Chapter 4
“Turn around.”
Marcus didn’t hesitate.
The SUV made a sharp turn at the next intersection.
Lily grabbed the seat.
“We’re not going home?”
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
I looked at Marcus.
He gave a tiny shake of his head.
Not in front of her.
“We’re going somewhere safer for a little while.”
“Our house isn’t safe?”
The question came quietly.
I hated that she had asked it.
“Our house is safe.”
“But?”
“But I want security to check something.”
Lily frowned.
“Because of Ava?”
“Maybe.”
She leaned back.
For several blocks, nobody spoke.
I watched Chicago slide past the window.
People were walking dogs.
Buying coffee.
Arguing over parking spaces.
Their Thursday afternoon continued normally.
Mine had changed shape completely in less than an hour.
Marcus rerouted us to my sister Claire’s condo near the lake.
Few people knew she owned it.
Even fewer knew Lily sometimes stayed there.
Meanwhile, my home security team searched every inch of our property.
The cut wire belonged to one exterior camera near the rear gate.
No forced entry.
No broken locks.
No footprints that immediately meant anything.
Still, someone had deliberately disabled the camera.
That was enough.
At Claire’s condo, Lily sat at the kitchen island while my sister made hot chocolate.
Claire was thirty-eight, four years younger than me, and one of the few people alive who didn’t care whether I owned ten companies or ten dollars.
She cared about exactly two things.
Family.
And whether I was being an idiot.
Today, she thought I was being an idiot.
“You need to tell Lily more.”
We were standing in the hallway.
“She’s nine.”
“She’s blind, Daniel. Not stupid.”
“I know that.”
“Then stop whispering every time she enters a room.”
“I’m trying not to scare her.”
Claire folded her arms.
“She can hear you trying not to scare her.”
I rubbed my forehead.
“This may involve someone targeting her.”
“Which is exactly why she needs enough information to recognize danger.”
I hated when Claire was right.
Mostly because she enjoyed it.
I walked back into the kitchen.
Lily was stirring marshmallows into her cocoa.
“Can we talk?”
She shrugged.
“We already are.”
Claire hid a smile.
I sat across from her.
“The man connected to Ava’s family may be connected to the bakery owner.”
Lily stopped stirring.
“The uncle?”
“Yes.”
“Did he hurt someone?”
“We don’t know.”
“Did he cut the camera?”
“We don’t know that either.”
She frowned.
“You don’t know a lot.”
“No.”
“Then why are you acting like you know something terrible happened?”
I exhaled.
“Because sometimes adults have to take precautions before they understand everything.”
She considered that.
“Like checking both ways before crossing even if you don’t hear a car?”
I smiled.
“Exactly.”
“Okay.”
Then she took a sip.
“What happens to Ava?”
That question caught me off guard.
“I don’t know.”
“Are you going to get her in trouble?”
“I’m going to find out what happened.”
“She might not know.”
“Know what?”
“That her uncle is bad.”
Her voice became defensive.
“She’s ten.”
I nodded.
“You’re right.”
“She might have just repeated something.”
“You’re right again.”
Claire leaned against the counter.
Lily pointed toward her.
“Aunt Claire is smiling, isn’t she?”
Claire laughed.
“Yes.”
“I can hear it.”
For the first time all afternoon, the room felt almost normal.
Then my phone rang.
Detective Elena Park.
I stepped into the living room.
“Tell me.”
“We found Trevor Miles.”
“Where?”
“Not where I expected.”
My stomach tightened.
“He’s in the hospital.”
“What happened?”
“Car accident last night.”
I frowned.
“Last night?”
“Single vehicle. He hit a guardrail near Cicero.”
“Condition?”
“Broken leg, concussion. He’s awake.”
“And?”
“He says he hasn’t spoken to Anthony Russo in a week.”
“That’s convenient.”
“We checked his phone records.”
Park paused.
“He appears to be telling the truth.”
I walked toward the window.
