Chapter 8
Police arrested Robert before he reached the hospital parking garage.
He didn’t resist.
That frightened me more than if he had run.
He simply handed an officer his phone and said, “This is a misunderstanding.”
I met Bennett in a private hospital conference room.
Emily had been moved to a secure pediatric floor.
Maria stayed with her.
Two uniformed officers stood outside.
I wanted to be with my daughter.
But every threat was circling around my family.
I needed to understand why.
Robert sat in an interrogation room downtown.
His attorney was already on the way.
Bennett showed me the contents of his phone.
Messages with Raymond.
Recent ones.
One sent less than an hour earlier.
KEEP THE GIRL WHERE SHE IS. DANIEL WILL COME TO US.
My hands shook.
“He was helping Raymond.”
“Yes.”
Another message.
Vanessa cannot talk. If she turns on us, everything collapses.
I looked up.
“Is Vanessa in danger?”
“She’s in protective custody.”
“Does she know?”
“Not yet.”
I laughed bitterly.
“For once, I need Vanessa alive.”
“We do too.”
Bennett swiped again.
A photograph showed documents on Robert’s desk.
Corporate ownership records.
Trust accounts.
My father’s old companies.
“What is he trying to protect?”
“We think the theft is only part of it.”
“What else?”
“Control.”
“Of Mercer Industries?”
She nodded.
“If you died, who controls your voting shares?”
I already knew.
“Emily’s trust.”
“And if Emily is a minor?”
“Her guardian votes through the trust.”
“Vanessa.”
“Yes.”
“And if Vanessa were arrested or deemed unfit?”
I thought.
“Backup trustee.”
“Who?”
My stomach dropped.
“Robert.”
Bennett nodded.
There it was.
A chain.
If I died, Emily inherited.
If Emily was controlled by Vanessa, Vanessa gained enormous influence.
If Vanessa went down, Robert took control.
Either way, Robert could eventually dominate the company.
“What about Michael?”
“His shares are smaller.”
I stared through the glass.
“My family built a murder plan around board votes.”
“Money makes people do ugly things.”
“This isn’t money anymore.”
“No.”
“It’s power.”
At noon, Vanessa requested to speak with me.
Bennett advised against it.
I insisted.
We met through glass at the detention center.
Vanessa wore gray jail clothes.
No makeup.
No jewelry.
No expensive shoes.
She looked strangely ordinary.
She picked up the phone.
I did the same.
“You look terrible,” she said.
“You abused my daughter.”
Her mouth tightened.
“You hit me.”
“And I’ll answer for that.”
She hadn’t expected that.
I continued.
“But you’re answering for what you did to Emily.”
“I never meant to seriously hurt her.”
“You put your shoe on her hand.”
“She was snooping.”
“She found evidence.”
“She had no business in your office.”
“She lives there.”
Vanessa leaned closer.
“Do you want to argue about parenting, or do you want Raymond?”
“Talk.”
“My brother won’t stop.”
“Why?”
“Because Robert will kill him if he does.”
“Robert is in custody.”
Vanessa froze.
“What?”
“Police arrested him at the hospital.”
For the first time, I saw genuine fear.
“You’re lying.”
“No.”
She looked away.
“Then Raymond is in more danger than ever.”
“Why?”
“Robert has people.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know all of them.”
“You’re asking me to save your brother?”
“I’m asking you to understand that Raymond has evidence.”
“Rachel’s video?”
“More than that.”
“What?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Records from your father.”
“What records?”
“Payments.”
“To whom?”
“Judges. Contractors. Politicians. Company executives.”
I stared at her.
“Robert ran it?”
“Your father started it.”
“And you knew?”
“Enough.”
“Why marry me?”
She laughed softly.
“You really want that answer?”
“Yes.”
“At first? Access.”
I expected it.
“Then?”
Her eyes changed.
“For a while, I actually loved you.”
I felt nothing.
“You don’t abuse the child of someone you love.”
“She never accepted me.”
“She was three.”
“She looked at me like Rachel did.”
“You were jealous of a toddler.”
“I was angry.”
“You were cruel.”
Vanessa pressed her lips together.
“I know.”
Those two words were almost worse than excuses.
“You know?”
“Yes.”
“Then why?”
“Because hurting someone smaller than me made me feel like I still controlled something.”
I stared at her.
She didn’t look away.
There was no excuse.
No attempt to call it discipline now.
Just an ugly truth.
“I hope you remember saying that.”
