Chapter 2: The Man Who Hadn't Moved in Three Years
The room was not dark.
That was the first thing Nora noticed.
Soft lamps burned on either side of a wide bed.
The walls were covered in photographs — dozens of them — all showing the same woman.
Laughing.
Dancing.
Holding flowers.
Sleeping in a chair by a window exactly like the one downstairs.
Snow was already curled at the foot of the bed, purring like she owned the place.
Nora stepped inside.
The man in the chair by the window hadn't moved.
He was large — larger than any man she'd ever seen — with dark eyes and hands that could have wrapped twice around her mother's wrist.
He was staring at the photographs.
He didn't look at her.
He didn't speak.
Nora walked to the bed, climbed up without asking, pulled the edge of the blanket over herself, and closed her eyes.
The room went completely still.
Then, slowly, the man stood.
The guards in the hallway gripped their w3apons.
No one breathed.
He crossed the room.
He sat on the edge of the bed.
He looked at the child for a long time.
When he finally reached out and tucked the blanket more carefully around her small shoulders, one of the guards actually took a step back.
That was when Claire's radio crackled.
*"Bennett.
Second floor.
Now."*
Her bl00d went cold.
She dropped everything and ran — and when she reached the top of the stairs, the head of security was already waiting, his face the color of ash.
*"Your daughter,"* he said quietly, *"is in Mr.
Kane's room."*
Claire's legs stopped working.
*"He hasn't called for removal,"* the man added.
*"He hasn't called for anything."*
May you like
He paused.
*"That's never happened before."*
