Cleveland Police Department, Cleveland, Ohio

Abuzz with tension and anxiety, Daniel paced back and forth while waiting for further news of the fate of the jet and his parents at the police headquarters. Shortly before, another search party arrived, which had searched a large area on land and also in the sea. Until now, they knew neither where the plane had crashed, nor whether there were survivors. The uncertainty strained his nerves, and he longed for clarity. But when the chief of police stepped into the room with a serious expression and shook his head, he knew that the search had been without success.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Grayson, but as soon as it gets dark, we have to stop the search for the time being. The search party will continue tomorrow morning." He put a hand on Daniel's shoulder. "You should go to your hotel and try to sleep. As soon as there is news, we will inform you immediately."

Daniel looked at the chief officer stonily. "Do you believe that there is still hope?" He asked reluctantly.

"Do you want to hear my honest opinion?"

"Otherwise I wouldn't have asked." He nodded. "Please, be straight we me."

The policeman scratched his head. "Well, it all depends on where they came down and how. If the jet had fallen into the water, there is hardly any hope. The collision alone would be enough to let the jet burst. If they could land on land, there is a good chance of survival. But it also depends on how the emergency landing took place and in what kind of surroundings. According to our information, only the pilot and your parents were on board."

Daniel nodded. "He has been in our service for many years. He's an adept pilot."

"We have to investigate in all directions..." The officer cleared his throat. "Did your parents have enemies?" He got right to the point.

"What do you mean?" Daniel looked at him confused.

"Well, as I said, we have to take everything into consideration. And when you say the pilot was experienced, it can also be that someone tampered with the jet."

Daniel's eyes widened in horror as he realized what the policeman was referring to. "You think someone had deliberately sabotaged the jet?"

"Yes, something like that. Is that possible?"

"I don't know." He ran through his hair with a helpless gesture. "My parents are wealthy, successful and in the limelight. Of course, there are people who are jealous and hate them. But I can't remember anyone who hated them so much that they would kill them."

"Your father was kidnapped a few months ago," the chief officer said thoughtfully. "Could there be a connection?"

David Clarke, Emily's father, flashed through his mind. But he didn't say it. He finally had made peace with Emily, he didn't want to lose her again by reporting her father to the police. But the doubt was planted in his head. Did David Clarke really have anything to do with the crash of the jet?

"Mr. Grayson?"

Daniel's head jerked up. "What did you say?"

"I asked if it could be possible that there was a connection between the kidnapping of your father and the crash of the company jet?"

"No," he said hastily, avoiding the officer's piercing gaze.

"You seem to be really sure." He frowned. "Well, as I said, we must investigate in all directions. Since the kidnapping of your father hasn't been so long ago, there is a strong suspicion, especially since the police in New York had closed the case and the kidnapper is still on the loose."

Had David Clarke really been capable of killing his parents? The longer he thought about it, the more convinced he was of his guilt. But why his mother, whom he had supposedly loved? But he hated your father, he recalled . "Can I go now?" He couldn't stay any longer and let himself interrogate.

The officer nodded. "We'll get back to you as soon as we have new information."

Daniel almost fled from the office and went into the waiting area where Charlotte was already waiting for him.

She jumped up as he approached her. "Is there any news?" She asked anxiously, wrapping her arms around her body.

Daniel shook his head. He could hardly bear to see her so miserable. And what he had to tell her now made matters worse. "The police suspect that David Clarke had tampered with the jet that led up to the crash", he informed her.

"Oh my God!" All color disappeared from her cheeks. "Do you think that, too?"

He shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. But I would trust him to do it." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "But when I admit that, they will be hunting for him, and I can't turn Emily's father in to the police. Not after we finally found each other again."

"You forget he's my father, too," Charlotte said in a low voice.

"Your begetter," Daniel corrected. "That he procreated you doesn't make him a father." He gently took her arm. "Come, let's go to the hotel. They'll stop the search till tomorrow morning."

"I still can't believe Mom and Dad are dead. It seems to me like a bad nightmare from which I will shortly awake."

He put his arm around her shoulders. "Unfortunately, it's not a nightmare but reality," he said softly, pressing her close to his chest when she suddenly burst into tears. "I'm always there for you," he promised in a low voice. "No matter what happens."

It was already dark when they left the police headquarters and went to their rental car to go to their hotel, when they saw a dark shape approaching them slowly. Charlotte recognized her first. "Emily?!" She burst out aghast. "What are you doing here?"

Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Cleveland

"You're really crazy that you flew to us," Charlotte said, shaking her head. They all sat together in Daniel's hotel suite and filled Emily in about the news of the day.

"I wanted to be with you. And when Ava offered to take care of Julian, I booked a flight straight away." She cast Daniel an uneasy glance, who was staring at the wall, blank-faced. "I hope you approve that I'm here?" She asked cautiously.

Charlotte leaned forward and reached for her hands. "I'm glad you're here," she said with a serious face, and looked to her brother, from whom she also expected a response. "We're just still under shock," she continued. "And so far, there is still no trace of the jet or our parents. At the moment they are taking a break, because it's too dark. But they want to continue with the search tomorrow." She rose. "Maybe we should try to sleep a little. What do you think, Daniel?" She looked at him questioningly.

