Chapter 40 The Traitor Among Us

Chapter 40 The Traitor Among Us
For the first time in weeks, I did not wake up screaming. I looked next to me, but Edward’s side of the bed was empty. 

I sat up. My body still ached, but I felt stronger than yesterday. I changed into a thick sweater and leggings.

I walked down to Arthur’s room. One of the nurses, Sarah, was sitting by the crib, writing something on a clipboard.  

"How is he?" I asked.  

"He’s a fighter, Mrs. Vance," Sarah said. "His oxygen levels are perfect. He took his full feeding an hour ago. He’s sleeping now."  

I leaned over the crib and touched Arthur’s tiny hand. He gripped my finger, even in his sleep. 

"Thank you, Sarah," I said. "Where is my husband?"  

"He’s in the study."  

I nodded and headed toward the small room at the end of the hall that Edward used as an office. As I got closer, I could hear voices. They were loud and tense.  

Edward’s voice echoed. "Someone leaked the burner number. That phone was in a sealed box until we left the hospital. Only four people knew about  it."  

I opened the door. The room was filled with papers. Mark was standing by the window, his arms crossed, looking out at the driveway. Edward was pacing, his hair a mess.  

"Four people?" I asked as I entered the room.  

Edward stopped pacing and looked at me. His eyes were red from lack of sleep. "Serena. You should be resting."  

"I’m done resting, Edward. You said four people. Who?"  

Mark turned around. "It was me, the two nurses, and the driver who brought us here, Leo."  

I felt a chill. "I trust Mark. And Sarah has been so kind to Arthur. What about the other nurse? Or the driver?"  

"We are running background checks again," Mark said. "But Lily is smart. She doesn’t hire criminals. She hires normal people and offers them more money than they can refuse."  

Edward picked up the USB drive from the desk. "We’ve started going through the files. It’s worse than I thought. Lily hasn’t just been stealing money. She’s been buying people in the police department, in the courts.”

"Then we can’t trust the police yet," I said, "If we give them the USB, the wrong person might see it and delete everything."  

"Exactly," Edward said. "We have to find the leak here first. Once we know who is talking to her, we can use them to send Lily false information. We can lure her out."  

I looked at the laptop screen. Mark had the security footage from the front gate pulled up. Suddenly, a small light blinked on his laptop.  

"Sir," Mark said, "The outgoing signal monitor just tripped. Someone in this house just sent an encrypted text message."  

"I can’t see the content," Mark whispered, his fingers moving fast on the keys. "But I can see where it came from. It came from the kitchen area."  

Edward reached into his waistband and pulled out his gun. "Stay here, Serena."  

"No," I said, stepping forward. "If I stay here, I’m a target. If I’m with you, I’m safe. Let’s go."  

Edward hesitated, then nodded. We walked quietly down the hallway. The house felt different now. Every shadow looked like a person. Every creak of the floorboards sounded like a threat.  

We reached the kitchen. The other nurse, a younger woman named Lena, was standing by the counter making tea. Leo, the driver, was sitting at the small wooden table, looking at his phone.  

The room went quiet as we entered. Elena looked up, her face pale. "Oh! Mr. Vance, would you like some tea?"

Edward didn’t answer. He walked straight to the table. "Leo. Put the phone on the table. Slowly."  

Leo looked confused. "Sir? I was just checking the weather for the drive later."  

"Phone. Now," Edward commanded.  

Leo placed the phone down. Mark grabbed it right away. He plugged a small device into the side of the phone. We all waited in silence. The only sound was the tea kettle starting to whistle.  

"It’s not him," Mark said after a few seconds. "This phone is clean. No outgoing signals in the last ten minutes."  

We all turned to Elena. She was still holding the kettle. Her hand was shaking so hard the water was spilling onto the counter.  

"Give me your phone, Elena," Edward said.  

"I don’t have it on me," she whispered. "It’s in my bag in the break room."  

Mark didn’t wait. He walked past her toward the small room behind the kitchen. A moment later, he came out holding a phone.  

"Found it," Mark said. "And it was just used."  

Elena dropped the kettle. It hit the floor with a loud bang, splashing hot water everywhere. She turned to run toward the back door, but Mark was faster. He blocked her path.  

"Why?" I asked, walking toward her. I felt both angry and sad. "We trusted you with our son. You were in the room with Arthur!"  

Elena burst into tears. She fell to the floor and hid her face in her hands. "She has my sister! Lily... she took her. She told me if I didn’t send updates every hour, I would never see her again. I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!"  

Edward looked upset. "Where is she? Where is Lily?"  

"I don’t know!" Elena sobbed. "I just send the messages to a random number. They told me to tell them everything."  

Edward looked at Mark. "Take her to the basement. Lock her up. No phones, no contact. If Lily doesn’t get her hourly update, she’ll know something is wrong."  

"Edward, if Elena doesn’t text back in an hour, Lily will know we found the leak.”

"Mark, can you trace the number she was texting?"  Edward asked.

"I’m already on it, Sir. It’s bouncing off a tower about ten miles from here. An old fishing warehouse near the docks."  

I looked at Edward. This was it. The moment we stopped being the prey.  

"Go," I said. "Take Mark and the men. Use the USB data to call the one police commander you said you trust. Meet him there."  

"I can’t leave you here alone, Serena," Edward said, grabbing my shoulders. "Not after this."  

"I’m not alone. I have Leo, and I have Sarah.”

Edward looked at me for a long time. He leaned down and kissed me. "I’ll be back. I promise. If anything happens, take the baby and go to the safe room in the cellar."  

I watched from the window as two black SUVs sped down the gravel driveway, kicking up dust. The house was quiet again, but it wasn’t a peaceful quiet. It was the silence before a storm.  

I walked back to Arthur’s room. Sarah was still there, looking confused by the noise.  

"Is everything okay?" she asked.  

"Everything is going to be fine," I said. I sat down in the chair facing the door. I sat there in the dark, watching the monitor. The green line of Arthur's heart went up and down. Thump. Thump. Thump.  

I wasn’t the scared girl from the warehouse anymore. I was a mother protecting her child.