“Then why did Russo tell him to be at the bakery today?”
“That message was sent three days ago. Trevor says Russo offered him five hundred dollars to frighten someone.”
My grip tightened.
“Lily?”
“He claims Russo never gave him a name.”
“What was he supposed to do?”
“Stand near the bakery alley. When a girl came out alone, follow her for half a block.”
I closed my eyes.
“Why?”
“According to Trevor, Russo said he wanted to scare the girl’s father.”
“Did Trevor know the father was me?”
“He says no.”
I almost laughed.
“Do you believe him?”
“I believe records more than people. We’re checking.”
“Anything about the camera at my house?”
“Not yet.”
I looked back toward the kitchen.
Lily was laughing at something Claire said.
“What about Ava?”
Park sighed.
“We need to approach carefully.”
“She’s a child.”
“I know.”
“Her parents?”
“Trevor’s sister is her mother. Rebecca Miles.”
“Does Rebecca have any connection to Russo?”
“We’re looking.”
My second phone vibrated.
A message from Ethan.
URGENT. CALL ME.
I told Park I would speak to her soon.
Then called Ethan.
He answered on the first ring.
“Daniel, remember Russo’s lease?”
“Yes.”
“There’s a guarantor.”
“So?”
“The guarantor isn’t Russo.”
I frowned.
“Who is it?”
“Company called Lakeview Hospitality Holdings.”
“Never heard of it.”
“Neither had I.”
“And?”
“I traced it.”
His tone changed.
“It belongs to Victor Hale.”
I stopped moving.
For several seconds, I heard nothing but my own breathing.
“Say that again.”
“Victor Hale indirectly controls the company guaranteeing Russo’s lease.”
My past walked into the room.
Victor Hale.
A name I hadn’t said in nearly seven years.
A man I had once considered family.
A man I had helped send to prison.
Claire appeared in the doorway.
One look at my face and her smile vanished.
“Who?”
I covered the phone.
“Victor.”
She went white.
“No.”
I nodded.
Lily called from the kitchen.
“Who’s Victor?”
Neither of us answered.
“Dad?”
I walked farther from the kitchen.
Ethan continued.
“Victor was released eight months ago.”
“I know.”
“You knew?”
“My security team notified me.”
“And you didn’t mention it?”
“He had parole restrictions. He moved to Indiana. I was told he wanted nothing to do with Chicago.”
Claire gave me a look that could have cut glass.
Ethan said, “Apparently he has plenty to do with Chicago.”
“What exactly connects him to Russo?”
“The holding company owns interests in three restaurants and guarantees two commercial leases. Russo’s bakery is one.”
“Since when?”
“Four months ago.”
The timing hit me.
Lily said Ava started asking questions in spring.
Russo started tracking Lily around two months ago.
Victor’s company became involved four months ago.
My mouth went dry.
“What does Victor want?”
“You know him better than I do.”
Unfortunately, I did.
Victor and I had started Bennett-Hale Development when we were both twenty-six.
No money.
No connections.
Just ambition and one tiny office with a leaking ceiling.
For nine years, he was my closest friend.
Then I discovered he had been stealing from our company.
Not thousands.
Millions.
When I confronted him, he blamed me.
Said I had become arrogant.
Said the company should have belonged equally to us even though he had secretly sold part of his stake.
Then came the fraud investigation.
The trial.
The prison sentence.
And the final day in court, when Victor looked directly at me and said:
“You took everything from me. One day I’ll take something from you.”
At the time, I thought he meant money.
I was younger then.
And stupid.
“Daniel?”
Claire brought me back.
I ended the call.
“Victor is connected to the bakery.”
Claire’s face hardened.
“We take Lily out of Chicago.”
“No.”
“You’re kidding.”
“If Victor is behind this, running tells him he controls where we go.”
“Daniel, this is not a boardroom.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Her voice rose.
Lily appeared in the hallway.
Her cane tapped once against the floor.
“You’re fighting.”
Claire immediately softened.
