Chapter 8
I grabbed Eli before Detective Alvarez finished speaking.
“Where are officers?”
“Already outside your house.”
I ran to the window.
Two police cruisers sat at the curb.
Another unmarked vehicle pulled in.
“Do not leave,” Alvarez said.
“I’m not.”
“Lock every interior door you can.”
I stared at Eli.
He was awake now.
Confused by my panic.
Marcus checked downstairs.
Windows.
Garage.
Back door.
Every room.
Officers entered and swept the property.
Nothing.
No Connor.
No unknown person.
Still, the words repeated in my mind.
Go get the baby.
Not hurt the baby.
Not scare Claire.
Get the baby.
“Why would he take Eli?” I asked.
Detective Alvarez answered from the phone.
“Leverage.”
“Against Vanessa?”
“Possibly.”
“Against Daniel?”
“Possibly.”
“Against me?”
“Yes.”
I hated every answer.
Rachel was taken to a hospital under police protection.
She had bruises.
A fractured finger.
Dehydration.
But she was alive.
She told police Connor had interrogated her for hours.
He wanted to know what videos she had.
Where copies were stored.
Who had seen them.
He believed she had recorded more than she actually had.
And he kept asking one strange question.
Did Claire know about the money?
“What money?” I asked.
Alvarez didn’t know.
Neither did Rachel.
Connor had never explained.
By dawn, police moved Eli and me to a secure location.
Marcus came too.
It was not a normal safe house.
Just an apartment owned by the city for protected witnesses and emergency cases.
No one knew the address except law enforcement.
I hated it immediately.
Not because it was ugly.
Because it meant this was real enough that hiding us seemed reasonable.
Eli crawled on a blanket while Marcus made terrible coffee.
I stared at my phone.
No messages from Daniel, because he legally couldn’t contact me.
But Stephanie called at eight.
“Daniel’s attorney wants police to know something.”
“What?”
“There is a life insurance policy.”
My stomach dropped.
“On me?”
“No.”
She paused.
“On Eli.”
I stopped breathing.
“What?”
“Daniel bought it.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“Why?”
“He says Vanessa suggested it.”
I felt physically sick.
“How much?”
“Five hundred thousand dollars.”
Marcus heard.
“What the hell?”
I sank onto the couch.
“Who is the beneficiary?”
“Daniel.”
Of course.
“And if Daniel dies?”
“Vanessa.”
The room went cold.
“Could Vanessa collect if Eli died?”
“Not directly while Daniel is alive.”
“Then why would Connor ask about money?”
“We don’t know.”
Stephanie continued.
“Daniel claims Vanessa told him child policies were smart financial planning.”
“Daniel is an idiot.”
“I’m not disagreeing.”
“How did Connor know about it?”
“That’s the question.”
I looked at Eli.
Five hundred thousand dollars.
My son had become a dollar figure in someone’s plans.
I wanted to scream.
Then Detective Alvarez called.
They had found Connor’s abandoned truck.
Inside were clothes.
Cash.
Two license plates.
And a notebook.
“What’s in it?”
“Addresses.”
“Mine?”
“Yes.”
“Daniel’s?”
“Yes.”
“Rachel’s?”
“Yes.”
Several storage units were listed too.
Police were obtaining warrants.
By noon, one unit had been opened.
Inside they found equipment.
Cameras.
GPS trackers.
Fake IDs.
Burner phones.
Printed photographs.
And boxes of documents stolen from Daniel’s office.
“What kind of documents?”
Detective Alvarez sounded tired.
“Financial records.”
“The money?”
“Maybe.”
Daniel’s company had been struggling.
I knew that.
He ran a small commercial development firm.
Last year, two projects collapsed.
During the divorce, he claimed his finances were tight.
But Connor’s storage unit contained bank records showing transfers I had never seen.
Large ones.
From Daniel’s company.
To a consulting business owned by Connor.
“How large?”
“Over two hundred thousand dollars.”
My jaw dropped.
“Daniel paid him?”
“Over eighteen months.”
“That started before Vanessa.”
“Yes.”
This changed something.
Connor wasn’t just Vanessa’s hired stalker.
He had been financially tied to Daniel long before.
“What was Daniel paying him for?”
“Daniel says consulting.”
“Do you believe that?”
“We’re verifying.”
“Does Daniel?”
“What?”
“Does Daniel know Connor kidnapped Rachel?”
“He says no.”
“Does he know where Connor is?”
“He says no.”
I rubbed my forehead.
Everyone said no.
Everyone knew nothing.
Yet somehow my son had been drugged, pushed down stairs, insured, watched, and targeted.
Rachel was kidnapped.
My house was bugged.
And Connor had been receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“I need to understand something,” I said.
“What?”
“Why did Daniel’s own friend agree to help Vanessa?”
Alvarez paused.
“Rachel gave us a possible answer.”
“What?”
“Connor and Vanessa knew each other before Vanessa met Daniel.”
I froze.
“What?”
“How long?”
“Several years.”
“No.”
“We found photographs.”
My heart pounded.
“Together?”