“I will.”
“Where is Raymond?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where would he go?”
“Somewhere Robert wouldn’t expect.”
“Where?”
She thought.
“Rachel’s old lake house.”
I stiffened.
Rachel’s parents owned a cabin outside town.
It had been empty since her mother died.
“How does Raymond know about it?”
“He followed Rachel there years ago.”
Bennett heard through the recording system.
Police teams mobilized immediately.
Vanessa grabbed the phone tighter.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Raymond isn’t the one who sent you the hospital photograph.”
I stared at her.
“How do you know?”
“He hates threats involving children.”
I almost laughed.
“He kidnapped Emily.”
“Because I forced him.”
“That doesn’t make him decent.”
“No. But the wording isn’t his.”
“Then whose?”
“Robert’s.”
“He was already heading to the hospital.”
“Exactly.”
“What was he going to do?”
Vanessa went pale.
“I think he planned to kill Emily.”
My grip tightened.
“You think?”
“If Emily died while you were alive, the trust provisions changed.”
“How?”
“Some shares revert to the Mercer family foundation.”
“Controlled by Robert.”
I felt sick.
“So everyone had different plans.”
“Robert wanted control.”
“Raymond wanted money.”
“Yes.”
“And you?”
Vanessa looked at me.
“I wanted freedom.”
“You had freedom.”
“No. I had Raymond. Robert. Your father’s debt. A life built on secrets.”
“You could have walked away.”
She shook her head.
“No one walks away from Robert.”
“Rachel tried.”
“Yes.”
“And you helped destroy her.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
I put the phone down.
She hit the glass.
“Daniel!”
I picked it up again.
“What?”
“If Raymond has the ledger, Robert’s people will hunt him.”
“Why should I care?”
“Because the ledger proves who paid Raymond to hit Rachel’s car.”
“Robert?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.”
I frowned.
“You said my father arranged it.”
“Your father paid for surveillance.”
“What?”
“He wanted Rachel frightened. He wanted her investigation stopped.”
“But the video—Raymond said Dad paid for the first plan.”
“The first plan was intimidation.”
“Then who upgraded it to murder?”
Vanessa looked terrified.
“I never saw the name.”
“Who did?”
“Raymond.”
“Who else?”
“Michael.”
My chest tightened.
“Michael knows?”
“He knew after Rachel died.”
“And never told me.”
“He couldn’t.”
“Why?”
Vanessa whispered.
“Because the person who ordered Rachel killed is the same person Michael has been protecting for four years.”
I thought of his wife.
His children.
My mother.
Robert.
“Who?”
Vanessa leaned close to the glass.
“Ask Michael why his wife received two million dollars the week after Rachel’s funeral.”
I froze.
Michael’s wife.
Claire.
The mother of my nephews.
A woman Rachel had considered her closest friend.
I left without saying another word.
At the hospital, Michael was awake.
Claire sat beside him.
She rose when I entered.
“Daniel.”
I stared at her.
“Two million dollars.”
Her face emptied.
Michael closed his eyes.
Claire whispered, “What?”
“The week after Rachel died.”
She stepped backward.
“Daniel—”
“Where did it come from?”
Michael said, “Leave her out of this.”
I turned on him.
“That means Vanessa was right.”
Claire began crying.
“I didn’t kill Rachel.”
“I didn’t ask that.”
“You’re thinking it.”
“Where did the money come from?”
She looked at Michael.
He shook his head.
That told me everything.
“Tell me.”
Claire’s voice broke.
“Your uncle.”
“Robert?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Michael shouted, “Stop!”
Claire flinched.
I stared at him.
“You knew.”
He covered his face.
Claire whispered, “Robert paid me because I introduced Vanessa to Rachel.”
The room went silent.
“What?”
“I didn’t know what Vanessa planned.”
“You introduced them?”
“She said she had evidence Michael was stealing.”
“You knew Michael was stealing?”
Claire cried harder.
“Yes.”
“And instead of telling me?”
“I was trying to protect my husband.”
“Everyone keeps protecting someone.”
I stepped closer.
“Who protected Rachel?”
Claire looked destroyed.
“No one.”
My phone rang.
Detective Bennett.
“We found the lake house.”
“Raymond?”
“Yes.”
“Alive?”
“For now.”
“What does that mean?”
“He’s barricaded inside.”
“Does he have the ledger?”
“We think so.”
May you like
Then Bennett lowered her voice.
“And he says he’ll surrender only to you.”