All the time, he had been pondering how to come up with the subject of David Clarke. Now the time had come when everyone was waiting for an answer from him. "How well do you know your father?" He asked in the middle of the silence.

"Daniel, don't!" Charlotte warned him, who saw Emily turning pale, but he ignored her objection.

"David Clarke," he refined. "How well do you know him?" He turned the question to Emily.

"I... I don't know what you mean exactly," she paused, casting a helpless glance at Charlotte.

"The Cleveland police believe Dad's kidnapper might have something to do with the jet crash," she told her sister. "An airplane doesn't disappear from the radar for no reason and simply crashes all of a sudden. That's why they suspect that someone tampered with the jet."

"And they believe it was my father?" Emily asked incredulously.

"Dad's kidnapper," Daniel corrected, "but yes, he had at least a motive and also the means. But there is no evidence. The police suspect it only because my father recently had been kidnapped. And we all know that it was David Clarke."

Emily stared at him, bewildered. "You think he wanted to kill your parents?"

"Maybe not my mother. That was a bonus," he said sarcastically. "But the company jet is mainly used by my father or by..." He paused as he saw Emily turning pale again.

"...or by you," she finished the sentence and closed her eyes because suddenly her head was spinning.

"Emily?"

She noticed Charlotte rushing to her side and putting her arm around her. "Are you all right?"

The thought that her father was responsible for the death of her in-laws was just too much. And even harder was the thought that it could have struck Daniel, who used the jet just as often as his father did. "Excuse me!" She jumped up quickly and ran over to the adjoining bathroom.

"Why did you have to start with that topic?" Charlotte looked at her brother reproachfully. She worried about Emily and the baby whose existence her brother apparently still knew nothing about.

He groaned with frustration. "I'm sorry. If I had known how much this news would upset her, I wouldn't have mentioned it."

"You should have known how she would react." She rose and went over to the bathroom and knocked at the closed door. "Emily? Is everything okay? Do you need help?"

She sat on the floor next to the sink, her arms wrapped around her body, while silent tears were running down her cheeks. She refused to believe that her father had been responsible for the crash. She remembered her last conversation with him, just before he'd taken her to the dugout in the forest...

"What would have been your next step? Would you have him killed or tortured?"

"You might not believe me, but I didn't want to do anything like that. Although I would have threatened him to kill his family, what I never would have done. But I think that this threat alone would have brought him to reason. I would have given him a new identity, and he could have started a new life somewhere else. Conrad Grayson would have been dead for his family and the public eye, kidnapped and murdered."

"You wanted him to go through the same?"

Exactly! Only that I would have stood on the other side, I would have had the fame, the wealth, Grayson Global, Victoria..."

And she had believed and trusted him. Otherwise she never would have let him go. But what if he had lied to her? She had balked his plan. Had he returned to reach his goal, to get Conrad Grayson out of the way once and for all? Then it was her fault that her in-laws were dead now. She rose and pushed back the latch. "I'm going to my room now," she said in a weak voice. "I'm tired." She saw Charlotte's worried look and forced herself to smile. "Everything is okay. As I said, I'm just tired. The flight was exhausting." As she left the suite without looking back, she heard Daniel call her name. But she ignored him. She just wanted to leave. The events of the past few hours had drained her. She still felt slightly dizzy as she went to her own suite, opened the door, and then quickly closed it behind her so that no one could follow.

That night she had a restless sleep, was tossing and turning and tormented by horrible nightmares. When she woke up after a few hours of sleep, she was drenched in sweat, and her heart was thumping like mad. A glance at the alarm clock informed her that it was only 4 o'clock in the morning. Too early to get up. She was about to fall asleep again, when she noticed something wet between her legs. She quickly switched on the bedside light and then stared frozen in terror at the blood stain on her sheet. The baby! she thought anxiously. She was about to lose her baby! Seized with panic, she forced herself to breathe calmly. She had to keep a clear head now. Quickly she slipped out of bed, reached for her clothes and went to the bathroom. There she took some absorbent cotton and put it in her panties to absorb the blood. When she had arrived at the hotel, she had seen taxis standing in front of the entrance. So she just had to go down, pick a taxi and ask the driver to take her to the hospital. But before that, she had to inform Charlotte so that she wouldn't worry. On the table there was a note pad and a pen, and Emily tore off a sheet and wrote a short note:

'Charlotte, I went to the hospital. Had a bleeding. Emily'

She pushed the folded note with the message beneath Charlotte's door and went to the elevator. She had no time to lose. While she was riding down, she noticed tears on her cheeks. I haven't even told Daniel about my pregnancy, she thought desperately. How would he react if he learned she had a miscarriage? Fortunately there was a taxi waiting right in front of the hotel entrance. "To the closest hospital," she said in a tearful voice after she had opened the car door and sat down on the passenger seat. She saw how the taxi driver cast her a worried look, but then he stepped on the gas pedal and drove off.