“Yes.”
“Romantically?”
“Unknown.”
I sat back.
Every assumption I had made rearranged itself.
“What if Vanessa didn’t meet Daniel by accident?”
“That’s now part of the investigation.”
I stared at the wall.
Daniel had believed he chose Vanessa.
What if he had been chosen?
The affair.
The custody battle.
The surveillance.
The money.
The insurance policy.
It began to look less like a jealous woman losing control.
More like a plan.
“What did Connor want from Daniel?”
“Money is one possibility.”
“Vanessa?”
“Maybe access.”
“To what?”
“We don’t know yet.”
That phrase again.
Hours later, police found something in the second storage unit that finally answered part of it.
A copy of Daniel’s company partnership agreement.
An unsigned power of attorney.
A fake version of Daniel’s signature.
And documents showing an attempt to transfer ownership of one development property.
To a shell company.
That shell company traced back to Connor.
My head spun.
“So this is fraud.”
“At least partly.”
“And Vanessa?”
“Her name appears on communications connected to the shell company.”
I stared at Marcus.
He had heard the call on speaker.
“She was robbing Daniel?”
“Possibly.”
Marcus laughed without humor.
“Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”
I glared at him.
“What? He terrorized you.”
“He’s still Eli’s father.”
“That didn’t seem to bother him when he was helping scare Eli’s mother.”
I didn’t answer.
Because he was right.
That afternoon, Detective Alvarez came to the apartment.
She brought a laptop.
“We recovered a video from Connor’s storage unit.”
“What kind?”
“Security footage.”
“From where?”
“Daniel’s office.”
She turned the screen toward me.
The date was eight months earlier.
Two months before I discovered Daniel’s affair.
Daniel sat at his desk.
Connor sat across from him.
They were arguing.
“You said this investment was safe,” Daniel said.
Connor leaned forward.
“It is.”
“I lost eighty grand.”
“Temporarily.”
“My wife is pregnant.”
I felt my chest tighten.
Daniel rubbed his face.
“I can’t keep doing this.”
Connor’s expression hardened.
“You’re the one who wanted fast money.”
“I wanted enough to save the company.”
“And I’m helping you.”
“No. You’re burying me.”
Connor smiled.
“Then maybe you need someone who understands risk.”
Daniel looked up.
“Meaning?”
“A partner.”
“I already have partners.”
Connor laughed.
“Not in business.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“What are you talking about?”
Connor leaned back.
“There’s someone you should meet.”
My skin prickled.
The video ended.
I stared at Alvarez.
“Vanessa.”
“We believe so.”
Daniel’s affair had not simply happened.
Connor introduced them.
Why?
To control Daniel?
To distract him?
To gain access to his house?
His files?
His accounts?
I thought of Vanessa moving into my former home with shocking speed.
Taking over schedules.
Passwords.
Mail.
Household staff.
She wasn’t just replacing me.
She was positioning herself.
“Daniel was the target,” I whispered.
“Initially, maybe.”
“Then why me?”
Alvarez looked at me.
“Because you became a threat.”
“To what?”
“Daniel may have been easier to manipulate while separated from you.”
I thought back to the final months of our marriage.
Daniel had become anxious.
Secretive.
Constantly angry.
He blamed money.
Then blamed me.
Then Vanessa appeared.
What if Connor had used every weakness Daniel already had?
Money.
Ego.
Fear.
Then provided Vanessa at exactly the right moment.
I almost felt sorry for Daniel.
Almost.
Then I remembered the note under my windshield.
He had still agreed to terrorize me.
Manipulated people could still make choices.
He had made his.
Detective Alvarez closed the laptop.
“We also recovered texts between Connor and Vanessa.”
“About me?”
“Yes.”
She hesitated.
“What?”
“One is from the week you filed for divorce.”
I waited.
“Connor wrote, ‘Once Claire is gone, Daniel signs anything you put in front of him.’”
My throat tightened.
“And Vanessa?”
“She replied, ‘She won’t go quietly.’”
“What did Connor say?”
Alvarez looked at me.
“He said, ‘Then make it loud.’”
The safe apartment suddenly felt too small.
“Is that why everything escalated?”
“We think so.”
Then Alvarez’s phone rang.
She answered.
Her posture changed.
“When?”
She stood.
“Do not engage without backup.”
My heart began pounding.
She hung up.
“What happened?”
“Connor was spotted.”
“Where?”
She looked at me.
“Outside the county jail.”
“Why would he go there?”
“We don’t know.”
“Vanessa?”
“Possibly.”
Then her phone buzzed with a photograph from an officer.
She showed it to me.
Connor stood across the street from the jail wearing a baseball cap.
His hand was near his face.
Talking on a phone.
Behind him was a dark sedan.
The license plate was partially visible.
Marcus leaned closer.
“Can you trace it?”
“They are.”
Alvarez’s phone buzzed again.
She read the message.
Her expression hardened.
“What?”
“The vehicle belongs to Daniel’s mother.”
My blood went cold.
May you like
“Linda?”
And suddenly the list of people I could trust became one name shorter.
