PART 4
“For me?”
My voice sounded smaller than I wanted.
Thomas Bennett stood outside the storage unit while Daniel and I remained in darkness.
“Yes,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because if Richard knew I contacted you first, everything in that unit would have disappeared.”
Daniel whispered,
“Mom, don’t open it.”
Thomas heard him.
“Daniel, you’re right to be careful.”
My son stiffened.
“How do you know my name?”
“Because your father talks about you more than he realizes.”
That wasn’t comforting.
I stepped closer to the metal door.
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
The answer surprised me.
Thomas continued.
“You don’t know me, and under the circumstances, trusting strangers would be foolish.”
“Then give me one reason to open this door.”
Silence.
Then he said,
“Because the recording you just heard was made by me.”
I froze.
Daniel looked at the recorder in my hand.
“You recorded Dad?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because that was the day I realized Richard Harrison wasn’t asking me to protect assets.”
Thomas’s voice hardened.
“He was asking me to help destroy his wife.”
I looked at Daniel.
Then I lifted the unit door halfway.
Thomas stood several feet away.
Gray hair.
Dark suit.
Exactly as Daniel had described.
His hands were visible.
Empty.
“You followed us here?” I asked.
“No.”
“Then how did you know?”
“I received an alert when Unit 317 opened.”
My stomach tightened.
“You have access to this unit?”
“I helped rent it.”
“Why?”
“Richard told me he needed secure document storage for litigation.”
“And you believed him?”
“At first.”
Daniel stepped beside me.
“And then?”
Thomas looked into the unit.
“Then I started seeing the documents.”
I crossed my arms.
“You’ve known about the forged signatures?”
His face tightened.
“I suspected.”
“Suspected?”
“I knew Richard was moving assets. I didn’t know exactly how he was authorizing every transfer.”
“You heard him say he’d get me to sign.”
“Yes.”
“And you did nothing?”
His eyes met mine.
“I refused to prepare the documents he wanted.”
“That isn’t the same as warning me.”
“No.”
At least he didn’t pretend.
“Why didn’t you?”
Thomas exhaled.
“Because I made the mistake of believing I could contain him.”
“Contain him?”
“I thought if I refused, he’d stop.”
I laughed once.
“Apparently you don’t know my husband very well.”
“I know him better now.”
He looked at the recorder.
“The conversation you heard happened three years ago.”
I stared at him.
“Three years?”
“Yes.”
Daniel frowned.
“You said you’ve been waiting three years for Mom to find this place.”
Thomas nodded.
“Because after that meeting, I started documenting everything.”
“Everything what?” I asked.
“Every unusual instruction.”
“Every transfer I became aware of.”
“Every time Richard asked me to create documents that didn’t make legal sense.”
He pointed toward the filing cabinets.
“Copies are in there.”
My heart pounded.
“Why leave them somewhere Richard could access?”
“Because Richard trusted one thing more than anyone.”
“His own arrogance.”
Thomas stepped inside.
“He believed this unit belonged to him.”
“Didn’t it?”
“No.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“The lease is under a holding company.”
“Whose?”
“Mine.”
Daniel and I looked at each other.
Thomas continued.
“Richard never had unrestricted access.”
“He thought he did.”
I held up the key.
“He had this.”
“A duplicate.”
“So you knew what was inside?”
“Most of it.”
I pulled the birth certificate from my bag.
“Did you know about this?”
Thomas’s face changed.
That answered me before he spoke.
“Yes.”
Daniel whispered,
“You knew Dad had another child?”
Thomas looked at me.
“Claire, that isn’t what you think.”
I almost laughed.
“The document names Richard as the father.”
“Yes.”
“A woman is holding a baby beside him.”
“Yes.”
“And somehow I’m misunderstanding?”
Thomas looked toward the parking lot.
“We shouldn’t have this conversation here.”
My entire body tensed.
“No.”
“Claire—”
“I’ve had enough men telling me conversations about my life need to happen somewhere else.”
Thomas stopped.
Then nodded.
“Fair.”
He looked at the birth certificate.
“The child exists.”
My throat tightened.
“What’s his name?”
“You read it.”
“I want you to say it.”
Thomas hesitated.
“Ethan Cole Harrison.”
Daniel looked at me.
Four years old.
My husband had a four-year-old son.
“Who’s the mother?” I asked.
Thomas glanced at the photograph.
“Rachel Cole.”
“Was she another affair?”
“No.”
I stared at him.
“No?”
Thomas rubbed his forehead.
