Chapter 9 - The Person Daniel Trusted)
Ethan ordered everyone into the reinforced basement.
Victor refused.
“This property has a tunnel.”
“Where?”
“Wine cellar.”
They moved quickly.
The SUVs stopped outside.
Four men emerged.
None wore uniforms.
Daniel watched through a security tablet as they approached the house.
“They are not police,” Sarah said.
“No,” Ethan replied.
Victor opened a hidden steel door behind a wine rack.
A narrow passage descended into darkness.
Michael could not move quickly.
Daniel helped him.
The first crash sounded upstairs as the front door broke.
They entered the tunnel.
Ethan remained behind long enough to lock the panel.
The passage ran nearly three hundred yards through the hillside before opening near an old equipment shed.
Two security vehicles waited there.
“How convenient,” Daniel said to Victor.
“I prepared this place to survive Martin.”
“And still somebody found us.”
They drove separately to a secure hotel owned by one of Sarah’s clients.
Nobody spoke until the doors were locked.
Then Daniel turned to Ethan.
“Phones.”
Ethan collected every device.
He placed them in signal-blocking bags.
Victor watched.
“Too late.”
Ethan ignored him.
He checked the vehicles.
No trackers.
Then he examined Daniel’s coat, Sarah’s bag, Victor’s cane, and Michael’s medical equipment.
Nothing.
Daniel looked around the room.
“Who knew we were going to Vermont?”
Sarah answered.
“You. Me. Ethan. Victor.”
“And Mia’s grandmother,” Ethan said.
Daniel stared at him.
“My mother?”
“She knew you were traveling but not the destination.”
Vanessa knew they were investigating.
The security staff knew Daniel had left.
But the exact location had been shared only after Victor called.
Sarah crossed her arms.
“You also called Michael’s doctor.”
Victor nodded.
“From a secure line.”
“Secure according to whom?”
Victor had no answer.
Ethan suddenly looked at Daniel.
“Your watch.”
Daniel glanced down.
His smartwatch.
He removed it.
Ethan ran a scanner over it.
Nothing obvious.
Then he opened the device settings.
A remote management profile was installed.
Daniel frowned.
“I did not install that.”
Ethan’s expression became grim.
“When did you get this watch?”
“Christmas.”
“From?”
Daniel already knew.
“Martin.”
Victor laughed once.
Daniel looked at him.
“Not now.”
Ethan inspected the profile.
“It sends location data.”
“To where?”
“I need time.”
Daniel removed the watch and crushed it beneath the heel of his shoe.
It was childish.
It felt good.
Sarah looked through the window.
“So Martin tracked Daniel.”
“Maybe.”
Daniel noticed Ethan’s tone.
“What do you mean maybe?”
“The profile transmitted location, but the last successful connection was four hours ago.”
“Before we left for Vermont.”
“Yes.”
“Then how did they find us?”
Nobody spoke.
Daniel looked at Victor.
“You called someone after we arrived.”
“No.”
“Sarah?”
“No.”
“Ethan?”
His oldest security employee stared back at him.
“No.”
Daniel hated himself for considering it.
Ethan had protected Mia since infancy.
He had carried Claire’s coffin.
He had slept in the hospital hallway after Daniel’s appendix ruptured.
But Claire had trusted Martin too.
Daniel had learned what trust was worth when it went unexamined.
“I need your phone records.”
Ethan’s expression hardened.
“Take them.”
Sarah stepped between the two men.
“Accusations are exactly what whoever is doing this wants.”
Victor disagreed.
“No. Confusion is what they want.”
Michael, who had remained silent, suddenly said, “There was a woman.”
Everyone turned.
“What woman?”
“In the SUV after Claire crashed.”
Daniel moved closer.
“You said you never saw the driver.”
“I didn’t.”
“But?”
“When Martin walked toward Claire, the SUV stopped farther down the highway.”
Michael closed his eyes.
“A woman got out.”
“Describe her.”
“Tall. Light coat. Blonde or gray hair.”
Daniel’s heartbeat slowed.
“How old?”
“I could not tell.”
“Did Martin speak to her?”
“No.”
“What did she do?”
“She stood near Claire’s car.”
Daniel felt something crawling at the edge of his memory.
A woman.
Light coat.
Claire’s funeral had been filled with people.
Family.
Employees.
Friends.
His mother.
He stopped.
No.
Sarah saw his face.
“What?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Nothing.”
“What?”
He walked away.
His mother, Evelyn Mercer, had hated Victor for decades.
She had defended Martin whenever Sarah criticized him.
She had also given Daniel the smartwatch Martin supposedly purchased.
Daniel had forgotten that detail.
Martin had not handed it to him.
His mother had.
“No.”
Sarah approached.
“Daniel.”
“My mother knew Martin longer than I did.”
Victor’s face went very still.
“Yes.”
Daniel turned.
“How much longer?”
Victor did not answer.
“How much longer?”
“Since before you were born.”
Daniel felt sick.
Victor continued reluctantly.
“Martin’s father worked for your grandfather.”
“What does that have to do with my mother?”
“Evelyn met Martin at the family office when she was nineteen.”
Daniel stared.
“They were friends?”
Victor’s expression suggested the word was inadequate.
“What?”
“Ask her.”
“Tell me.”
Victor looked away.
“Martin wanted to marry her.”
Daniel could not speak.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“My father knew?”
“Eventually.”
Sarah whispered, “Oh, God.”
Victor continued.
“Your grandfather pushed Evelyn toward Robert because Robert was the heir. Martin stayed as counsel.”
Daniel remembered every family dinner.
Martin always sitting near his mother.
Every birthday.
Every funeral.
Every major decision.
He had interpreted familiarity as loyalty.
“What happened between them?”
“I never knew.”
Daniel’s phone was inside a signal bag.
He removed it.
Ethan immediately objected.
“Do not turn that on.”
“I’m calling my mother.”
“She has Mia.”
That was exactly why Daniel called.
The phone rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
No answer.
Daniel called the secure number at his mother’s property.
Nothing.
He called the guardhouse.
Nothing.
His heartbeat began to pound.
“Ethan.”
Ethan was already moving.
He accessed the remote security network.
The cameras at Evelyn’s property were offline.
Daniel felt the room disappear beneath him.
“Mia.”
Ethan called the guard team.
No response.
Daniel grabbed his coat.
Sarah caught his arm.
“You cannot rush in blind.”
“My daughter is there.”
Then Daniel’s phone rang.
Mia’s name appeared.
Daniel answered.
“Mia?”
No response.
“Mia, sweetheart?”
A man breathed into the phone.
Then Martin Cole spoke.
“Daniel, your daughter is safe.”
Daniel’s vision narrowed.
“If you touch her.”
“I have not touched her.”
“Where is my mother?”
A pause.
Then Martin said, “Standing beside me.”
Daniel froze.
In the background, he heard his mother’s voice.
Calm.
May you like
Perfectly calm.
“Daniel, you should have signed the papers.”
