Chapter 2
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Vanessa stared at the phone in my hand.
I stared at the message.
Sophie clung to my neck so tightly that I could feel her little heart pounding against my chest.
Then Vanessa stepped forward.
“Give me my phone.”
I looked at her.
“You mean the phone Michael is using to ask whether my four-year-old daughter exposed your affair?”
Her jaw tightened.
“It isn’t what you think.”
I almost laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because the sentence was so insulting that my body didn’t know what else to do.
“What exactly do I think, Vanessa?”
She looked toward Sophie.
That was a mistake.
I shifted my daughter farther away from her.
“Look at me.”
Vanessa slowly turned back.
I held up the phone.
“My best friend is asking if my daughter told me about the two of you. My daughter says she heard you discussing my company. And I just walked in while you were hitting her hands because she heard something she wasn’t supposed to hear.”
“I disciplined her because she was lying.”
Sophie whimpered.
“I’m not lying.”
“I know, sweetheart.”
Vanessa snapped, “Daniel, stop encouraging her.”
My anger went cold.
Dangerously cold.
“You will not tell me how to speak to my daughter after what I just walked in on.”
“She needs boundaries.”
“She needs ice on her hands.”
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“You’re being dramatic.”
I stared at her.
Then I looked at the thin switch lying on the counter.
Four years old.
Tiny hands.
Red marks.
And the woman I had married was calling me dramatic.
I carried Sophie toward the living room.
Vanessa followed.
“Where are you going?”
“Away from you.”
“Daniel.”
“Stay back.”
She stopped.
I sat Sophie on the couch.
“Sweetheart, Daddy needs you to tell me something.”
Her lower lip trembled.
“Am I in trouble?”
The question broke something inside me.
“No.”
“But Vanessa said if I told you, you would be mad at me.”
I swallowed.
“I will never be mad at you for telling me the truth.”
She looked toward the kitchen.
Vanessa was standing there, watching.
I lowered my voice.
“What did you hear?”
Sophie whispered, “She was talking to Uncle Michael.”
Uncle Michael.
That was what Sophie had called him since she learned to talk.
Michael had attended her birthday parties.
He had bought her Christmas gifts.
He had held her in the hospital after she was born.
My best friend.
My business partner.
The man who had stood beside me at my wedding to Vanessa.
“What did they say?”
Sophie rubbed her injured palm against her dress.
“Vanessa said Friday was almost here.”
“What else?”
“She said you would sign papers.”
Vanessa suddenly interrupted.
“She’s four. She doesn’t understand business conversations.”
I stood.
“Stop talking.”
“You can’t seriously believe every word—”
“I said stop.”
She fell silent.
I turned back to Sophie.
“What happened after she talked about the papers?”
Sophie looked confused.
“She said you were going far away.”
My stomach tightened.
My overseas trip.
I was supposed to fly to Singapore Saturday morning for a two-week expansion meeting.
“She said when you were gone, Uncle Michael could do the rest.”
“What rest?”
“I don’t know.”
Vanessa gave a bitter laugh.
“There. You see? She doesn’t know.”
Sophie immediately looked frightened.
I knelt beside her.
“You’re doing great.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“She said there would be lots of money.”
I looked at Vanessa.
She said nothing.
“And Uncle Michael said something about Mommy.”
My breath stopped.
Sophie’s mother, Claire, had died three years earlier.
Vanessa had entered my life almost a year after Claire’s death.
“What about Mommy?”
Sophie’s voice became tiny.
“He said, ‘Just like Claire.’”
The entire room seemed to tilt.
Vanessa went white.
I stood so fast the coffee table shook.
“What did you say?”
Sophie flinched.
I immediately softened my voice.
“Not you, sweetheart. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
She whispered again.
“He said, ‘Just like Claire.’ Then Vanessa said not to talk about it on the phone.”
I turned toward my wife.
“What does that mean?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I have no idea.”
“You reacted.”
“Because this is insane.”
I walked toward her.
She backed away.
“Daniel, think carefully.”
“I am.”
“No, you’re emotional.”
“My daughter just told me she heard my dead wife’s name during a secret phone call between you and my business partner.”
“She’s confused!”
Sophie cried out from behind me.
“I’m not!”
I turned.
She had begun crying again.
I went back immediately.
“It’s okay.”
“No, Daddy. I heard them.”
“I believe you.”
Vanessa stared at me as though I had slapped her.
“You believe a preschooler over your wife?”
I looked at Sophie’s hands.
“Yes.”
Vanessa’s face changed.
The fear disappeared.
Something harder replaced it.
“Then you’re making a serious mistake.”
I picked up my phone and called my sister.
Rachel answered on the second ring.
“Hey, little brother.”
“I need you.”
My tone silenced her immediately.
“What happened?”
“Come to my house. Now.”
“Daniel—”
“Please.”
“I’m leaving.”
I hung up.
Vanessa folded her arms.
“You’re bringing Rachel into this?”
“I’m getting Sophie out of this house.”
“You can’t take her away from me.”
“You are not her mother.”
The words landed hard.
