Chapter 3
I stared at my phone.
Daniel reached for it.
“What did he say?”
I stepped away before he could take it.
“He told me to get Lily out of this house tonight.”
Daniel’s face changed instantly.
“Pack a bag.”
I almost argued.
Then I remembered Vanessa’s foot striking Lily.
I remembered the syringe.
I remembered the mechanic saying Daniel’s brakes had been cut.
“Where do we go?”
“Not a hotel.”
“Why?”
“Marcus can track our cards.”
The fact that Daniel answered so quickly frightened me.
“How long have you been preparing for this?”
He looked away.
“Long enough.”
That answer made me furious all over again.
But Lily came first.
I went upstairs and packed quickly.
Clothes.
Medication.
Her favorite stuffed rabbit.
School tablet.
Birth certificates and passports from the fireproof safe.
When I came back down, Daniel had changed clothes and was standing beside the kitchen counter.
He looked exhausted.
“You can’t walk very far.”
“I don’t need to.”
“What are we doing?”
“I have a car Marcus doesn’t know about.”
I stared at him.
“You have a secret car?”
“It’s registered to the company’s legal department.”
“You’ve really built an entire second life behind my back.”
His face tightened.
“I know how this looks.”
“It looks exactly like what it is.”
“We can fight later.”
“We will.”
“I know.”
Lily came downstairs holding her rabbit.
“Are we going somewhere?”
I knelt in front of her.
“We’re having an adventure.”
“Is Vanessa coming?”
“No.”
Her shoulders relaxed.
That alone told me leaving was the right decision.
Daniel called someone named Owen.
I recognized the name.
Owen Mercer had been Daniel’s college roommate and later became his attorney.
They had stopped seeing each other regularly after Daniel joined the family company.
At least that was what I had believed.
Twenty minutes later, a dark SUV stopped near the side entrance.
Owen came inside.
The moment he saw Daniel standing, his expression barely changed.
“You pushed it too hard.”
I looked between them.
“You knew?”
Owen sighed.
Daniel said, “Don’t.”
“No,” I snapped. “Apparently everyone gets to know when my husband learns to walk except his wife.”
Owen rubbed his forehead.
“I told him to tell you.”
“Thank you. That helps enormously.”
Daniel looked ashamed.
Owen turned serious.
“Police took Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
“Did she make any phone calls before they took her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then we assume Marcus knows.”
“Why?”
Owen looked at Daniel.
Daniel nodded.
Owen answered.
“Because Vanessa and Marcus have exchanged more than three hundred calls in eight months.”
My stomach dropped.
“You have proof?”
“Phone records obtained through a corporate investigation.”
“Why is a corporate lawyer investigating my husband’s caregiver?”
“Because the money paying Vanessa doesn’t come from Daniel’s household account.”
I waited.
Owen continued.
“It comes from a consulting company owned by Marcus.”
I looked at Daniel.
“And you still let her stay?”
Daniel’s voice was low.
“We couldn’t prove what she was doing.”
“She kicked Lily.”
His eyes closed.
“I know.”
“You don’t get to say you know.”
He opened them again.
Pain filled his face.
“I made the wrong decision.”
That was the first thing he had said all night that sounded honest.
Owen drove us to a small house nearly forty minutes away.
It belonged to his sister, who was overseas.
No one in Daniel’s family knew about it.
When we arrived, Lily fell asleep almost immediately.
I carried her inside while Daniel leaned heavily on Owen.
Seeing him struggle should have made me sympathetic.
Instead, all I could think was that he had hidden his recovery from me.
After Lily was settled, the three of us sat around the kitchen table.
Owen opened his laptop.
“Daniel, show her everything.”
Daniel hesitated.
I stared at him.
“No more secrets.”
He nodded.
Owen rotated the screen.
The first document was a photograph of Daniel’s wrecked car.
Then another.
Then an inspection report.
I read the line twice.
Evidence of deliberate damage to hydraulic brake line.
My hands went cold.
“The official police report didn’t say this.”
“No,” Daniel said.
“Why?”
“The mechanic changed his statement before the report was finalized.”
“The man who called me?”
“Probably.”
“Why did he call now?”
“I don’t know.”
Owen clicked another folder.
Bank transfers appeared.
Payments from a company called Westlake Advisory to Vanessa Reed.
Monthly.
Large amounts.
“What was Vanessa supposed to be consulting on?”
“Nothing,” Owen said.
“Westlake is Marcus’s?”
“Indirectly. Shell company.”
I looked at Daniel.
“Why would Marcus want you disabled instead of dead?”
Owen and Daniel exchanged a glance.
That glance told me I had asked the right question.
“What?”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Our grandfather’s trust contains a clause. If I die before Lily turns twenty-five, my voting shares don’t go to Marcus.”
“Where do they go?”
“To Lily.”
I stared at him.
“Then killing you would make Lily powerful.”
“Eventually.”
“But if you’re alive and legally incapacitated…”
“Marcus and Mom control the shares as trustees.”
