Chapter 12 - What Emily Hid)
Daniel held up the phone.
“What did you find?”
Emily looked toward Noah.
“Not here.”
Marcus immediately took the child to the adjoining office.
When the door shut, Daniel faced his daughter.
“You’ve been asking everyone else to tell the truth.”
“I know.”
“What did you find?”
Emily sat down.
“The first time I became suspicious of Rebecca wasn’t because of the trust.”
Daniel waited.
“It was because of a photograph.”
“What photograph?”
“I went to Rebecca’s house two months ago.”
“Why?”
“She asked me to pick up a birthday gift for Noah.”
Daniel remembered.
Rebecca had bought the boy a wooden train set.
Emily continued.
“She told me the package was in the guest room. I went upstairs. One closet door was open.”
“You searched it?”
“I was going to close it.”
Daniel gave her a look.
Emily sighed.
“Fine. I looked.”
“What did you see?”
“A storage box.”
She pulled out her phone.
“I photographed what was inside.”
The phone had no cellular service, but the photographs remained.
Emily showed him.
Rebecca stood beside a younger woman.
The picture appeared at least fifteen years old.
The woman beside Rebecca looked familiar.
Daniel stared.
“Who is that?”
Emily swiped to another photograph.
Same woman.
Different location.
This time Daniel recognized her.
“Catherine.”
Emily nodded.
Daniel stared at his daughter.
“Rebecca knew your mother?”
“That’s what I tried asking her last night.”
Daniel’s mind went blank.
“How old is the photo?”
“Sixteen years.”
Daniel enlarged it.
Catherine looked younger.
Rebecca too.
They stood outside a hotel conference center.
On the back, Emily had photographed handwritten text.
R and C, Boston.
Daniel struggled to understand.
“Catherine never mentioned Rebecca.”
“I know.”
“Rebecca told me she’d never met her.”
“I know.”
Daniel turned to Michael.
“Did you know?”
Michael shook his head.
“No.”
Thomas had been brought into the office again.
He studied the photo.
“I’ve never seen that.”
Daniel looked back at Emily.
“What else?”
Emily swiped.
A photograph of Daniel.
Taken from across a street.
He was entering his office.
The date was three years before he met Rebecca.
Another.
Daniel and Catherine leaving a restaurant.
Five years earlier.
Another.
Emily holding newborn Noah.
Three years earlier.
Daniel’s skin prickled.
“She had been watching us.”
Emily nodded.
“For years.”
“Why didn’t you show me?”
“I wanted proof of why.”
“You had proof she lied.”
“You were marrying her.”
“That is exactly why.”
Emily’s voice rose.
“And every time I questioned her, you defended her.”
Daniel went silent.
The accusation was true.
Emily’s eyes filled.
“I was afraid if I showed you one photograph, she’d explain it away and you’d stop listening.”
Daniel sat beside her.
“I’m listening now.”
Emily wiped her eyes.
“There’s more.”
She showed him a photograph of a letter.
The handwriting belonged to Catherine.
Rebecca,
I will not participate. Do not contact my family again. If Bellweather proceeds, I will expose everything.
Daniel read it twice.
“What was Catherine refusing?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel looked at the USB.
Catherine had known Rebecca.
Rebecca had known Bellweather.
Bellweather had known about Daniel’s family years before Rebecca entered his life.
The wedding was not the beginning.
It was the latest move.
Marcus interrupted.
“We traced the message.”
Daniel turned.
“Where?”
“Hotel parking structure. Level P4.”
“Samuel?”
“Can’t confirm.”
Daniel checked the time.
4:21.
The wedding guests were being kept inside the ballroom while hotel staff explained there had been a security incident.
Police were already on the way after Marcus reported the assault evidence and disappearance.
Daniel looked at the threatening message again.
Emily said, “You’re not going alone.”
“I’m not giving them Catherine’s files.”
“Then what?”
“I’m going to make them believe I am.”
Michael shook his head.
“That message could be from Rebecca.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Or?”
“Richard.”
Thomas said, “Richard gave Emily the photograph. Why kidnap Samuel?”
“Maybe because we’ve misunderstood Richard too.”
Daniel copied the files to a hotel computer.
Then he removed the second USB.
He placed it inside an empty black case.
Marcus gave him an earpiece.
“We can follow from a distance.”
“The message said alone.”
“You’ll appear alone.”
Emily grabbed Daniel’s sleeve.
“Dad.”
He turned.
She hugged him.
“Don’t try to be brave.”
Daniel whispered, “Too late for that.”
He entered the service elevator.
P4 was almost empty.
Concrete pillars divided rows of luxury cars.
Daniel stepped out holding the USB case.
“Samuel?”
No answer.
He walked deeper into the garage.
A black SUV waited near the far wall.
Same model as the vehicle Richard had entered on the loading dock footage.
Its rear door opened.
Rebecca stepped out.
She no longer wore the wedding gown.
Black trousers.
Dark blouse.
Hair pulled down from the bridal updo.
Daniel almost did not recognize her.
“Where’s Samuel?”
Rebecca smiled faintly.
“You really did love me.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“What?”
“You came.”
“You threatened Samuel.”
“I knew you would come.”
“Where is he?”
“Safe.”
“Show me.”
Rebecca looked at the USB case.
“Catherine’s files first.”
Daniel held it up.
“Why?”
“Because Catherine stole something that never belonged to her.”
“What?”
Rebecca’s smile disappeared.
“A name.”
Daniel waited.
“The protective trustee?”
Rebecca’s expression confirmed it.
“You don’t know who it is,” Daniel said.
“Neither do you.”
“That bothers you.”
“It should bother you too.”
“Why?”
Rebecca stepped closer.
“Because Catherine built your entire fortune around protecting you from someone you trusted.”
Daniel stared.
“Who?”
Rebecca’s voice dropped.
“The person named in the Bluebird clause isn’t protecting your family.”
“Then what are they doing?”
“Waiting.”
“For what?”
“For you to lose control.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“You expect me to believe you’re protecting me?”
“No.”
Rebecca’s eyes hardened.
“I expect you to understand that if the Bluebird clause activates, what happened today will look small.”
Daniel’s earpiece remained silent.
Marcus was listening.
Daniel asked, “Why did you attack Emily?”
Rebecca looked away for the first time.
“She wouldn’t stop.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“She found documents she didn’t understand.”
“You hit her.”
“Yes.”
“You helped put her in a car.”
Rebecca’s face tightened.
“I was taking her somewhere she couldn’t interfere.”
“You endangered my grandson.”
“I never intended to hurt Noah.”
Daniel’s control broke slightly.
“You don’t get credit for that.”
Rebecca stared at him.
Then she whispered, “Richard told you I was the enemy, didn’t he?”
“He didn’t tell me anything.”
Rebecca smiled sadly.
“Of course.”
A car engine started somewhere behind Daniel.
Rebecca’s eyes shifted.
Daniel turned.
The black SUV moved.
The driver accelerated toward the exit.
“Samuel!”
Daniel ran.
Rebecca shouted behind him.
“Daniel, stop!”
He ignored her.
The SUV passed.
Through the rear window, Daniel saw Samuel Price.
Alive.
Beside him sat Richard Arden.
Daniel stopped.
Richard looked directly through the glass at his brother.
Then lifted one finger to his lips.
The SUV disappeared up the ramp.
Daniel turned back.
Rebecca was gone.
Only her discarded phone remained on the concrete.
The screen was unlocked.
A message had just arrived.
May you like
It contained three words.
HE TOOK SAMUEL.
