Chapter 2
The Man Michael Trusted
Michael read the message twice.
Then a third time.
The words did not change.
OR YOUR CHILDREN WILL LOSE MORE THAN THEIR MOTHER.
He turned the screen toward Emily.
Her face went white.
“Someone knows we opened the card.”
Michael looked around the ballroom.
Sixty guests.
Caterers.
Musicians.
Security.
Friends.
Business partners.
People he had known for twenty years.
One of them might have sent the message.
Or someone could be watching remotely.
Michael grabbed his phone and called the head of security.
No answer.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
Victoria gave a small, humorless laugh.
“You see?”
Michael looked at her.
“This is what Rachel did too. She kept digging until she scared herself half to death.”
“She died twenty minutes after talking to you.”
Victoria’s expression tightened.
“That doesn’t mean I killed her.”
No one had used the word killed.
Not yet.
Michael saw several guests exchange glances.
Victoria realized her mistake.
Emily did too.
Michael stepped closer.
“I said she died.”
Victoria swallowed.
“I know what you’re implying.”
“No. You know what you’re afraid I’ll prove.”
A new voice came from the doorway.
“Michael.”
He turned.
Daniel Cross stood there.
Michael’s oldest friend.
His attorney.
The man who had served as best man at Michael and Rachel’s wedding.
Daniel wore a charcoal suit and carried the calm, controlled expression that had made him one of Chicago’s most respected corporate lawyers.
Michael felt relief for half a second.
Then Rachel’s words returned.
Someone Michael trusts with his life.
Daniel crossed the room.
“I came as soon as one of the guests called me.”
Michael frowned.
“No one called you.”
Daniel hesitated.
“A staff member.”
“Which one?”
Daniel looked toward Victoria.
That tiny glance was enough.
Michael saw it.
So did Emily.
Daniel recovered quickly.
“What happened?”
Michael held up the phone.
“Someone threatened my children.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“Call the police.”
“I’m going to.”
Daniel nodded.
“Good.”
Too fast.
Too clean.
Then his eyes moved toward the laptop.
“What’s that?”
Michael said nothing.
Daniel’s shoulders stiffened.
Victoria stepped forward.
“Michael found something Rachel left.”
Daniel slowly looked at her.
It was only a second.
But panic passed between them like electricity.
Emily whispered, “Oh my God.”
Michael’s stomach turned.
“You knew each other.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Of course we knew each other. Victoria was part of your social circle.”
“No.”
Michael pointed between them.
“You knew each other before she met me.”
Silence.
Daniel exhaled.
“This is not the place.”
Michael laughed once.
“The woman I planned to marry just threatened my kids with a riding crop.”
He pointed toward the laptop.
“My dead wife left evidence saying someone I trusted helped her.”
Then he lifted the threatening text.
“And two minutes after I opened that evidence, somebody warned me to stop.”
His voice dropped.
“This is exactly the place.”
Daniel looked toward Lucas and Sophie.
“Take the children upstairs.”
Michael stepped in front of them.
“Don’t tell me what to do with my children.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“You’re emotional.”
Emily stared at him.
“That’s what Victoria said to Rachel.”
Daniel’s eyes snapped toward her.
Emily froze.
Michael noticed.
“What do you mean?”
Emily shook her head.
“Rachel wrote it in one of the documents. She said Daniel told her she was becoming paranoid.”
Michael turned slowly toward Daniel.
“Did you?”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“I represented your family. Rachel came to me with accusations she couldn’t support.”
“Accusations about what?”
“Financial irregularities.”
Michael looked at the laptop.
Rachel had said Victoria accessed their finances.
Daniel continued.
“I told her we needed evidence before making claims that could destroy people.”
Emily opened one of the documents.
It was a PDF.
A letter.
Rachel had written it to Daniel.
DANIEL, YOU TOLD ME TO STOP ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT THE FOUNDATION TRANSFERS.
YOU SAID MICHAEL WOULD THINK I WAS LOSING CONTROL.
BUT I FOUND YOUR AUTHORIZATION SIGNATURE.
Michael’s hands began to shake.
He looked up.
Daniel’s face had gone completely still.
“What foundation transfers?”
Daniel did not answer.
Michael moved closer.
“What foundation transfers?”
Daniel spoke carefully.
“Michael, your charitable foundation handles millions of dollars. There were accounting mistakes.”
“How much?”
“Some discrepancies.”
“How much?”
Daniel sighed.
“Approximately two million.”
A murmur rolled through the ballroom.
Michael stared at him.
“Two million dollars disappeared and you never told me?”
“It was recovered.”
“By who?”
Daniel’s eyes moved to Victoria again.
There.
Again.
Michael saw the connection forming.
Rachel had found money missing.
Victoria had access.
Daniel had authorization.
Rachel had confronted Victoria.
Rachel had called her seven times.
Then Rachel died.
Michael felt physically sick.
Sophie tugged his sleeve.
“Dad?”
He turned immediately.
Her face was pale.
“I want to go home.”
Michael nearly broke.
They were home.
That was the horror.
This mansion, this ballroom, these rooms full of polished furniture and framed family photographs.
This was supposed to be the safest place in the world.
And his daughter wanted to escape it.
“We’re leaving,” Michael said.
Victoria stepped forward.
“Michael—”
“You’re not coming.”
Her face crumpled.
“This is my home too.”
“No.”
His voice was quiet now.
“It was supposed to become your home.”
He looked around.
“Not anymore.”
Daniel reached for his arm.
Michael jerked away.
“Don’t touch me.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“You are making serious decisions based on a frightened child, a disgruntled former nanny, and incomplete recordings.”
Lucas looked up.
“I’m not lying.”
Daniel glanced at him.
“I didn’t say you were.”
“Yes, you did.”
The child’s certainty stunned the room.
“You said Dad was making decisions because I’m frightened.”
Daniel opened his mouth.
Lucas continued.
“That’s what Victoria says when she wants people to think we imagined something.”
Michael looked at his son.
Lucas had been listening.
Learning.
Surviving.
At eight years old.
Michael felt shame burn through him.
How much had his children endured while he was working late, traveling, trying to rebuild a life?
Emily suddenly clicked another file.
A photograph filled the screen.
Rachel had taken it through a windshield.
A dark sedan was parked behind Victoria’s townhouse.
Daniel stood beside the driver’s door.
The timestamp was six months before Rachel died.
Three months before Victoria supposedly met Michael for the first time.
Michael looked at Daniel.
Daniel stared at the photograph.
No denial came.
Then the ballroom lights went out.
Guests screamed.
Sophie shrieked.
Michael grabbed both children.
In the darkness, glass shattered.
Someone ran.
A door slammed.
Emergency lights flickered on fifteen seconds later.
The laptop was gone.
May you like
So was the memory card.
And Daniel Cross had disappeared.
