Chapter 8: The Threat Against My Daughter
I didn't remember ending the call.
One second, I was holding the phone against my ear. The next, Detective Brooks was asking me to sit down while an officer photographed the screen.
The threat had been short, deliberate, and unmistakable.
Bring the original agreement.
Come to headquarters.
Or lose Sophie.
Emily stood beside me, trembling.
"They know you're here," she whispered.
I turned toward her.
"How could they know about Sophie?""
She looked toward the corridor.
"Because Victor doesn't work alone.""
Detective Brooks took charge immediately.
"Officer, I want the phone number preserved. Have our communications team begin tracing the call. Marcus, locate Mr. Bennett's daughter and keep her with a uniformed officer.""
I was already moving.
When we returned to the lobby, Sophie was sitting beside Melissa, drawing on the back of a hotel brochure.
She looked up and smiled.
"Daddy! Look. I made a picture of our hotel.""
The drawing showed a tall building with crooked windows and a yellow sun above the roof.
At the bottom, she'd written her name in purple crayon.
I knelt and pulled her into my arms.
She laughed.
"Daddy, you're squishing my picture!""
"I'm sorry, sweetheart.""
I held her a little longer than usual.
She noticed.
"Are you sad?""
I swallowed the lump in my throat.
"No, baby. I'm just happy you're here.""
Detective Brooks approached us.
"Mr. Bennett, we need to move your daughter to a secure location. We'll arrange a police escort.""
Sophie looked between us.
"Am I in trouble?""
"No," I said immediately.
"You haven't done anything wrong.""
"Then why do I need a police car?""
"Because Daddy has some work to do, and I want you somewhere safe while I do it.""
She considered that.
"Can Aunt Emily come?""
Emily had just entered the lobby with a paramedic. She was being evaluated before transport to the hospital, but she'd insisted on seeing Sophie.
When Sophie spotted her, she slid off the chair.
"Aunt Emily!""
Emily dropped to her knees.
For a moment, they simply stared at each other.
Then Sophie threw her arms around her.
"Mommy said you were in heaven.""
Emily's face crumpled.
She held Sophie tightly, tears running down her cheeks.
"Oh, sweetheart. I'm not in heaven. I'm right here.""
I felt something inside me break.
My late wife, Rachel, had adored Emily. After Rachel died two years earlier, Emily had become the person who helped Sophie through nightmares, birthday parties, and the difficult questions children ask when someone they love is gone.
Then Emily disappeared.
We had told Sophie that her aunt was somewhere far away and that we hoped she'd come home.
Eventually, Sophie had decided that heaven was the only explanation that made sense.
Now Emily was standing in front of her, alive.
I turned away briefly, struggling to compose myself.
Detective Brooks touched my shoulder.
"We'll take care of them. You need to decide how you want to proceed.""
I looked back at Sophie.
There was no decision to make.
"I want the people responsible identified, and I want my daughter protected. Everything else comes second.""
"Then don't go to headquarters tomorrow," she said.
"The threat is designed to get you into a controlled environment.""
"But if Victor needs my authorization, he may expose himself trying to obtain it.""
"Or he may have another plan.""
She was right.
The ownership transfer agreement had been prepared long before Emily disappeared. The fraudulent transactions had continued for months. Victor had threatened to destroy evidence the moment the investigation began.
This wasn't an impulsive scheme.
It was organized.
And if the final authorization was required tomorrow morning, the people behind it were running out of time.
I called Amanda.
She answered immediately.
"Daniel, I've been trying to reach you. Corporate security has found suspicious activity on the executive network.""
"Tell me.""
"Someone accessed your electronic signature credentials at 9:42 p.m. tonight. The login originated from an authorized corporate device.""
"Which device?""
"Olivia Grant's office computer.""
I closed my eyes.
"Can you lock down my credentials?""
"Already done. We've suspended electronic approvals pending verification.""
"Good. Nobody approves a transfer, payment, or ownership change without my direct authorization and independent legal review.""
"Understood.""
"Also, I want the board notified that a potential fraud investigation is underway. Don't circulate the transfer agreement yet.""
"Why not?""
"Because if Victor believes we don't know the full scope of the scheme, he may continue making mistakes.""
Amanda was quiet for a moment.
"Daniel, there's something else. Our internal auditor just found a series of payments to Northstar from properties in four different states.""
"How much?""
"Preliminary total: eleven point eight million dollars.""
I stared at the marble floor.
Eleven point eight million.
Money that should have paid employees, maintained rooms, improved facilities, and protected guests had been diverted into a company we didn't recognize.
"Freeze the payments," I said.
"We're working on it.""
"And Amanda?""
"Yes?""
"Do you trust Olivia?""
The pause was long enough to tell me she understood the question.
"I trusted her," Amanda finally replied.
"But I can't say that now.""
After we ended the call, Detective Brooks arranged for Sophie and Emily to be escorted to a secure medical facility.
Emily refused to leave until she had spoken privately with me.
"Daniel, Victor has a copy of something worse than that transfer agreement.""
"What?""
"A list of everyone who received money from Northstar.""
"Why is that worse?""
"Because some of them are public officials. Some are executives. And some are people who helped him cover up crimes.""
I stared at her.
"How do you know?""
"Before I disappeared, I copied part of the list. Victor found out and took my files. But I memorized several names.""
"Who?""
She glanced toward Detective Brooks, who was speaking to an officer across the lobby.
"I'll tell you when we can speak safely. Not here.""
I nodded.
As the police prepared to leave, I noticed a man standing outside the glass entrance.
He wore a dark coat and held a newspaper beneath one arm.
He wasn't looking at the hotel.
He was looking directly at Sophie.
When he noticed me watching, he turned and walked away.
I rushed toward the doors.
"Officer!""
A uniformed officer followed me outside, but the man had disappeared into the rain.
On the wet sidewalk lay a white envelope.
My name was printed across the front.
Inside was a photograph of Sophie leaving her preschool two days earlier.
On the back, someone had written a single sentence.
*Victor isn't the person you should be afraid of.*
Beneath it was a second name.
*MARTIN SHAW.*
My father's attorney.
The man supposedly dead for eleven months.
I looked at Detective Brooks as she stepped outside.
"He's alive," I said.
She studied the photograph, then the name.
"Who is Martin Shaw?""
"The man who witnessed my forged signature. The man who supposedly died last year.""
Detective Brooks' expression hardened.
"Then we need to find him.""
My phone vibrated again.
This time, it was an email from an unknown sender.
The subject line read: *THE REAL OWNER OF NORTHSTAR.*
I opened it.
There was one attachment.
A scanned corporate filing.
The registered owner of Northstar Hospitality Holdings wasn't Victor Hale.
It wasn't Olivia Grant.
It wasn't any executive at Bennett Grand Hotels.
May you like
The document named a single beneficiary.
And the beneficiary was my late wife, Rachel Bennett.
