Chapter 3
“Who sent that?” Emma asked.
I looked at the number again.
“I don’t know.”
Thomas reached for my phone.
I pulled it back.
“No.”
“I only want to see—”
“You saw enough.”
His hand dropped.
Emma leaned toward me.
“Can I?”
I showed her.
She read both messages.
Then she looked at Thomas.
“Who stole the money?”
Thomas’s mouth tightened.
“We don’t know that anyone did.”
I laughed.
“You just told me money went missing.”
“I said there were irregularities.”
“You said you thought Daniel stole it.”
“At the time.”
“And now?”
He looked at the door.
That told me everything.
“Now you’re not sure.”
Thomas took a breath.
“Years later, I had the records reviewed again.”
“Why?”
“Because Sarah was gone, and I needed to know whether I had made the right decision.”
The pain in his voice almost made me soften.
Almost.
“And?”
“There were problems with the original investigation.”
Emma frowned.
“What kind of problems?”
“Documents were missing.”
I stared at him.
“Convenient.”
“Yes.”
His answer surprised me.
Thomas leaned back.
“I’m not asking you to trust me, Maya. You shouldn’t. Not yet.”
“At least we agree on something.”
“But I am telling you I spent years trying to find out what happened.”
“To the money?”
“To your mother.”
The anger in me wavered.
He looked older than he had twenty minutes ago.
“Sarah called me once after she left.”
“When?”
“About four months later.”
I gripped the edge of the table.
“Was she pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“Did she tell you?”
“No.”
His eyes lowered.
“I heard it in her voice. She was crying. I asked if she was okay. She said she was fine.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her to come home.”
“That sounds reasonable.”
He looked at me.
“I also told her Daniel couldn’t come with her.”
There it was.
“So she hung up.”
“Yes.”
“And you never heard from her again?”
“Not directly.”
I caught the word.
“Directly?”
Thomas glanced at Emma.
Then at me.
“Rebecca heard from her.”
Emma’s head snapped up.
“What?”
I felt cold.
“When?”
“Three years later.”
The door opened before I could respond.
Rebecca walked in.
Kevin appeared behind her looking stressed.
“I told her you were in a private meeting,” he said.
Rebecca shut the door.
“I’m family.”
I stood.
“You texted me.”
She didn’t deny it.
Thomas rose too.
“Rebecca.”
“No.”
She pointed at him.
“You don’t get to tell half the story and make me look like the villain.”
“You threw a steak at her.”
“Tonight, yes. Twenty-two years ago is different.”
Emma looked disgusted.
“Mom, could you stop saying things that make you sound worse?”
Rebecca flinched.
“Emma.”
“No. I’m serious.”
Rebecca’s eyes softened for a second.
Then she looked at me.
“Sarah called me because she couldn’t call him.”
Thomas said, “I was never told what she said.”
“That was the point.”
My heart pounded.
“What did my mother want?”
Rebecca sat down.
For the first time all night, she looked tired rather than angry.
“She wanted help.”
“With what?”
“Daniel.”
Thomas moved closer.
“What about him?”
Rebecca’s eyes stayed on me.
“She said he had changed.”
I swallowed.
“How?”
“He was angry all the time. Paranoid. He thought your grandfather had people watching them.”
Thomas shook his head.
“I didn’t.”
“She believed you did.”
“I hired investigators after they vanished.”
Rebecca snapped toward him.
“Exactly.”
“To find them.”
“They didn’t know that.”
I interrupted.
“Did he hurt her?”
Rebecca went silent.
I hated that silence.
“Did my father hurt her?”
“She didn’t say he hit her.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Rebecca rubbed her forehead.
“She said he controlled the money. He checked her phone. He didn’t want her contacting anyone in Boston.”
I stared at the table.
I knew almost nothing about Daniel Carter.
Yet suddenly I could see the outline of a man I didn’t want to know.
“Did she have me then?”
“Yes.”
My chest tightened.
“She told you about me.”
Rebecca nodded.
“She said your name was Maya.”
Thomas looked devastated.
“You knew her name?”
Rebecca finally looked at him.
“Yes.”
His face went pale.
“You told me you didn’t.”
“I told you I didn’t know where Sarah was.”
“You knew I had a granddaughter named Maya.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Rebecca’s voice rose.
“Because Sarah begged me not to.”
Thomas stared at her.
“She thought you would take Maya.”
“What?”
“She thought you would use money, lawyers, whatever you had to use.”
“To do what?”
“Take her child away from Daniel.”
Thomas looked stunned.
“I would never take Sarah’s baby.”
“You tried to control her entire life.”
“I was trying to protect her.”
Rebecca laughed without humor.
“That sentence is the reason she ran.”
The room fell quiet.
I looked at Rebecca.
“What happened after that call?”
“She asked me for five thousand dollars.”
Thomas frowned.
“You gave it to her?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I wired it.”
“Where?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“New Hampshire.”
My breath caught.
My mother had told me I was born in New Hampshire.
“Manchester?”
Rebecca looked surprised.
“Yes.”
I nodded slowly.
“That’s where I was born.”
Thomas sat down heavily.
He looked like the information physically hurt him.
Rebecca continued.
“For about a year, Sarah called me every few months.”
“You were in contact with her for a year?”
“Sometimes.”
“And you never told him?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because she made me promise.”
I studied her.
“You hated him enough to keep that promise?”