Vanessa’s face twisted.
“I’ve raised her for two years.”
“And today I found you beating her hands.”
“I did not beat her!”
I pointed toward the kitchen.
“You used a switch.”
“One time.”
Sophie whispered, “More.”
We both looked at her.
She stared at the floor.
“What did you say, sweetheart?”
Her shoulders shook.
“She did it before.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
Vanessa shouted, “That is a lie!”
Sophie covered her ears.
I moved between them.
“Get away from her.”
Vanessa stepped back.
My voice became quiet.
“How many times?”
Sophie held up three fingers.
My knees almost gave out.
“Where?”
“My legs.”
She pointed beneath her dress.
“And my back.”
I closed my eyes.
I had been working late for months.
Building the company.
Traveling.
Trusting my wife to care for my daughter.
While Sophie had been afraid inside her own home.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She started sobbing.
“Vanessa said you would send me away if I was bad.”
I couldn’t breathe.
I pulled her against me.
“No. Never. Never, Sophie.”
Behind me, Vanessa said, “She is manipulating you.”
I turned slowly.
“If you say one more word to her, I’m calling the police right now.”
“Go ahead.”
The confidence in her voice stopped me.
Not because I feared her.
Because she sounded prepared.
Vanessa picked up her purse.
“You want to destroy this family because a child misunderstood a conversation? Fine.”
“You’re not leaving with that phone.”
She froze.
I held it tighter.
“That belongs to me.”
“It may contain evidence.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Evidence of what?”
“I’m beginning to wonder.”
The doorbell rang.
Rachel.
I opened the door with Sophie in my arms.
My sister took one look at Sophie’s hands.
Then she looked at Vanessa.
“Oh my God.”
Vanessa sighed.
“Please don’t start.”
Rachel walked past me.
“You did this?”
“It was discipline.”
Rachel’s face turned red.
I grabbed her arm before she could move closer.
“Take Sophie.”
Rachel looked at me.
“Where?”
“Your house.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I need to find out what Friday is really about.”
Sophie grabbed my collar.
“No, Daddy.”
I looked at her.
“Don’t stay with Vanessa.”
Her terror made the decision for me.
I kissed her forehead.
“I’m not staying alone with anyone. I promise.”
Rachel lifted Sophie carefully.
Vanessa stepped forward.
“She isn’t taking Sophie anywhere.”
Rachel laughed once.
“Try stopping me.”
I looked at Vanessa.
“If you touch my sister or my daughter, I call 911.”
Vanessa stared at me.
Then she stepped aside.
Rachel carried Sophie out.
Before the door closed, Sophie called back.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Uncle Michael came here yesterday.”
My body went still.
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Sophie continued.
“He put something in your office.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. Vanessa told me not to go inside.”
Rachel looked at me.
“Daniel?”
I stared toward the hallway leading to my home office.
“Take Sophie.”
The door shut behind them.
Vanessa and I were alone.
I turned toward the hallway.
She moved in front of me.
“You don’t want to do this.”
I looked into the eyes of the woman I had slept beside for two years.
Suddenly, I didn’t recognize her.
“Move.”
“Daniel.”
“Move.”
She didn’t.
So I walked around her.
My office door was closed.
I opened it.
Nothing looked different.
Desk.
Computer.
Bookshelves.
Family photographs.
A framed picture of Claire holding newborn Sophie.
I stepped inside.
Vanessa stayed at the doorway.
“Whatever Sophie thinks she saw—”
I ignored her.
Michael had access to my office whenever he visited.
He knew the alarm code.
He knew where I kept company files.
He knew almost everything.
I checked the desk drawers.
Nothing.
The cabinet.
Nothing.
Then I noticed the framed photograph of Claire was slightly crooked.
I lifted it.
Behind it, taped to the back, was a tiny black device.
Not much larger than my thumb.
A blinking green light flashed once.
Vanessa whispered something behind me.
I turned.
“What is this?”
She didn’t answer.
I pulled out my phone and took photographs without touching the device.
Then I called a man I hadn’t spoken to in nearly four years.
Detective Aaron Cole.
He had investigated Claire’s fatal car crash.
Aaron answered after three rings.
“Daniel?”
“I need your help.”
A pause.
“What happened?”
“I found something hidden in my office.”
“What kind of something?”
“I think it records audio.”
Another pause.
This one longer.
“Don’t touch it.”
My skin prickled.
“I already found it taped behind a photograph.”
“Is Vanessa there?”
I looked at her.
She was staring at me.
“Yes.”
Aaron’s voice changed.
“Get out of the house.”
“Why?”
“Daniel, listen to me carefully. Claire’s case was reopened six months ago.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“I wasn’t authorized to tell you.”
“Why was it reopened?”
Vanessa moved toward the front door.
I pointed at her.
“Stay.”
She ignored me.
Aaron said, “We received new evidence suggesting Claire’s crash may not have been an accident.”
Vanessa ran.
I lunged after her.
She threw open the front door.
May you like
A black SUV was already waiting at the curb.
And Michael Harris was sitting behind the wheel.