“This is complicated.”
“Make it simple.”
He looked directly at me.
“Rachel wasn’t Richard’s girlfriend.”
“Then what was she?”
“His employee.”
My stomach turned.
“What kind of employee?”
“She worked in accounting.”
“At his company?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“About five years ago.”
I looked at the child again.
“Did they sleep together?”
Thomas paused.
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
“But,” he added,
“Rachel didn’t approach Richard because she wanted an affair.”
I opened my eyes.
“What are you saying?”
“She discovered financial irregularities.”
Daniel frowned.
“The stolen money?”
“Some of it.”
Thomas walked toward the filing cabinet and opened the lowest drawer.
He pulled out a thick red folder.
“Rachel was the first person inside Richard’s company who noticed that money was being moved through shell companies.”
“Why didn’t she report him?”
“She tried.”
My chest tightened.
“To whom?”
“Richard.”
I stared at him.
Thomas continued.
“She thought another executive was responsible.”
“So she confronted Richard?”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“He convinced her he was investigating it.”
“He got close to her.”
“He made her believe she could trust him.”
I felt sick.
“That sounds familiar.”
Thomas didn’t disagree.
“By the time Rachel understood Richard was the one moving the money, she was pregnant.”
Daniel whispered,
“Did Dad know?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to her?”
Thomas’s jaw tightened.
“She disappeared.”
The storage unit suddenly felt colder.
I stared at him.
“What do you mean disappeared?”
“One day she stopped coming to work.”
“She deleted social media.”
“She stopped answering colleagues.”
“Richard told everyone she had resigned and moved away.”
“But?”
“But I later learned she’d signed a nondisclosure agreement.”
“With Richard?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Thomas looked at the birth certificate.
“Money.”
“How much?”
“Two hundred fifty thousand dollars.”
“For silence?”
“Partly.”
“And the child?”
Thomas looked at me.
“Richard agreed to support Ethan privately.”
My hands shook.
“Privately.”
“Yes.”
“So he hid a child from six other children.”
Daniel’s face had gone hard.
Thomas continued.
“Claire, that is not the most important part.”
I almost snapped.
“My husband having a secret son is somehow not the important part?”
“No.”
He reached inside the red folder.
“Because Richard stopped making the support payments eighteen months ago.”
“Why?”
“Rachel started asking questions again.”
“About the money?”
“Yes.”
Thomas removed a letter.
“She contacted me.”
“When?”
“Fourteen months ago.”
“What did she say?”
“She believed Richard was preparing to leave the country.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Dad was planning to leave?”
Thomas nodded.
“Eventually.”
“With the money?”
“Yes.”
“What about us?”
Thomas looked at me.
“I think that depended on whether he could control the divorce.”
My skin prickled.
“Explain.”
“If you signed away enough assets voluntarily, he’d stay.”
“And if I didn’t?”
“He would escalate.”
“To what?”
Thomas glanced at the folders containing photographs of me.
“Surveillance.”
“The instability narrative.”
“Custody pressure.”
“Financial isolation.”
I swallowed.
“And after that?”
“I don’t know.”
That answer frightened me more than anything else.
“You said Rachel disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“When did you last speak to her?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Eight months ago.”
“The same time Daniel’s college money disappeared.”
Thomas’s eyes sharpened.
“What?”
Daniel told him about the withdrawal.
Thomas immediately pulled out his phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking something.”
He searched for several seconds.
Then his face changed.
“That’s bad.”
“What?”
“The date.”
“What about it?”
Thomas looked up.
“That was two days after Rachel contacted Richard directly.”
I stared at him.
“About what?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just said she contacted him.”
“I know because Richard called me afterward.”
“What did he say?”
Thomas lowered his phone.
“He asked me a hypothetical question.”
“What question?”
“If someone violated a nondisclosure agreement, could previous settlement money be recovered.”
Daniel whispered,
“Two hundred fifty thousand?”
Thomas nodded.
I felt cold.
“So Richard took forty thousand from Lily.”
“Probably not just Lily.”
Daniel reached into the trunk.
“We saw withdrawals from all six accounts.”
Thomas closed his eyes briefly.
“How much total?”
“I haven’t added it.”
“We need to.”
I began pulling statements from the folders.
Daniel used the calculator on his phone.
“Twenty-five thousand from Noah.”
“Thirty from Sophie.”
“Eighteen from Caleb.”
“Forty from Lily.”
“Mom…”
“What?”
“Seventy-five from mine.”
My stomach dropped.