Rebecca looked at Thomas.
“I was angry enough.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“But then Sarah stopped calling.”
I waited.
Rebecca’s voice dropped.
“About six months later, Daniel contacted me.”
My entire body tensed.
“My father called you?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“He said Sarah had left him.”
I stopped breathing.
“That’s impossible.”
“That’s what he said.”
“My mother raised me.”
“I know.”
“You just said he claimed she left.”
“He said she took you.”
I frowned.
“So he knew I was with her.”
“Yes.”
“What did he want?”
“Money.”
Thomas looked up sharply.
“How much?”
“Twenty thousand.”
“For what?”
Rebecca looked at me.
“To tell me where she was.”
The room went dead silent.
Emma whispered, “That’s disgusting.”
I stared at Rebecca.
“Did you pay him?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I didn’t trust him.”
Thomas stepped closer.
“You should have told me.”
“And what would you have done?”
“Found her.”
“You would have paid him.”
“Yes.”
“Exactly.”
Thomas looked furious.
“I don’t understand you.”
“You never did.”
I slapped my palm against the table.
“Stop!”
They both went silent.
“I don’t care which one of you hated the other more.”
My voice shook.
“I care about my mother.”
Rebecca looked away.
“Did you ever hear from Daniel again?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Two years later.”
“And?”
“He wanted more money.”
“For Sarah’s location?”
“No.”
Rebecca paused.
“For documents.”
“What documents?”
“Company records.”
Thomas looked confused.
“What records?”
“He said he had proof he didn’t steal from Collins Hospitality.”
Thomas moved closer.
“And you never told me?”
Rebecca’s voice became defensive.
“He wanted fifty thousand dollars.”
“I would have paid it.”
“That’s exactly why I didn’t tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought it was a scam.”
Thomas stared at her.
“And now?”
Rebecca’s face changed.
“I’m not sure.”
I looked between them.
“What happened to those records?”
Rebecca reached into her purse.
“I don’t know.”
Then she pulled out an envelope.
“But three days ago, I received this.”
Thomas froze.
On the front, in faded black ink, someone had written one name.
REBECCA.
No return address.
She put the envelope on the table.
“I thought it was junk.”
Emma stared at it.
“You opened it?”
“Of course.”
“What was inside?”
Rebecca removed a folded sheet of paper.
Her hands trembled.
She passed it to me.
The paper was a photocopy of an old bank statement.
Several transfers were highlighted.
The account belonged to Collins Hospitality.
The money had been moved into an outside account.
Each transfer had the same authorization initials.
D.C.
Daniel Carter.
My father.
My stomach dropped.
Then I saw a handwritten note at the bottom.
LOOK AT WHO APPROVED THE OVERRIDE.
I scanned the document again.
Beneath Daniel’s initials was another authorization code.
R.C.
Rebecca Collins.
I slowly looked up.
Emma did too.
Thomas’s face went blank.
Rebecca held up both hands.
“I didn’t do it.”
Thomas spoke quietly.
“Those are your initials.”
“I know what they look like.”
“You had override authority.”
“So did three other people.”
“Not with those initials.”
Rebecca stood.
“You think I stole from you?”
“I don’t know what to think.”
She laughed bitterly.
“There it is.”
Thomas stared at the page.
I looked at Rebecca.
“Why would someone send this now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why three days ago?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did anyone know you were coming here tonight?”
Rebecca went still.
Emma answered.
“My dad.”
Rebecca turned toward her.
“Emma.”
“What? He knew.”
I looked at Emma.
“Your father?”
“Mark.”
Rebecca’s husband.
Thomas frowned.
“Mark knew you were coming to this restaurant?”
Emma nodded.
“He made the reservation.”
Thomas’s expression changed.
Rebecca noticed.
“What?”
He looked at her.
“Why did Mark choose this location?”
She shrugged.
“He said he had a business dinner nearby afterward.”
Thomas stared at her.
“Business dinner with whom?”
Rebecca’s face lost color.
“I don’t know.”
Emma pulled out her phone.
“His calendar syncs with the family iPad.”
Rebecca looked alarmed.
“Emma, don’t.”
Too late.
Emma tapped the screen.
Then frowned.
“There’s no dinner.”
Rebecca’s jaw tightened.
“Maybe it wasn’t on his calendar.”
Emma scrolled.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“There’s an address.”
She turned the phone toward us.
Thomas looked.
Then swore under his breath.
I had never heard an eighty-year-old billionaire swear like that.
“What is it?” I asked.
He looked at me.
“That address used to belong to Daniel Carter.”
I couldn’t speak.
Rebecca grabbed the phone.
“No.”
Thomas pointed at the screen.
“I remember it.”
“No.”
“He lived there before he started working for me.”
Rebecca’s breathing quickened.
Emma whispered, “Mom?”
Rebecca shook her head.
“Mark doesn’t know Daniel.”
Thomas looked at her.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Because according to your daughter’s phone, your husband is meeting someone tonight at the house where Maya’s father used to live.”
Rebecca stared at the screen.
Then her own phone buzzed.
She pulled it out.
A message.
Unknown number.
Her hand began shaking.
“What does it say?” I asked.
Rebecca looked at me.
For the first time that night, she seemed truly terrified.
“He knows you found her.”
“Who?”
She swallowed.
May you like
Then read the message aloud.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE GIRL ALONE.
