Chapter 8
Detective Brooks returned to the hospital twenty minutes later.
She had not expected a missing woman.
Neither had anyone else.
Gavin sat alone in a consultation room while Brooks placed Claire Bennett’s missing-person file on the table.
“She disappeared March 14.”
Gavin stared at Claire’s photograph.
Older than he remembered.
Same dark hair.
Same eyes.
He had seen her only twice since Ethan’s birth.
Yet guilt made every detail familiar.
“Where was she last seen?”
“Parking lot of a restaurant in White Plains.”
“With my mother?”
“Surveillance shows Claire entering Mrs. Ferrante’s car.”
“And leaving?”
“No.”
Gavin looked up.
“No?”
“The camera angle doesn’t cover the entire lot. The vehicle left approximately seventeen minutes later.”
“Where did Mom go?”
“Toll records place her northbound.”
“Toward?”
“Her country house.”
Gavin stood.
“What?”
Brooks watched him.
“Your mother owns property in Millbrook?”
“Yes.”
“Was it occupied in March?”
“No. She stopped using it after my stepfather died.”
Nico stood near the door.
“Marjorie maintained staff there.”
Gavin looked at him.
“One caretaker.”
“Name?”
“Walter Dean.”
Brooks wrote it down.
Nico’s bodyguard was already searching.
Gavin paced.
“If Claire went to the house…”
Brooks interrupted.
“We don’t know that she did.”
“What did Mom say when police interviewed her?”
“That Claire asked for financial help and then requested to be dropped near a train station.”
“Was that verified?”
“No.”
“Why wasn’t my mother a suspect?”
“Because there was no evidence of a crime.”
Gavin laughed in disbelief.
“There is now.”
Brooks closed the file.
“There may be evidence of several.”
Gavin stared at Claire’s photograph.
“Is Ethan safe?”
“He currently lives with his maternal aunt.”
“Does she know who I am?”
“The aunt?”
“Yes.”
Brooks studied him.
“I believe she does.”
Gavin sat down slowly.
“Can I speak to her?”
“Not tonight.”
“I need to know if Ethan is okay.”
“You have spent seven years deciding what you needed to know about your son.”
Gavin flinched.
Brooks’ voice remained professional.
“Right now, my priority is finding his mother.”
He nodded.
“You’re right.”
Nico looked at him.
“That sentence might save you someday.”
Gavin didn’t respond.
Across the hall, Sienna was feeding Luca.
Mila sat beside her.
Sienna had told her only one thing.
“Daddy made choices before tonight that hurt people.”
Mila had asked, “Are we getting divorced?”
Sienna had not answered.
Now Mila touched Luca’s tiny foot.
“Will Daddy live with us?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you love him?”
Sienna stared at her daughter.
Children asked impossible questions with ordinary voices.
“Yes.”
Mila looked confused.
“But you’re mad.”
“Yes.”
“Can you do both?”
Sienna’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Mila thought about that.
“I’m mad at Daddy too.”
“I know.”
“But I don’t want him to disappear.”
Sienna’s heart tightened.
“He is still your father.”
“Grandma is his mom.”
“Yes.”
“Does he have to love her?”
Sienna inhaled slowly.
“No one gets to choose all their feelings.”
Mila nodded like she understood more than a seven-year-old should.
“Can people choose what they do?”
Sienna looked at her.
“Yes.”
That was the whole story, really.
Feelings were complicated.
Choices were not.
Nico’s bodyguard entered the doorway.
“We found Walter Dean.”
Nico immediately turned.
“Where?”
“He’s at the Millbrook property.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“Did you call police?”
“Detective Brooks is coordinating with local authorities.”
Brooks came out of the consultation room.
“We’re going there.”
Gavin stood.
“So am I.”
“No.”
“My mother might have taken Claire there.”
“That does not make you useful at a potential crime scene.”
“I know the property.”
“So does your father.”
Nico looked at Gavin.
“Stay here.”
Gavin’s jaw tightened.
“Dad—”
“Your wife just gave birth. Your daughter is afraid. Your son may have lost his mother.”
Nico stepped closer.
“For once in your life, stop running toward the problem that lets you avoid the people you hurt.”
Gavin stared at him.
Nico left.
The words remained.
Sienna heard a knock.
Gavin stood outside.
She almost said no.
Then Mila saw him.
“Daddy.”
Sienna looked at her daughter.
Then at Gavin.
“You can come in for Mila.”
He nodded.
“Thank you.”
He entered carefully.
Mila stood.
Gavin opened his arms but did not move toward her.
She hesitated.
Then walked into them.
Gavin’s face collapsed.
He held her tightly.
“I’m sorry.”
Mila whispered, “You say that a lot now.”
Sienna looked away.
Gavin laughed weakly through tears.
“I do.”
“Are you going to jail?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you steal Grandpa’s money?”
Gavin looked at Sienna.
She did not rescue him.
He looked back at Mila.
“I helped move money I should not have moved.”
“So yes?”
“Yes.”
Mila’s eyes filled.
“Why?”
“Because I was scared.”
“Of Grandma?”
“Yes.”
“And Grandpa?”
“Yes.”
“Mom?”
“Yes.”
“Me?”
Gavin shook his head quickly.
“No.”
Mila studied him.
“Then why were you scared of everybody?”
Gavin sat down.
“Because I had lied for so long that telling the truth felt scarier than another lie.”
Mila looked at him.
“That sounds dumb.”
A small laugh escaped Sienna.
Gavin almost smiled.
“It was extremely dumb.”
Mila moved closer.
“Did Grandma make you?”
Gavin looked at her for a long moment.
“No.”
That answer surprised Sienna.
Gavin continued.
