Chapter 4 - The Warehouse at the Bay
When Nora finally regained consciousness, time had lost all meaning.
Her wrists were bound tightly behind her back with coarse hemp rope, the rough fibers sawing into her skin with every micro-movement. She was sprawled on freezing, damp concrete, the smell of rotting fish, diesel fuel, and stagnant bay water filling her lungs.
A single overhead bulb flickered casting long, dancing shadows across the crumbling brick walls of the abandoned shipping warehouse.
Footsteps echoed across the hollow floor. Heavy, measured, expensive boots.
Nora forced her heavy eyelids open. Standing above her was a woman in a tailored white trench coat that looked absurdly out of place in the filth of the harbor. Evelyn Sterling.
Evelyn was the daughter of Arthur Sterling, a rival shipping magnate who had spent a decade trying to break Roman Calder’s monopoly on the Baltimore docks.
“Well, well,” Evelyn murmured, crouching down with a sickeningly sweet smile on her face. Her diamond earrings caught the meager light. “The famous kitchen ghost finally wakes up.”
Nora tried to sit up, but a wave of nausea and dizziness knocked her back down. “Where is Caleb?” she choked out, her voice raw. “What did you do with my brother?”
Evelyn chuckled, a light, musical sound that made Nora’s blood run cold.
“The boy is safe—for now. He’s sitting in a warm room across town with a nanny who doesn’t speak a word of English. He’s eating pancakes and drawing pictures of dogs, completely unaware that his beloved big sister is about to become a very inconvenient footnote.”
Nora glared at her, summoning every ounce of defiance she possessed. “Why are you doing this? I’m just a cook. I don’t know anything about Roman’s business.”
“Oh, you’re much more than a cook, Nora,” Evelyn sneered, standing up and dusting off her coat. “You’re the one person who gets inside his fortress every single day. You’re the one who watches him when his guard is down. My father needs to know every weakness Roman Calder possesses. And right now, your little brother is the ultimate leverage to make Roman bend the knee.”
“Roman won’t care about me,” Nora lied desperately, her heart pounding against her ribs like a trapped bird. “He doesn’t even know my last name.”
Evelyn laughed outright, leaning down close to Nora’s face.
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“Sweetheart, my father’s informants watched Roman Calder’s head of security comb through every camera in Highlandtown within two hours of your disappearance. Roman didn’t just notice you were gone. He went to war over it.”
Evelyn straightened, turning toward a bulky man standing in the shadows by the door. “Keep her here. Let her think about her brother. When the sun comes up, we’ll send Roman his first souvenir.”
