Chapter 5
I stopped halfway up the staircase.
“Give her to me.”
Vanessa’s smile disappeared.
“You don’t get to command me anymore.”
Emily reached toward me.
“Daddy!”
Raymond tightened his arm around her.
“Quiet.”
“Don’t touch her,” I said.
He grinned.
“You’re in no position to negotiate.”
Michael groaned behind me.
Vanessa glanced at him.
“You always were weak.”
Michael pressed his good hand against his wounded shoulder.
“Vanessa, this is over.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“It’s finally paying off.”
I lifted the folder.
“You want this?”
“And the necklace.”
“They’re yours when Emily comes downstairs.”
Vanessa laughed.
“You think I’m stupid?”
“I think you know the building is surrounded.”
That was a bluff.
Police were nearby, but I had no idea if they had moved into position.
Vanessa’s eyes narrowed.
“You came alone.”
“I did.”
“Then why mention police?”
“Because I called them before I came.”
Raymond’s expression changed.
Vanessa did not.
“You wouldn’t risk Emily.”
“No. But you would.”
For one second, I saw doubt.
I used it.
“Rachel recorded everything.”
Vanessa’s face tightened.
“The memory card is in the folder.”
“You made copies.”
“Maybe.”
Raymond cursed.
Vanessa looked at him.
“Shut up.”
I continued.
“If Emily walks down these stairs, I give you the original.”
“And then?”
“You leave.”
“Daniel,” Michael whispered.
I ignored him.
Vanessa shook her head.
“You still don’t understand.”
“What?”
“This was never just about the recording.”
She looked at Michael.
“Tell him.”
Michael closed his eyes.
I turned toward him.
“Tell me what?”
He didn’t answer.
Vanessa laughed.
“Your brother didn’t steal six million dollars.”
“Yes, I did,” Michael said quickly.
Vanessa’s eyes flashed.
“Not all of it.”
Michael looked at me.
“Daniel—”
“How much?”
He swallowed.
“Two million.”
“Where did the other four go?”
Silence.
Vanessa answered.
“To your father.”
My breathing stopped.
“Our father died six years ago.”
“Exactly.”
I stared at Michael.
He looked defeated.
“Dad had gambling debts.”
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
“He hated gambling.”
“He hated losing.”
Michael lowered his voice.
“He borrowed from dangerous people. When they came after him, he used company money.”
“And you covered it.”
“I tried.”
“Rachel discovered it.”
“Yes.”
I remembered my father’s last year.
The sudden stress.
The private phone calls.
The heart attack we blamed on overwork.
Another lie.
“How does Vanessa fit into this?”
Michael looked at Raymond.
“Dad owed their father.”
Vanessa’s father.
The room seemed to tilt.
Raymond smiled.
“Our family gave your father money. Lots of it.”
Vanessa said, “When he died, the debt didn’t disappear.”
“So you targeted us.”
“I targeted a solution.”
“You blackmailed Rachel.”
“At first.”
“And then killed her.”
Raymond’s smile faded.
“She should have driven slower.”
Emily whimpered.
I felt rage so powerful it almost blinded me.
But I could not move recklessly.
Not with his arm around her.
I forced my voice steady.
“You ran her off the road.”
Raymond shrugged.
“She refused to listen.”
Vanessa snapped, “Stop talking.”
“What?” Raymond said. “He already knows.”
“Not everything.”
Michael looked up.
“What else is there?”
Vanessa stared at him.
Then she smiled.
“You really didn’t know?”
Michael’s face changed.
“What?”
Vanessa looked at me.
“Rachel survived the crash.”
I forgot how to breathe.
Michael whispered, “No.”
Vanessa nodded.
“For almost forty minutes.”
Every muscle in my body locked.
Raymond’s jaw tightened.
“Vanessa.”
She ignored him.
“A truck driver called emergency services. Raymond got there first.”
Michael looked horrified.
“You told me she died on impact.”
Vanessa shrugged.
“You were already falling apart.”
“You lied to me.”
“I protected you.”
“You murdered her.”
“So did you.”
Michael’s face crumpled.
I wanted answers.
I wanted to scream.
But Emily was still trapped.
“Enough,” I said.
Vanessa looked at me.
“Give me my daughter.”
“Give me the folder.”
“Emily first.”
Raymond suddenly dragged Emily backward.
She screamed.
I took another step.
Vanessa raised the gun.
“Stop!”
I froze.
Emily’s shoe fell off.
She cried my name.
Then something moved in the darkness behind Vanessa.
A shadow.
Fast.
Vanessa turned.
Maria slammed a metal pipe into Vanessa’s wrist.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Vanessa screamed.
The weapon fell.
Everything happened at once.
I ran.
Raymond released Emily and reached for the gun.
Michael threw himself against Raymond’s legs.
Raymond crashed down.
I reached Emily.
