Chapter 5 - The Room Beneath the Wine CellarWater hammered down from the ceiling as Maya disappeared through the service corridor.
“Maya!” I shouted.
She did not stop.
I went after her.
Malik dragged Sam up by the back of his jacket.
Ryan stayed where he was.
Too calm.
Too finished.
That bothered me.
Men like Ryan always kept a second door open.
The service stairs were slick from the sprinklers. Maya moved barefoot because she had lost one shoe somewhere behind her. I caught up as she reached the lower level.
The cry came again.
Small.
Weak.
Alive.
Maya slammed both hands against the wine-storage door.
“Open it!”
I typed in the code.
Denied.
Of course.
Ryan’s betrayal had teeth everywhere.
I stepped back.
“Move.”
Malik fired two rounds into the lock.
The sound shook the hall.
The door opened on darkness and cold air.
Rows of wine bottles lined the walls, untouched and useless. At the back was a shelving unit that should have held imported burgundy.
Instead, it hid a steel medical door.
A keypad glowed blue.
Maya sobbed once.
“Sofía.”
Sam, bleeding from the mouth now, whispered, “He’ll kill us.”
I turned.
“Who?”
He shook his head.
Malik lifted him by the collar.
“Who?”
“Dr. Voss.”
The name meant nothing to Maya.
It meant something to me.
Elias Voss.
A celebrated pediatric researcher.
The kind of man hospitals named wings after.
The kind of man billionaires invited to charity galas so they could feel clean while writing checks.
And three months earlier, Ryan had asked me to donate five million dollars to Voss’s foundation.
I had said no.
Ryan had smiled and said, “You’ll come around.”
I stared at the keypad.
“What’s the code?”
Sam gave it.
The door clicked.
Maya shoved past me.
Inside was a private medical room.
Not a hospital room.
A hiding place pretending to be one.
There was one incubator.
One oxygen unit.
One small refrigerator.
And inside the incubator lay the baby from the video.
Sofía Santos.
Maya fell to her knees.
“My baby.”
Sofía’s lips were pale. Her tiny fists moved weakly against the blanket.
Maya reached for the incubator latch.
I caught her arm.
“Wait.”
A red light blinked on the oxygen monitor.
The tubing had been deliberately loosened.
The timer had been theater.
The danger was real.
I opened the oxygen valve fully while Malik checked the room.
Sofía’s chest rose.
Then again.
Maya sobbed so hard her body folded over the side of the incubator.
“I’m here,” she whispered. “Mama’s here. Mama’s here.”
The baby’s eyes fluttered.
I looked at the refrigerator.
Six missing doses.
All there.
But two labels had been changed.
Lily Santos.
Sofía Santos.
Both marked for “disposal.”
I felt something ancient and ugly wake inside me.
I had ruined men for stealing land.
For lying in boardrooms.
For touching money that belonged to me.
But this was different.
This was children gasping for breath while wealthy adults moved medicine like jewelry.
My phone rang again.
Unknown number.
This time I answered.
A smooth male voice spoke.
“Mr. Foster. You found the child. Congratulations.”
“Dr. Voss.”
A soft laugh.
“Ryan said you were quick.”
“Ryan underestimated me.”
“No,” Voss said. “Ryan overestimated your conscience. He believed you could be convinced to protect your business.”
“And you?”
“I believe every man has a price.”
May you like
I looked at Maya holding her stolen baby.
“Then you don’t know me.”
