Chapter 6
I called Claire before I reached the parking lot.
She answered on the first ring.
“Ethan?”
“Lock every door.”
“What happened?”
“Do it now.”
“Ethan—”
“Claire!”
Silence.
Then I heard the deadbolt turn through the phone.
“Done.”
“Where’s Maisie?”
“With Mom.”
“Keep her away from windows.”
“What happened?”
“Vanessa escaped.”
Claire inhaled sharply.
“What?”
“She may be coming for Maisie.”
“Oh my God.”
“I’m on my way.”
Detective Bell grabbed my shoulder.
“No, you’re not.”
I turned.
“That’s my daughter.”
“And officers are already going to your house.”
“I’m still going.”
“You showing up emotional and angry creates another problem.”
“I don’t care.”
“You should.”
I stepped closer.
“My wife may have been murdered. My daughter was abused under my roof. The woman responsible is free. Don’t ask me to stand here.”
Bell stared at me for a second.
Then he threw open the passenger door of his unmarked SUV.
“Get in.”
We drove fast.
Not reckless.
Fast enough that every red light felt personal.
I called Claire again.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
“Come on.”
Bell radioed patrol.
“Unit at Harris residence, status?”
Static.
Then:
“Two minutes out.”
I called my mother.
No answer.
My heart pounded.
“Faster.”
Bell didn’t respond.
I tried the security app on my phone.
The cameras were offline.
Every single one.
“No.”
“What?”
“Security cameras are down.”
Bell cursed.
“Could Vanessa disable them?”
“She knew the code.”
“Did you change it?”
“After the party.”
“Then someone else did it.”
My blood went cold.
We turned onto my street.
A patrol car was already parked outside.
Front door closed.
No obvious damage.
I jumped out before Bell fully stopped.
An officer tried to block me.
“Mr. Harris—”
“My daughter!”
“Sir, we’re clearing the home.”
Then I heard Maisie scream.
“Daddy!”
Every instinct overpowered every instruction.
I ran.
The scream came from the backyard.
I crossed the living room.
The sliding door stood open.
“Maisie!”
“Daddy!”
I burst outside.
Claire was kneeling beside the pool.
My mother stood frozen near the fence.
Maisie was in Claire’s arms.
Safe.
Crying.
I reached them.
“What happened?”
Claire pointed toward the side gate.
“She was here.”
“Vanessa?”
“No.”
I stopped.
“Who?”
My mother answered.
“Meredith.”
Dr. Meredith Lane.
The psychologist whose name appeared on the fabricated evaluation.
“She came to the door,” Claire said. “Said she was with child protective services.”
“What?”
“She had an ID badge.”
“Where is she?”
“She ran when Mom recognized her.”
I looked at my mother.
“You know Meredith too?”
She nodded.
“Her father used to bring her to your father’s office.”
Another lie from my childhood.
Another familiar stranger.
Bell came into the yard.
“Which way?”
Claire pointed.
“Through the gate.”
Officers ran.
I picked up Maisie.
She wrapped herself around me.
“She wanted Bunny.”
I froze.
“What?”
“She wanted Bunny.”
Claire nodded.
“That’s what scared me. Meredith came in claiming she needed to talk to Maisie. Then she saw the rabbit and tried to take it.”
I looked at Bell.
“She thinks the drive is still inside.”
Bell’s eyes narrowed.
“Or she doesn’t know we have it.”
My mother walked toward us.
“She said something else.”
“What?”
“She told Maisie she had a message from her mother.”
My stomach turned.
“What exactly?”
My mother looked at Maisie.
My daughter whispered it herself.
“Mommy wants Bunny back.”
Rage exploded through me.
They were using Emily.
Again.
I held Maisie tighter.
“You know Mommy would never send somebody to scare you.”
She nodded.
Bell’s phone rang.
He answered.
“Bell.”
His expression tightened.
“Where?”
He looked toward the street.
“Hold her.”
He handed the phone to me.
“This is security footage from a neighbor.”
A video opened.
Dr. Meredith Lane ran from my side gate toward a dark sedan.
The driver’s door opened.
She jumped inside.
The car pulled away.
For less than one second, the driver’s face turned toward the neighbor’s camera.
I recognized him.
Thomas Vale.
My father’s old lawyer.
Bell took the phone back.
“We have confirmation.”
“Confirmation of what?”
“Thomas is actively involved.”
“No kidding.”
“We can get warrants faster now.”
I stared at him.
“You knew he was dangerous.”
“We suspected.”
“You let us stay here.”
“We had surveillance.”
“And Meredith still walked through my front door.”
Bell’s jaw tightened.
“You’re right.”
I hadn’t expected that.
He continued.
“We underestimated how fast they’d move.”
I looked at Maisie.
“I’m done being underestimated.”
Bell arranged a protective location.
A house outside town.
Not mine.