I pulled her into my arms.
“Daddy!”
“I’ve got you.”
Maria kicked the gun away.
Vanessa grabbed Maria’s hair.
Maria screamed.
I carried Emily toward the stairs.
Raymond punched Michael in the face and scrambled upright.
Police sirens erupted outside.
Vanessa froze.
Windows shattered downstairs.
“Police!”
“Drop your weapons!”
Raymond ran toward a side hallway.
Vanessa followed.
I descended with Emily pressed against my chest.
Bennett appeared with two officers.
“Emily!”
“She’s okay.”
Bennett pointed.
“Get them outside!”
Paramedics rushed to Michael.
I started toward the exit.
Then Emily grabbed my shirt.
“Daddy.”
“Yes?”
“Maria.”
I looked up.
Maria was gone.
She had been on the third floor.
So had Vanessa.
“Take Emily,” I told Bennett.
“No.”
“Maria saved her.”
“Daniel, the tactical team will handle it.”
A scream echoed from above.
Maria.
I handed Emily to an officer.
Bennett swore.
“Stay behind me.”
We moved upstairs with police.
Room after room.
Empty.
Then we reached an old ballroom.
The doors were open.
Maria stood near a broken window.
Vanessa held a shard of glass against her neck.
“Back up!” Vanessa screamed.
Officers raised their weapons.
Bennett spoke calmly.
“Vanessa, put the glass down.”
“No.”
“You’re surrounded.”
“You think I care?”
Maria was crying.
Vanessa’s hand shook.
“Daniel,” she said.
I stepped where she could see me.
“You ruined everything.”
“No. You did.”
“I could have given you everything.”
“You hurt my child.”
“She was always in the way.”
That sentence killed whatever remained of the woman I thought I had married.
“She’s four.”
“She’s Rachel’s ghost.”
Vanessa’s face twisted.
“Every time she looked at me, I saw Rachel judging me.”
“So you punished her.”
“I tried to make her strong.”
“You tried to make her afraid.”
Vanessa pulled Maria closer.
“Rachel wasn’t afraid enough.”
Bennett kept talking.
“Let Maria go.”
“Why?”
“She has nothing to do with this.”
“She interfered.”
Maria suddenly looked at me.
Her eyes shifted downward.
Vanessa didn’t notice.
Maria’s hand was near a rolling service cart.
I understood.
I gave the smallest nod.
Maria kicked the cart.
It crashed into Vanessa’s legs.
Vanessa lost balance.
Maria dropped.
Police rushed forward.
Vanessa swung the glass.
An officer tackled her.
The shard skidded away.
Within seconds, Vanessa was handcuffed.
She screamed at me.
“You think you won?”
I stared at her.
“My daughter is alive.”
“That’s all that matters.”
Vanessa laughed.
A terrible, breathless laugh.
“You still don’t know where Raymond went.”
Bennett’s radio crackled.
“Suspect fleeing east stairwell.”
Then another officer shouted.
“We found a vehicle downstairs.”
Bennett grabbed Vanessa.
“What vehicle?”
Vanessa smiled at me.
“Ask your brother.”
I went cold.
Michael had been taken toward the ambulance.
I ran downstairs.
Outside, paramedics were preparing to transport him.
“Michael!”
He opened his eyes.
“Daniel.”
“What vehicle?”
His face changed.
“What?”
“Vanessa said to ask you.”
Michael tried to sit up.
A paramedic pushed him down.
“No.”
“What is she talking about?”
His breathing quickened.
“Storage garage.”
“What storage garage?”
“Under the hotel.”
Bennett arrived behind me.
Michael looked at her.
“There’s a tunnel from the basement to an old parking structure.”
“How do you know?”
He looked ashamed.
“I used it four years ago.”
Bennett immediately radioed officers.
“Seal the eastern access roads!”
Then Michael grabbed my wrist.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“Raymond has another copy.”
“Of the recordings?”
“No.”
“Of what?”
Michael stared at me.
“Rachel’s video.”
I froze.
“What video?”
“She had a dashboard camera.”
My pulse hammered.
“The police report said there wasn’t one.”
“Raymond took it.”
“Why keep it?”
“Insurance.”
“Against Vanessa?”
“Against everyone.”
Bennett leaned closer.
“Where is it?”
Michael shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Raymond’s voice.
“You have something I want.”
“What?”
“My sister.”
Vanessa shouted from twenty feet away.
“Don’t listen to him!”
Raymond laughed.
“You have Vanessa.”
“You have nothing.”
“Oh, Daniel.”
His voice lowered.
“I have the video of your wife’s final forty minutes.”
My legs nearly gave out.
“You want to know what really happened to Rachel?”
I couldn’t speak.
Raymond continued.
“Bring Vanessa to me tomorrow.”
May you like
“Or?”
“Or the truth about Rachel dies with me.”
