Chapter 10 - Derek Makes One Final Move)
Derek disappeared on December 8.
Not permanently.
For eleven hours.
But long enough to terrify everyone.
He missed a scheduled supervised visit with the children.
At first Claire felt relief.
Lily had been anxious all morning.
Noah had asked whether the supervisor would let him leave early.
Then Allison called.
"Derek hasn't responded to his attorney."
Claire immediately thought of the passport.
"Do you think he left?"
"I don't know."
"What about the children?"
"They're with you. That's what matters."
Then the school called.
Someone had attempted to change Lily and Noah's emergency pickup authorization online.
The request added Margaret.
Claire's blood went cold.
The school rejected it because of the court order.
But the request had been submitted from Claire's parent portal.
Someone had her password.
Claire changed every account immediately.
Then she remembered the missing laptop.
At 1:40 p.m., a message arrived from Derek.
We need to end this before strangers destroy our family.
Claire forwarded it to Allison without replying.
A second message.
Meet me at the house. Alone.
Then:
I found something that changes everything.
Allison called.
"Do not go."
"I wasn't going to."
"Good."
"What does he mean?"
"Probably nothing."
But at 2:03, Derek sent a photograph.
Claire's missing laptop.
Open.
On the screen was a video file.
The thumbnail showed Claire.
In the kitchen.
Angry.
Claire recognized the night immediately.
Three months earlier.
She and Derek had argued after he missed Noah's school performance.
He had recorded her without telling her.
The video likely showed Claire shouting.
Maybe crying.
Maybe slamming a cabinet.
Derek sent another message.
You want to talk about evidence?
Claire's pulse accelerated.
Then one more.
How many videos do you think I have?
Claire sat down.
For a moment, the old fear returned.
The fear he had spent months planting.
What if she really looked unstable?
What if a judge watched only her worst moments?
What if Derek had dozens?
Allison called again.
"I saw the screenshot."
"What if he has enough to make me look crazy?"
"Claire."
"What?"
"Do you know what happens in family court every day?"
"No."
"People get angry."
Claire said nothing.
"People cry. People yell. People slam doors. None of that automatically makes someone an unfit parent."
"But he planned this."
"Which is exactly why context matters."
Claire closed her eyes.
Allison continued.
"Also, if he secretly recorded you while deliberately provoking you, those videos may help us more than him."
Claire almost laughed.
Derek kept creating evidence because he believed evidence meant possession.
He never seemed to understand context.
At 3:15, police located Derek at the family house.
He had not fled.
He was packing.
Margaret was there.
So was a moving truck.
Claire's heart began pounding when Allison told her.
"Packing what?"
"Apparently household property."
"He can't do that."
"He tried."
The temporary order prohibited either spouse from removing significant marital property.
Derek claimed he misunderstood.
The officers disagreed.
Then they found documents in his car.
Passports.
Financial records.
And a cashier's check.
One hundred twenty thousand dollars.
Payable to Bennett Family Holdings.
Allison's voice became almost cheerful.
"He was about to make our forensic accountant very happy."
Claire sat silently.
"Where was he going?"
"Margaret's lake house."
"Why?"
"I suspect because he realizes he may not control the family residence much longer."
That evening Derek's attorney withdrew from representing him.
Conflict over unpaid fees, officially.
Allison suspected something more.
Two days later, Derek hired another lawyer.
The aggressive messages stopped.
The next communication came through counsel.
Derek wanted mediation.
He proposed:
Joint custody.
No criminal complaints relating to financial documents.
No further investigation of Bennett Family Holdings.
Sale of the marital residence.
Mutual confidentiality.
Claire read the proposal.
Then looked at Allison.
"He wants me to stop digging."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Allison slid another document across the table.
The forensic accountant had found another transfer.
Not from Claire and Derek's joint account.
From Lily's education trust.
Forty-six thousand dollars.
Claire stared.
Then Noah's.
Thirty-eight thousand.
Derek had taken from his own children.
The money had funded the condominium deposit.
The future home he planned to share with Vanessa.
Claire pushed the mediation proposal away.
"No."
May you like
Allison nodded once.
"I thought you'd say that."