“No, honey.”
“Yes, you are.”
I walked toward her.
She lifted her face toward me.
“Who is Victor?”
I looked at Claire.
Then at Lily.
No more whispering.
No more pretending.
“He used to be my business partner.”
“Was he your friend?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“He stole money.”
“From you?”
“From the company. From investors. From employees.”
“And you told the police?”
“Yes.”
“He went to prison?”
“Yes.”
Lily was silent.
“Does he hate you?”
Probably.
“Yes.”
“And now you think he knows Mr. Russo?”
“Yes.”
Her hands tightened around her cane.
“Does he hate me?”
That question hurt more than I expected.
“He doesn’t know you.”
“But he knows I’m yours.”
I crouched.
“That doesn’t mean he gets to make you part of something between him and me.”
“But he already did.”
I had no answer.
Because she was right.
Again.
Claire sat beside us.
“We’re going to keep you safe.”
Lily whispered, “Everybody keeps saying that.”
I understood what she meant.
Safe people didn’t need constant reminders that they were safe.
“Then I’ll stop saying it.”
She nodded.
My phone rang again.
This time, Marcus.
He was at my house.
“Daniel.”
“What did you find?”
“The camera wasn’t the only thing.”
My stomach twisted.
“What?”
“Someone left something inside the rear gate.”
“How did they get through?”
“Gate code.”
That was impossible.
The rear gate code had changed two days ago.
Only six people knew it.
Me.
Marcus.
Claire.
Rosa.
My house manager.
And Lily’s driver.
“What did they leave?”
Marcus was quiet.
“An envelope.”
“With what?”
“A photograph.”
I stared at the wall.
“Of?”
“Lily.”
My chest went cold.
“Where was it taken?”
“Outside her school.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
I closed my eyes.
“Anything written on it?”
“Yes.”
Marcus hesitated.
“Tell me.”
Three words.
THEN AND NOW.
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“We’re trying to figure it out.”
Then Claire grabbed my arm.
I looked at her.
She was staring toward the condo door.
Someone had knocked.
Three slow knocks.
Nobody should have known we were there.
Claire whispered, “Did you tell anyone we came here?”
“No.”
The knock came again.
Lily stood behind us.
Her face had gone pale.
I signaled Claire to take her into the bedroom.
Then I texted building security.
Marcus’s team had two men downstairs, but neither had reported anyone.
I approached the door without opening it.
“Who is it?”
Silence.
I looked through the peephole.
Nobody.
Then I saw something on the floor.
A white envelope had been pushed underneath the door.
My name was written across the front.
DANIEL.
I didn’t touch it.
Claire came closer.
“Don’t.”
“I’m not.”
We called security.
They arrived within seconds.
The hallway was empty.
Camera footage showed a delivery worker stepping off the elevator four minutes earlier.
Cap low.
Face partially hidden.
He left the envelope and walked to the stairwell.
Security searched the building.
He was gone.
Police arrived.
The envelope was photographed.
Opened with gloves.
Inside was another photograph.
This one was old.
Very old.
Twenty years old.
Two young men stood in front of a broken-down office building.
Me.
And Victor Hale.
We were twenty-six.
Smiling.
Dreaming.
On the back, one sentence had been written in black ink.
YOU FORGOT WHO BUILT YOUR LIFE WITH YOU.
Claire stared at the picture.
“So it is Victor.”
Detective Park shook her head.
“It suggests Victor.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Evidence.”
I looked at the photograph.
Something bothered me.
Not the message.
The picture itself.
I remembered that day.
It was the morning Victor and I signed the lease for our first office.
Only one other person had been there to take the photograph.
I turned it over again.
My hands went cold.
Park noticed.
“What?”
“This photo.”
“Yes?”
“Victor never had a copy.”
“How do you know?”
“Because it wasn’t taken with his camera.”
“Whose was it?”
I looked at Claire.
May you like
Her face slowly changed as she realized what I was about to say.
“Our father’s.”
