Chapter 8
I didn’t care about two hundred million dollars.
I didn’t care about the company.
I didn’t care about my father’s secrets.
I wanted my daughter.
“Give her the will.”
Blake shook his head.
“We use it to control the meeting.”
“She said come alone.”
“You won’t.”
“If she sees police—”
“She expects police.”
Michael spoke weakly.
“She expects betrayal.”
I looked at him.
“How do you know her so well?”
His face changed.
That was enough.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“Daniel—”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
He closed his eyes.
“I met her before you did.”
My stomach dropped.
“When?”
“After Dad died.”
“How long after?”
“Six months.”
I laughed without humor.
“So Mom knew. You knew. Everybody knew except me.”
“I didn’t know she was our sister at first.”
“Sounds familiar.”
“She used the name Vanessa Lane.”
“What did she want?”
“Information about Dad’s estate.”
“And you gave it to her?”
“No.”
He looked ashamed.
“At first, I dated her.”
I stared at him.
“You what?”
“It lasted three weeks.”
I backed away.
My family tree had become something out of a nightmare.
Michael rushed on.
“I ended it when Mom finally told me Dad had another daughter and showed me an old picture.”
“Did Vanessa know?”
“Yes.”
My disgust deepened.
“She dated both of us knowing?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To get close.”
Michael looked down.
“When I confronted her, she laughed. She said Dad had spent his life pretending she wasn’t family, so she didn’t owe the family anything.”
“And then you let her disappear?”
“I threatened to call police.”
“For what crime?”
“She had stolen estate files.”
“What happened?”
“She returned some of them.”
“Some?”
“The original will was already missing.”
I stared at him.
“So the will we found in storage—”
“Was the missing one.”
“Why was it there?”
“I hid it.”
My patience snapped.
“You?”
Michael nodded.
“I stole it back from Vanessa three years ago.”
“When?”
“The night before Emily died.”
Everything connected too fast.
“The hotel.”
“Yes.”
“You met Emily there and had the will.”
“She was going to give it to police with Ana’s evidence.”
“But she left.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you turn it in after she died?”
Michael’s eyes filled with shame.
“Because I panicked.”
“You panicked?”
“I knew my fingerprints were on everything. I knew I had met Emily secretly. I knew someone had used my company credentials to pay investigators. I thought I would look guilty.”
“You were more worried about yourself than my wife!”
“I know!”
His voice broke.
“I have lived with that every day.”
I wanted to hit him.
But he was already battered.
And Lily was still missing.
“Where did you hide the will?”
“Unit 318.”
“For three years?”
“Yes.”
“Why did Mom know about the unit?”
“I told her yesterday.”
My head hurt.
Every answer created another betrayal.
Blake interrupted.
“We have movement on the black SUV.”
I turned.
“Where?”
“Traffic camera picked it up twenty minutes ago near an abandoned private school outside Stamford.”
Michael’s eyes widened.
“Saint Vincent’s?”
Blake looked at him.
“You know it?”
“Our father funded it.”
My stomach tightened.
“Vanessa went there?”
Michael nodded slowly.
“For one year.”
Blake was already heading for the door.
“Let’s move.”
The old school had closed more than a decade earlier.
Most of the property had been sold.
The original administration building remained because of a property dispute.
Police established a perimeter half a mile away.
I saw the black Suburban parked behind the building.
“That’s it.”
Blake grabbed my arm.
“You stay here.”
“No.”
“Daniel.”
“She wants me.”
“That makes you useful alive, not charging through a door.”
My phone rang.
Vanessa.
“Hello?”
“You brought police.”
I looked around.
“How do you know?”
She laughed.
“Because you always need someone else to clean up your problems.”
I thought of Lily in the servant dress.
The words cut deep.
“Let me see Lily.”
“Walk toward the building.”
Blake shook his head.
I ignored him.
“I’m coming.”
“Alone.”
I started walking.
Police protested through the earpiece hidden beneath my collar.
Vanessa said, “Take out whatever they gave you.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“Your earpiece.”
My skin prickled.
She could see me.
I removed it.
“Drop your phone.”
“If I drop it, how do we talk?”
“You won’t need it.”
“Put Lily where I can see her.”
A window on the second floor opened.
Lily appeared.
My heart stopped.
Her hands were tied in front of her.
My mother sat beside her, blood dried along her forehead.
“Daddy!”
I ran toward the building.
A gunshot cracked.
The bullet hit the dirt several feet in front of me.
I froze.
Vanessa’s voice came through the phone.
“I said walk.”
I raised both hands.