Emma’s account was next.
“Sixty-two thousand.”
Daniel entered the numbers.
His expression went blank.
“How much?”
“Two hundred fifty thousand exactly.”
Nobody spoke.
Two hundred fifty thousand.
The exact amount Richard had paid Rachel.
Daniel whispered,
“He took our college money to pay her.”
Thomas shook his head.
“Not exactly.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’d already paid Rachel years earlier.”
“Then why exactly two hundred fifty thousand?”
Thomas looked disturbed.
“I don’t know.”
I remembered Richard’s notebooks.
Names.
Amounts.
Dates.
I searched until I found Rachel Cole.
Beside her name were two entries.
$250,000.
Then another.
$250,000.
Daniel saw it too.
“There were two payments.”
Thomas stared at the notebook.
“I’ve never seen that.”
“The first was the settlement?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the second?”
Thomas didn’t answer.
“Thomas.”
“I don’t know.”
The payment occurred eight months earlier.
The same week Richard drained our children’s accounts.
I flipped the page.
Beside the second payment was a handwritten note.
R.C.
FINAL.
I felt sick.
“Final what?”
Thomas reached for the notebook.
I pulled it away.
“Don’t.”
“Claire, please.”
“No.”
I pointed at the note.
“What does final mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did something happen to Rachel?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“No.”
“You knew about this unit.”
“You knew about the child.”
“You recorded my husband.”
“Tell me what happened to her.”
“I don’t know!”
His voice echoed through the storage building.
Silence followed.
Thomas lowered his voice.
“I haven’t been able to find her.”
“How long?”
“Eight months.”
Daniel and I stared at him.
The same eight months again.
“Did you call the police?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“They said she was an adult and there was no immediate evidence of foul play.”
“Her family?”
“Estranged.”
“Friends?”
“She’d isolated herself.”
I thought of Richard.
Of how slowly he’d isolated me.
From work.
From finances.
From anyone who might see too much.
“What about Ethan?”
Thomas didn’t answer.
My heart stopped.
“Thomas.”
“He disappeared with her.”
I grabbed the edge of a filing cabinet.
A four-year-old child.
Missing.
Daniel whispered,
“Mom, we should call the police.”
“Yes.”
Thomas raised a hand.
“Not yet.”
I spun toward him.
“Not yet?”
“If you call local police without understanding what you have, Richard may learn about it before investigators can secure anything.”
“You think Richard has someone inside the police department?”
“I think Richard has relationships everywhere.”
I remembered fundraisers.
Charity dinners.
Photographs with officials.
Police captains.
Judges.
Council members.
Richard collected important people the way other men collected watches.
“Then what do we do?”
Thomas looked at me.
“We make copies.”
“Then we go federal.”
Daniel blinked.
“Federal?”
Thomas pointed toward the financial documents.
“If what I suspect is true, Richard’s businesses have moved money across state lines through shell companies.”
I stared at him.
“You think he’s laundering money?”
“I think it’s possible.”
“For whom?”
“That I don’t know.”
The words barely left his mouth before my phone rang.
Emma.
I answered immediately.
“What happened?”
“Mom?”
She was crying.
My entire body went cold.
“Emma, what’s wrong?”
“Dad’s here.”
I looked toward the parking lot.
“What?”
“At home.”
“You’re in the SUV.”
“No.”
My stomach dropped.
“What do you mean no?”
“We went inside.”
“Emma, I told you to stay in the car.”
“Lily needed the bathroom and then Dad showed up.”
“Where is he now?”
“In the kitchen.”
“What is he doing?”
“He’s being weird.”
“Weird how?”
“He’s acting calm.”
That was worse than anger.
“Where are you?”
“Upstairs with the others.”
“Lock the door.”
“It doesn’t lock.”
“Push furniture in front of it.”
Thomas was already moving toward his car.
Daniel and I followed.
I put Emma on speaker.
“Listen to me carefully.”
“Okay.”
“Do not argue with your father.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t tell him where we are.”
“He already asked.”
“What did you say?”
“I said I didn’t know.”
“Good.”
Then Richard’s voice came faintly through the phone.
“Emma?”
She gasped.
“He’s coming upstairs.”
“Get your siblings together.”
“They are.”
“Put me in your pocket.”
“Mom—”
“Do it.”
Her phone rustled.
We got into Thomas’s car because it was closest.
Daniel sat beside me.
Thomas drove.
My phone remained connected.
Footsteps came through the speaker.
Then Richard knocked.
“Emma.”
Nobody answered.
