to the storage room on the top floor to find some old files. I went up there to look for him, but the door was locked from the inside, and no one answered when I knocked. I tried his phone, but it’s turned off…”
“Call the police! Owen, do it right now, then break that door down!” I shouted into the phone.
“Adrienne, I… I can’t. Curtis gave strict orders that no one was allowed upstairs while they were organizing the files. The security guards all answer to him. I can’t get past them…”
I hung up on him.
Don’t panic.
Adrienne, you cannot panic.
You’ve already died once. You cannot let your son die again.
I grabbed my bag and ran out of the hotel room without packing anything.
“Adrienne, what about the rest of your meetings…” My secretary was coming down the hall and stopped short when she saw me.
“Cancel everything! Book me a seat on the next flight to New York. Now!”
A flight from Chicago to New York took a little over two hours.
Those were the longest, most agonizing two hours of my life.
I couldn’t sit still. Jonah’s desperate eyes and the image of his brutal death in my previous life kept flashing through my mind.
Curtis.
Beverly.
Presley.
You bastards. If anything happens to Jonah, I’ll take every one of you down with him.
The moment the plane landed, I ran out of the terminal without waiting for my luggage.
Rain was coming down in sheets outside, and thunder shook the sky.
I ran into the storm and flagged down a car.
“Vance Group! Hurry! I’ll pay double for any speeding tickets. Just get me there as fast as you can!”
The car braked hard in front of the Vance Group building. I threw the door open and stumbled into the lobby.
I was soaked through. My hair was a mess, and water streamed down my face. I no longer cared what I looked like.
The lobby was empty.
I ran straight to the elevator and jabbed the button. The moment the doors opened on the top floor, a wall of noise hit me.