“Okay.”
“You have the will?”
I held up the evidence envelope.
Police had given me a high-quality duplicate with a tracking strip hidden in the binding.
“Yes.”
“Come inside.”
The front door opened by itself.
I entered.
The building smelled damp.
A man searched me.
Former detective Harold Pierce.
I recognized him from old photographs.
“You.”
He smiled.
“Mr. Carter.”
“You covered up Emily’s complaint.”
“Keep walking.”
“Did you kill her?”
His smile vanished.
“Keep walking.”
He led me upstairs.
Vanessa stood in an old classroom.
Lily was tied to a chair.
My mother sat on the floor beside her.
Two other men guarded the windows.
“Daddy!”
Lily cried.
I moved toward her.
Pierce pressed a gun against my back.
“Stop.”
Vanessa wore jeans and a dark sweater.
No makeup.
No elegant smile.
For the first time, she looked like the person who had been hiding underneath.
“The will.”
“Release Lily first.”
Vanessa laughed.
“You’re negotiating?”
“Yes.”
“You’re in no position.”
“Then shoot me and lose the will.”
Her eyes narrowed.
I held the envelope over an old radiator.
“You know what happens if I drop it?”
Pierce moved.
I tightened my grip.
“Don’t.”
Vanessa raised a hand.
He stopped.
She looked at me almost proudly.
“There you are.”
“What?”
“The Carter I was waiting to meet.”
“I’m nothing like Dad.”
“That’s what everyone says until money is involved.”
“I don’t care about the money.”
“Then give me the will.”
“Untie Lily.”
Vanessa walked toward my daughter.
Lily recoiled.
“Don’t touch her.”
Vanessa smiled.
“Still ordering me around.”
“You tortured a five-year-old.”
“I taught her humility.”
“You were jealous of a child.”
That hit her.
Her face twisted.
“Jealous?”
“Yes.”
“You think this is about her?”
“You made her kneel at your feet because you couldn’t stand seeing a Carter child loved by her father.”
Vanessa slapped me.
Hard.
I tasted blood.
My mother shouted.
“Leave him alone!”
Vanessa spun.
“You don’t get to speak.”
My mother stared at her.
“I should have told the boys about you.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with rage.
“You erased me.”
“I was protecting them.”
“From what?”
“From Robert’s mistakes.”
“I was his daughter!”
“Yes.”
My mother’s voice softened.
“And you deserved better than what he did to you.”
Vanessa faltered.
For one second, I saw a wounded child.
Then it disappeared.
“But Daniel and Michael were children too,” my mother continued. “They didn’t steal your father.”
“Shut up.”
“They didn’t make him abandon you.”
“Shut up!”
“They are not responsible for his cruelty.”
Vanessa pulled a gun.
I moved instantly.
She pointed it at my mother.
Lily screamed.
“Grandma!”
“Vanessa,” I said.
She turned.
“Here.”
I held out the will.
“Take it.”
She smiled.
“That easy?”
“Yes.”
She reached for it.
I didn’t let go.
“Lily first.”
Vanessa stared at me.
Then she nodded to Pierce.
“Untie the girl.”
Pierce cut Lily’s restraints.
She ran.
I dropped the will and caught her.
She slammed into my chest.
“Daddy!”
I held her so tight she cried.
“I’m here.”
I kissed her hair again and again.
Vanessa grabbed the envelope.
She tore it open.
Her hands shook.
She unfolded the pages.
Then stopped.
“What is this?”
My heart sank.
“What?”
Her eyes lifted.
“This isn’t the original.”
Pierce ripped the document from her.
He inspected the seal.
“Tracking strip.”
Everything exploded.
Pierce grabbed Lily.
I punched him.
The gun fired.
My mother screamed.
Lily fell.
For one second, I thought she had been shot.
Then I saw Pierce dragging her backward.
I tackled him.
The gun slid across the floor.
Vanessa ran for it.
My mother kicked it under a desk.
One of the other men shouted.
Police sirens erupted outside.
Vanessa stared at me with pure hatred.
“You led them here.”
“You kidnapped my daughter.”
She grabbed Lily by the arm.
I lunged.
Then Pierce shouted.
“Everybody stop!”
He held another gun.
Pressed against my mother’s head.
The room froze.
Vanessa smiled again.
“Now we make the real choice.”
She grabbed Lily and pulled her toward the opposite side of the room.
Pierce dragged my mother toward the window.
Vanessa looked at me.
“Your daughter.”
Then at my mother.
“Or your mother.”
May you like
I stared at her.
She whispered, “You only get one.”