“Sweetheart, open the door.”
I could hear Lily crying.
Richard knocked again.
“I’m not angry.”
Daniel whispered,
“That’s what he says when he’s angry.”
My heart broke.
Richard continued.
“I just want to talk.”
Emma answered,
“Mom said not to open the door.”
Silence.
Then Richard said,
“Your mother isn’t thinking clearly tonight.”
My blood ran cold.
There it was.
Phase two.
Instability.
Even now.
Even after being exposed.
He was building the story.
“She embarrassed herself at school,” Richard continued.
“And now she’s dragging all of you into adult problems.”
Emma’s voice shook.
“You lied.”
“Your mother told you that?”
“We heard you.”
“Recordings can be edited.”
Daniel looked at me.
Richard continued.
“Do you know where your mother went?”
“No.”
“Did Daniel go with her?”
Silence.
“Emma.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did they take anything from my office?”
No answer.
Then the doorknob rattled.
I shouted into the phone,
“Emma!”
The movement stopped.
Richard’s voice changed.
“Claire?”
I closed my eyes.
He had heard me.
“Get away from the children.”
“Where are you?”
“Leave them alone.”
“Where are you?”
Emma pulled the phone from her pocket.
“Dad, stop.”
Richard said,
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
“Emma.”
“No.”
There was a struggle.
Then the call ended.
I immediately dialed again.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
“Drive faster.”
Thomas already was.
Daniel called Emma.
Nothing.
Then Noah.
Nothing.
Sophie.
Nothing.
My hands were shaking so badly I nearly dropped the phone.
Finally Lily’s tablet connected through video chat.
Her face appeared.
Tears streaked her cheeks.
“Mommy.”
“Lily, where are you?”
“In my room.”
“Where is Daddy?”
“Talking to Emma.”
“Is everyone okay?”
She nodded.
Then she whispered,
“Daddy took Emma’s phone.”
“Stay where you are.”
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Daddy has a suitcase.”
I froze.
“What suitcase?”
“The black one.”
Richard’s travel case.
“Is it packed?”
“I think so.”
“Where is it?”
“By the front door.”
Thomas looked at me.
“He’s running.”
I felt it too.
Richard knew.
Maybe not exactly what we’d found.
But enough.
“Lily, listen.”
“What?”
“Go to the window.”
She carried the tablet across the room.
“Can you see the driveway?”
“Yes.”
“Is Daddy’s car there?”
“Yes.”
“Is there another car?”
Lily squinted.
“Yes.”
My stomach tightened.
“What kind?”
“Black.”
“Big or small?”
“Big.”
“Do you know whose it is?”
“No.”
Then someone shouted downstairs.
A man’s voice.
Not Richard.
Thomas’s expression changed.
“What did he say?”
I raised the tablet volume.
Another voice.
Then Richard.
I couldn’t understand the words.
Lily whispered,
“Mommy, someone’s fighting.”
“Stay upstairs.”
Daniel looked at Thomas.
“How far?”
“Six minutes.”
Then Lily suddenly moved away from the window.
“Oh.”
“What?”
“Daddy’s coming outside.”
“What’s he doing?”
“He has the suitcase.”
My pulse exploded.
“And Emma.”
I sat up.
“What do you mean he has Emma?”
“He’s holding her arm.”
I screamed,
“Emma!”
Of course she couldn’t hear me.
Lily pointed the tablet toward the window.
The image shook.
But I could see the driveway.
Richard emerged.
One hand gripping his suitcase.
The other gripping Emma’s arm.
She was fighting him.
A large man stood beside the black SUV.
Daniel shouted,
“That’s him!”
“Who?”
“I saw that guy at the restaurant.”
Thomas turned.
“With Richard?”
“Yes.”
“I thought the gray-haired man was you.”
“It was.”
“But that guy was sitting at another table watching Dad.”
Thomas’s face went pale.
“Claire.”
“What?”
“We have a problem.”
“What problem?”
“I know him.”
“Who is he?”
Thomas swallowed.
“His name is Marcus Vale.”
“So?”
“He isn’t another lawyer.”
“What is he?”
Thomas looked at me.
“He fixes problems for people who can afford him.”
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Richard isn’t trying to leave town alone.”
On Lily’s screen, Emma kicked Richard’s shin.
He released her.
She ran toward the house.
Marcus caught her.
Daniel unbuckled his seat belt.
“Stop the car.”
“No.”
“Stop!”
“We’re almost there.”
“He has my sister!”