My mouth went dry.
“This is about the company.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
Daniel looked at me.
“There’s more.”
Of course there was.
“There’s always more.”
Owen opened another document.
A board resolution.
I didn’t understand most of the legal language.
But I understood the date.
Two weeks after Daniel’s accident.
“What is this?”
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“Marcus authorized the sale of three warehouses owned by Caldwell Holdings.”
“So?”
“They were worth around ninety million dollars.”
I stared.
“He sold them for forty-eight.”
“To who?”
“A private investment company.”
Owen said, “One we believe Marcus secretly controls.”
I sat back.
“So he’s stealing from his own family company.”
“Potentially hundreds of millions,” Daniel said.
“And you were the person who could stop him.”
“Yes.”
The picture became terrifyingly clear.
Daniel discovers suspicious activity.
Daniel crashes.
Daniel becomes disabled.
Marcus takes control.
Vanessa arrives.
Daniel stays weak.
“How did Vanessa enter our lives?”
Daniel looked sick.
“Mom recommended the agency.”
I stopped.
“Your mother.”
“She said Marcus had found a highly rated private caregiver through a friend.”
I remembered Evelyn standing in our living room.
Poor Daniel needs professional care.
You can’t do everything yourself.
She had made me feel selfish for hesitating.
I looked at Daniel.
“Do you think Evelyn is involved?”
“I don’t know.”
“Lily told her.”
“I know.”
“She ignored her.”
“I know.”
Owen interrupted.
“We shouldn’t assume anything yet.”
I looked at him.
“A woman was drugging my husband and kicked my six-year-old daughter. I’m done giving people the benefit of the doubt.”
My phone rang again.
Unknown number.
We all froze.
I answered and put it on speaker.
The mechanic’s voice came through.
“Are you alone?”
“No.”
A pause.
“Is Daniel with you?”
“Yes.”
Daniel leaned toward the phone.
“This is Daniel Caldwell. What’s your name?”
Another pause.
“Tom Reeves.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Mr. Reeves, did someone pay you to change your inspection?”
“No.”
“Threaten you?”
Silence.
Then Tom exhaled.
“My son had just started college. Somebody sent me photographs of him leaving his dorm.”
My stomach turned.
“They threatened your son?”
“They didn’t have to say it.”
“Who?”
“I never saw him before. He came to my shop in a suit.”
“Name?”
“He didn’t give one.”
Daniel said, “Could you identify him?”
“Yes.”
Owen started typing.
Tom continued.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“I kept the original part.”
Daniel went still.
“The brake line?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew one day somebody would need it.”
“Where is it?”
“My shop.”
Owen shook his head.
“Don’t go there.”
Tom heard him.
“I already moved it.”
“Where?”
“I’ll only tell Daniel in person.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why?”
“Because somebody came to my house tonight.”
I felt Lily’s sleeping weight upstairs as if I were holding her again.
Tom’s voice trembled.
“They knew I called your wife.”
The line disconnected.
Daniel immediately called back.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Owen stood.
“We need police involvement now.”
Daniel shook his head.
“We already have police involvement.”
“Then federal investigators.”
“Not until we know who is compromised.”
I slammed my hand onto the table.
Both men looked at me.
“I am done listening to the two of you talk like this is a board meeting.”
Daniel stared at me.
“A man is being threatened because of you. Our daughter was attacked because of you. Somebody tried to destroy our family, and you keep acting like you can control every move.”
“I’m trying to keep you alive.”
“You kept me uninformed.”
“I was scared you’d confront Marcus.”
“I would have.”
“Exactly.”
I stood.
“And maybe if I had, Vanessa wouldn’t have been alone with Lily today.”
Daniel flinched.
I immediately regretted the cruelty.
But I didn’t take it back.
He whispered, “You’re right.”
The room went quiet.
Then Owen’s phone buzzed.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed.
“What?”
“Vanessa made bail.”
I stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“She was arrested for assault and possible medication tampering. The lab hasn’t identified the syringe contents yet. Marcus sent an attorney.”
Of course he did.
Daniel stood too quickly.
His knee buckled.
He grabbed the table.
I moved instinctively toward him.
Then stopped.
He noticed.
Something painful passed across his face.
Owen said, “There’s more.”
“What?”
“Vanessa told police you asked her to sedate Daniel.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“What?”
“She says you were overwhelmed by caring for him and wanted him kept calm.”
Daniel’s voice turned deadly.
“That’s a lie.”
Owen looked at me.
“She also says you’ve been angry about Daniel’s recovery being slower than expected.”
I laughed in disbelief.
“She’s blaming me?”
“She’s creating another story.”
“For what?”
Owen answered quietly.
“To make you look like the person who wanted Daniel helpless.”
My phone buzzed.
A message appeared from an unknown number.
There was a photograph attached.
I opened it.
It was me.
Standing in our kitchen.
Taken through the window two days earlier.
May you like
Below the photograph were six words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT HIM ALONE.