“She pushed me. She lied to me. She used things against me.”
“But I chose.”
Sienna’s expression changed slightly.
It was the first time he had said it that clearly.
Mila nodded.
“Mom says choices matter.”
“She’s right.”
Mila returned to Luca.
Gavin watched his newborn son from several feet away.
“Can I see him?”
Sienna’s face hardened.
“You can see him from there.”
Gavin nodded.
He didn’t argue.
Luca yawned.
Gavin covered his mouth.
Tears returned immediately.
“He has your nose.”
Sienna looked down.
“Poor kid.”
Gavin laughed once.
Then cried harder.
“I missed it.”
“Yes.”
“I deserved to.”
Sienna looked at him.
“No.”
He blinked.
“I deserved to miss you.”
Her voice became quiet.
“But Luca didn’t deserve to have his father choose fraud over his birth.”
Gavin shut his eyes.
“You’re right.”
“I need you to stop agreeing with me like agreement repairs anything.”
“I don’t know what else to do.”
“Tell the truth before someone discovers it.”
Gavin looked at her.
Sienna continued.
“Is there anything else?”
His silence made her stomach drop.
She almost screamed.
“Gavin.”
“No affairs.”
“That isn’t the question.”
“No other children.”
“Not the question.”
He took a breath.
“There is one thing.”
Sienna laughed in disbelief.
“Of course.”
Gavin rubbed his hands together.
“Three months ago, Mom asked me to sign life insurance documents.”
Sienna stared.
“Whose life?”
“Dad’s.”
Nico was not there.
The room felt suddenly colder.
“Why would you sign anything related to Nico’s life insurance?”
“Mom said the policy was owned by a family trust and needed beneficiary acknowledgment.”
“Did you read it?”
Gavin looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
That surprised her.
“And?”
“It was a key-person policy.”
“How much?”
“Fifty million.”
Sienna’s mouth went dry.
“Who receives it?”
“Ferrante Holdings.”
“That sounds normal.”
“It was.”
“Was?”
“Mom wanted to change the beneficiary.”
“To whom?”
“A private trust.”
“Controlled by?”
Gavin whispered, “Her.”
Sienna stared.
“Did you sign?”
“No.”
Finally.
One good choice.
He continued.
“That’s when I started asking what she was doing.”
“And?”
“She said it was estate planning.”
“You believed her?”
“No.”
“So you backed out?”
“Partly.”
Sienna’s mind moved quickly.
Vale wanted Nico removed.
Marjorie tried to change his life insurance.
A fake medical incapacity plan.
Claire disappeared after meeting Marjorie.
Mila had nearly been taken.
Sienna felt sick.
“Call Nico.”
Gavin already had his phone out.
At that exact moment, seventy miles away, Nico’s SUV turned up the long private road toward the Millbrook estate.
Police vehicles followed.
The house stood dark among the trees.
One light burned inside the detached caretaker cottage.
Detective Brooks arrived in another vehicle.
Walter Dean opened the cottage door before police knocked.
He was seventy-two.
Thin.
Terrified.
“I’ve been waiting.”
Brooks looked at him.
“For us?”
“For somebody.”
Nico stepped closer.
“Where is Claire Bennett?”
Walter’s face collapsed.
“I didn’t hurt her.”
Nico’s chest tightened.
“Where is she?”
Walter looked toward the main house.
“In the old guest wing.”
Police moved immediately.
Brooks held Nico back.
“You stay here.”
“That is my house.”
“Tonight it’s a possible crime scene.”
Nico watched officers disappear inside.
Walter began crying.
“Mrs. Ferrante said Claire needed somewhere safe.”
“For six months?” Brooks asked.
Walter nodded.
“She told me Claire was mentally unstable.”
Nico stared at him.
“Did Claire want to leave?”
Walter looked ashamed.
“At first.”
“At first?”
“She stopped asking.”
“Why?”
Walter whispered, “Because of the medicine.”
Nico went cold.
“What medicine?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who gave it to her?”
“Mrs. Ferrante’s doctor.”
“What doctor?”
Walter looked confused.
“I never knew his name.”
Brooks’ radio crackled.
An officer’s voice.
“We found someone.”
Nico stopped breathing.
Brooks grabbed the radio.
“Condition?”
A pause.
Then:
“Alive.”
Nico closed his eyes.
Thank God.
The officer continued.
“Female, approximately mid-thirties. Conscious but disoriented.”
Brooks looked at Walter.
“Anyone else inside?”
Walter began shaking.
“Yes.”
Nico’s eyes opened.
“Who?”
Walter looked at him.
“A man.”
“What man?”
“I don’t know his name.”
“How long has he been there?”
“Since yesterday.”
Nico’s phone began ringing.
Gavin.
He ignored it.
“Describe him.”
Walter swallowed.
“Tall. Gray hair. Expensive clothes.”
Brooks’ face changed.
“Vale?”
Walter looked confused.
Nico understood.
“The man from Vale.”
Police shouted from inside the house.
Then a gunshot cracked through the night.
Everyone ducked.
Nico’s heart slammed against his ribs.
Brooks drew her weapon.
“Stay here!”
She ran toward the house.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Nico’s phone kept ringing.
Gavin again.
Finally Nico answered.
“What?”
Gavin’s voice came urgently.
“Dad, get out of Millbrook.”
Nico stared at the house.
“How do you know where I am?”
“Your security app.”
“Why?”
“Mom tried to change your life-insurance beneficiary three months ago.”
Nico’s blood turned cold.
Gavin continued.
“Dad, I don’t think they only wanted you out of the company.”
From the dark guest wing, a man suddenly burst through a side door.
May you like
He raised a pistol.
And aimed directly at Nico.