Thomas pressed a button on his steering wheel.
“Who are you calling?”
“A federal investigator.”
“You already know one?”
“Yes.”
That shocked me.
“Why?”
“Because I sent a preliminary package six months ago.”
I stared at him.
“You told federal investigators about Richard?”
“Not enough to act.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I needed proof connecting his personal transfers to the company structure.”
My bag suddenly felt heavy.
The notebook.
The statements.
The recorder.
“We have it now.”
“Yes.”
The call connected.
Thomas spoke quickly.
“This is Bennett. Tell Agent Moreno the Harrison matter is active. Possible flight risk. Possible child endangerment.”
I grabbed his arm.
“Child endangerment?”
He looked at the video.
“That’s exactly what I’m looking at.”
We turned onto our street.
The black SUV was pulling away.
“No!”
Our house flashed past.
Five of my children stood on the front lawn.
But Emma wasn’t with them.
Neither was Richard.
“Follow them!”
Thomas accelerated.
I called 911.
This time I didn’t care who Richard knew.
“My husband just forced my fourteen-year-old daughter into a vehicle.”
The dispatcher asked for the license plate.
Daniel read it aloud.
We followed at a distance.
The SUV turned toward the highway.
“Where is he taking her?”
Daniel whispered.
I knew exactly why he’d taken Emma.
The recording.
She had exposed him first.
Maybe he believed she had copies.
Maybe he thought he could scare her.
Maybe he needed leverage over me.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
Richard.
“Turn around.”
My blood went cold.
“Where is Emma?”
“She’s safe.”
“Put her on.”
“No.”
“Richard, if you hurt her—”
“Don’t be dramatic.”
“Give me my daughter.”
“She is my daughter.”
“You forced her into a car.”
“She agreed to come.”
I looked at the video on Lily’s tablet.
“You’re lying.”
Silence.
Then Richard said,
“You opened 317.”
It wasn’t a question.
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at me.
Richard exhaled slowly.
“I told you not to.”
“And I told you I was done listening.”
“You don’t understand what you’ve found.”
“I understand enough.”
“No, Claire.”
For the first time, I heard something unexpected in his voice.
Fear.
“You really don’t.”
“What am I missing?”
He ignored me.
“Did you take the notebook?”
I looked at Thomas.
“Yes.”
Richard swore.
“Give it back.”
“Bring Emma home.”
“You don’t know what that book is.”
“Then tell me.”
“No.”
“Richard.”
His voice lowered.
“The names in that book aren’t mine.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“Those aren’t people who owe me money.”
“What are they?”
He was silent for several seconds.
Then he said,
“They’re people I owe.”
Thomas stared ahead.
His knuckles whitened around the steering wheel.
I whispered,
“For what?”
Richard answered,
“For keeping quiet.”
My stomach turned.
“About what?”
“Things you don’t want to know.”
“What things?”
“Claire, listen to me.”
“I am listening.”
“Turn around.”
“Give me Emma.”
“If Marcus realizes you have that notebook, this stops being a divorce problem.”
I looked toward the black SUV ahead.
“Marcus knows?”
“He will.”
Thomas muttered,
“He already does.”
Richard heard him.
Silence.
Then,
“Is Bennett with you?”
Thomas said nothing.
Richard laughed once.
A strange, empty sound.
“Of course he is.”
“Richard—”
“Claire.”
His voice suddenly became urgent.
“Whatever Bennett told you, he’s lying.”
Thomas glanced at me.
“About what?”
“All of it.”
Thomas shook his head.
Richard continued.
“Ask him why Unit 317 is in his name.”
“I already know.”
“No, you don’t.”
My pulse slowed.
“What aren’t you telling me, Thomas?”
He kept driving.
Richard said,
“Ask him who paid for the unit.”
Thomas’s jaw tightened.
“Ask him whose money funded the holding company.”
“Thomas?”
He said nothing.
Richard laughed again.
“There it is.”
I stared at Thomas.
“Answer me.”
Thomas finally said,
“Claire, this isn’t the time.”
My blood went cold.
That sentence again.
The sentence men used when they wanted to control what I knew.
“Stop the car.”
“Claire—”
“Stop the car!”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because we’ll lose Emma.”
Richard said quietly through the phone,
“You see?”
I wanted to scream.
“Both of you stop.”
Then a small voice came through Richard’s phone.
“Mom?”
Emma.
“Emma!”
“I’m okay.”
“Where are you?”
“Dad says we’re going to the airport.”
The airport.
My stomach dropped.