Not my mother’s.
Not a hotel booked under my name.
For the next several hours, officers moved us quietly.
Maisie thought we were going on an adventure.
I let her believe it.
That evening, after she fell asleep, Bell arrived.
He brought the USB contents.
Not the physical drive.
Copies.
“We found something you need to see.”
My mother sat beside me.
Claire stayed upstairs with Maisie.
Bell opened a document.
“Emily traced Thomas Vale’s financial network. She believed your father discovered Thomas was laundering money through estate accounts.”
I stared at the names.
“Rebecca was involved?”
“At first.”
Adrian stood in the doorway.
I hadn’t known he was coming.
My mother stiffened.
Bell said, “He agreed to continue cooperating.”
Adrian sat across from us.
“My mother kept books for Thomas.”
“Not my father?”
“She worked for both, but Thomas controlled most of it.”
Bell continued.
“Your father apparently tried to pull out.”
“What happened?”
“According to Emily’s notes, he collected copies of transactions.”
“To expose Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“And then he died.”
Bell nodded.
“Two days before a scheduled meeting with a federal investigator.”
My mother covered her mouth.
I stared at her.
“You knew about a meeting?”
“No.”
“Did you know he was trying to expose someone?”
“He told me he had made mistakes.”
“What kind?”
“He wouldn’t say.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“My mother believed your father betrayed her.”
“Why?”
“Because Thomas told her he did.”
Bell nodded.
“Thomas seems to have spent years making Rebecca’s family believe the Harris family was responsible.”
I looked at Adrian.
“So Vanessa grew up believing my father destroyed her mother.”
“Yes.”
“And then she targeted me.”
“Yes.”
“But Thomas was actually responsible?”
Adrian looked sick.
“That’s what it looks like.”
I leaned back.
“Does Vanessa know?”
“I don’t think so.”
Bell shook his head.
“She might.”
“Then why work with him?”
“Money. Fear. Leverage. We don’t know.”
My phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
Bell saw it.
“Don’t answer.”
It rang again.
Then a text arrived.
A photograph.
My blood froze.
It showed the outside of the safe house.
Taken seconds ago.
Bell stood immediately.
“Everybody upstairs.”
Another message appeared.
I read it.
YOU HAVE SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO MY FAMILY.
Then another.
BRING THE RABBIT.
I looked toward Adrian.
His face had gone pale.
“What?”
He pointed at the wording.
“My family.”
“What about it?”
“That’s not Victoria.”
“How do you know?”
“She always says my mother.”
Bell looked at him.
“Who says ‘my family’?”
Adrian swallowed.
“Thomas.”
The lights went out.
Maisie screamed upstairs.
I was moving before Bell could stop me.
I took the steps two at a time.
“Maisie!”
Claire opened the bedroom door.
“She’s here!”
I grabbed my daughter.
A crashing sound came from downstairs.
Bell shouted.
“Police! Show your hands!”
Then came two loud bangs.
My mother screamed.
I carried Maisie into the bathroom and locked the door.
Claire pushed a dresser against it.
“Daddy,” Maisie sobbed.
“I’ve got you.”
Another bang.
Then silence.
My phone lit up.
No signal.
No power.
Nothing.
We waited.
Thirty seconds.
A minute.
Then somebody knocked on the bathroom door.
Three slow knocks.
“Ethan.”
My entire body froze.
It was Vanessa.
“Open the door.”
Maisie buried her face against me.
Vanessa’s voice came again.
“I’m not here to hurt her.”
I stared at the door.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
A pause.
Then she said something I never expected.
“Thomas is downstairs.”
I looked at Claire.
Vanessa continued.
“He followed me.”
“Why are you here?”
“To stop him.”
“You escaped police.”
“I escaped because Adrian warned me.”
I looked toward the door.
“What?”
“He sent a message through my attorney.”
Claire shook her head.
“Don’t trust her.”
Vanessa heard.
“You shouldn’t trust me.”
For once, I agreed.
Then she said, “But if Thomas gets Maisie, none of us leave this house alive.”
A gunshot exploded downstairs.
Vanessa slammed her hand against the bathroom door.
“Ethan!”
Maisie screamed.
And from somewhere below us, Thomas Vale called my name.
“Bring me the girl and the rabbit.”
I held my daughter tighter.
Then Thomas laughed.
“You’ve already lost one wife over this, Ethan.”
Everything inside me went still.
He had just confessed.
Not in a courtroom.
Not on a recording I could analyze later.
Inside the house.
Within earshot of Detective Bell.
I moved toward the door.
Claire grabbed me.
“No.”
Thomas shouted again.
“Emily should have minded her own business.”
Vanessa whispered through the door.
“Now do you understand?”
I did.
May you like
And for the first time since the engagement party, I realized Vanessa wasn’t the most dangerous person in my life.
She had only been standing between me and the man who was.
