Chapter 2 - THE CALL SHE COULDN’T MAKE Michael took Vanessa's phone before she could unlock it.
“Give that back.”
“No.”
Her eyes hardened.
“You have no right to search my property.”
Michael looked at the bruises on Ethan’s arms.
“You were standing over my children with a hanger.”
“They're lying.”
Ethan lifted his head.
“She told us you'd send Dad away if we talked.”
Vanessa's jaw tightened.
Michael had never heard Ethan sound so afraid.
“Lily,” he said gently, “take Ethan into the kitchen.”
“No.”
She clung to him.
“I don't want to leave you.”
Michael knelt.
“You won't lose me.”
Vanessa laughed softly.
The sound was almost cruel.
“That’s exactly what Rachel used to say.”
Michael froze.
He slowly turned.
“What did you just say?”
Vanessa blinked.
Then her expression changed.
“I said everyone knew Rachel. You talked about her constantly.”
“That isn't what you meant.”
Vanessa stepped toward the hallway.
“I’m not standing here while you interrogate me.”
Michael blocked her.
“You’re not leaving until the police arrive.”
For the first time, Vanessa looked genuinely frightened.
“The police?”
“You assaulted two children.”
“You shoved me.”
“To stop you from hitting them.”
Her eyes flicked toward the front door.
Michael saw the calculation.
Then the security panel beeped.
The front gate had opened.
Headlights swept across the windows.
A black SUV rolled up the driveway.
Michael frowned.
His private security chief, Daniel Ross, stepped from the passenger side.
But someone else emerged behind him.
A man in a gray suit.
Michael knew him immediately.
Robert Vale.
Rachel’s former attorney.
The man who had disappeared three days after her funeral.
Robert entered carrying a red file.
Rain dripped from his coat.
“Michael,” he said, breathing hard.
“Lock the doors.”
Daniel did.
Vanessa stared at Robert as though she were looking at a ghost.
Robert looked directly at her.
“You're supposed to be a grieving family friend.”
Vanessa said nothing.
Michael's pulse accelerated.
“You know each other.”
Robert placed the red file on the dining table.
“I knew your wife before you did.”
Michael stared at him.
“My first wife?”
“Rachel.”
Robert opened the file.
Inside were bank statements.
Medical records.
Photographs.
And a sealed letter.
On top was a photograph of Vanessa standing beside Rachel outside a law office.
The date was three months before Rachel died.
Michael looked at Vanessa.
“You told me you met her after the charity dinner.”
“I did.”
Robert shook his head.
“No.”
His voice was quiet.
“They met because Rachel hired me to investigate fourteen million dollars missing from the Carter Family Trust.”
Michael felt the floor tilt beneath him.
Fourteen million dollars.
Money intended for his children.
“Who took it?”
Robert pulled out a transfer document.
A shell company.
Blackwood Holdings.
The authorized signatory was Vanessa Pierce.
Vanessa's maiden name.
Michael looked at his wife.
She had no answer.
Robert slid the sealed letter across the table.
“Rachel wrote this the night before the crash.”
Michael's hands shook as he opened it.
The first line was enough to make his blood run cold.
Michael, if anything happens to me, do not trust the crash report.
The final sentence was worse.
Ask Lily what she remembers about the red umbrella.
Michael slowly looked at his daughter.
“Lily…”
Her face went pale.
“What red umbrella?”
She began to cry.
“The lady from Mommy's car.”
Vanessa bolted toward the back door.
This time, Michael knew.
May you like
She wasn't running from him.
She was running from the truth.
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