Richard snapped,
“Enough.”
The phone rustled.
Then his voice returned.
“Bring the notebook to Terminal C parking.”
Thomas immediately shook his head.
“No.”
Richard heard him.
“You don’t get a vote anymore, Tom.”
Thomas’s face changed.
“What does that mean?”
Richard ignored him.
“Claire, come alone.”
“No.”
“Then you don’t get Emma back.”
My chest tightened.
“You wouldn’t hurt her.”
Silence.
Not denial.
Just silence.
Then the line went dead.
Daniel whispered,
“Mom.”
I looked at him.
“We’re getting her back.”
Thomas turned onto the airport expressway.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
“Agent Moreno.”
He answered.
“Bennett.”
He listened.
Then his expression changed.
“What?”
I stared at him.
“What happened?”
Thomas didn’t answer me.
He listened another few seconds.
Then disconnected.
“Thomas.”
He looked toward me.
“They searched one of Richard’s corporate warehouses.”
My heart pounded.
“And?”
“They found files.”
“What kind?”
“Payments.”
“Contracts.”
“Offshore accounts.”
“That isn’t surprising anymore.”
“No.”
His face had gone gray.
“What is it?”
“They also found a passport.”
“Whose?”
Thomas stared at me.
“Rachel Cole’s.”
My blood froze.
Daniel whispered,
“The missing woman?”
Thomas nodded.
I tried to breathe.
“Maybe she left it there.”
Thomas shook his head.
“It wasn’t alone.”
“What else?”
“Ethan’s passport.”
I closed my eyes.
Then Thomas said,
“And a third passport.”
I opened them again.
“Whose?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
“Whose passport, Thomas?”
He looked at me.
“Yours.”
I stared at him.
“That isn’t possible.”
“Agent Moreno read the name.”
“My passport is at home.”
“Apparently you have another.”
My throat tightened.
“Why would Richard have a second passport for me?”
Thomas didn’t answer.
Daniel did.
“Because Dad wasn’t planning to leave without Mom.”
I turned toward him.
“What?”
He looked terrified.
“Mom, think about it.”
The forged signatures.
The surveillance.
The instability file.
The secret money.
The false documents.
The passport.
A horrible possibility began forming.
“He wasn’t preparing for me to divorce him.”
Thomas said nothing.
“He was preparing for something else.”
We reached the airport exit.
Thomas whispered,
“Yes.”
“What?”
He looked at me.
“I think Richard’s original plan was to make you disappear financially.”
My mouth went dry.
“And maybe physically.”
Daniel stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
Before Thomas could answer, my phone buzzed.
A text.
From Emma.
Just three words.
MOM DON’T COME.
Then another message.
HE HAS A GUN.
My heart stopped.
A third message arrived.
BUT DAD ISN’T THE ONE I’M SCARED OF.
I stared at the screen.
Daniel leaned closer.
“Who is she talking about?”
Then Emma sent one photograph.
Blurry.
Taken from inside the SUV.
Marcus was driving.
Richard sat in the passenger seat.
And reflected in the window behind them was another vehicle following closely.
A dark sedan.
Thomas saw it.
His face went white.
“What?”
I demanded.
He stared at the photograph.
“What?”
“That’s not federal.”
“How do you know?”
Thomas swallowed.
“Because I recognize that car.”
“Whose is it?”
He looked at me.
“Rachel Cole’s.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“Rachel is alive?”
Thomas stared at the photograph again.
“I don’t know.”
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Nobody spoke.
“Hello?”
Static.
Then a woman whispered,
“Claire?”
My hand went numb.
“Yes?”
“You don’t know me.”
I already knew.
“Rachel?”
Silence.
Then she started crying.
“Yes.”
Daniel and Thomas stared at me.
“Where are you?”
“Behind them.”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“You’re following Richard?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he has Emma.”
“How do you know my daughter?”
Rachel’s breathing shook.
“Because I’ve been watching your family for eight months.”
My entire body went cold.
“Why?”
“To keep you alive.”
I couldn’t speak.
Rachel continued.
“Claire, Richard isn’t the most dangerous person in that SUV.”
“Marcus?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
She whispered,
“Thomas.”
I slowly turned my head.
Thomas was still driving.
His eyes met mine.
Rachel continued through the phone.
“Do not let him take you to the airport.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“Why?”
Her answer barely came above a whisper.
“Because Thomas Bennett didn’t spend three years waiting for you to find Unit 317.”
A pause.
“He spent three years making sure you eventually would.”
