Chapter 4 - The Housekeeper's Secret
Nathan stared at the photograph.
The man beside Elena looked younger than he expected.
Dark hair.
Kind eyes.
A casual smile.
"Your husband?"
Elena nodded.
"My late husband."
Nathan looked at Maya's message again.
THOMAS BELL.
"His name was Thomas?"
Elena's eyes filled.
"Thomas Alvarez."
Nathan turned the photograph around.
Written on the back was another name.
THOMAS BELL.
He looked at Elena.
"Tell me everything."
Elena closed the study door.
"My husband wasn't always Thomas Alvarez."
Nathan said nothing.
"He worked in finance before we met. He changed his name after leaving Seattle."
"Why?"
"He told me he had made enemies."
"Victoria?"
Elena flinched.
"You know?"
"I know Victoria was connected to him."
Elena sat down.
For the first time in nine years, Nathan saw her not as the steady woman who had quietly maintained order around his life, but as someone carrying a secret much heavier than he had understood.
"Thomas met Victoria six years before you did," Elena said.
"She called herself Claire Bennett then."
Nathan nodded.
"She approached him the same way she approached you."
"Romantically?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
"He fell in love."
Nathan felt something twist inside him.
"Did she steal from him?"
"She tried."
Elena looked toward the window.
"But Thomas discovered it."
Nathan waited.
"He confronted her. She disappeared."
"And Thomas?"
"He learned she wasn't working alone."
"Who?"
"I never knew."
"He didn't tell you?"
"He was afraid knowledge would put me in danger."
Nathan thought of Daniel.
Maya.
The unidentified man.
"Thomas changed his name and moved here?"
"Yes. We met later. He told me only pieces."
"When did he die?"
Elena hesitated.
"Five years ago."
Maya had said someone used Thomas Bell's biometric authorization yesterday.
Nathan felt cold.
"How?"
"Car accident."
"Body identified?"
"Mr. Whitmore..."
"Was there a body?"
Elena looked at him.
"No."
Nathan stood.
"You told me your husband died."
"I believed he did."
"Then why is your contact information attached to Thomas Bell's records?"
"I don't know."
Nathan showed her Maya's message.
Elena covered her mouth.
"Yesterday?"
"Yes."
Tears entered her eyes.
"Then maybe..."
She couldn't finish.
Nathan understood.
Maybe Thomas wasn't dead.
The possibility transformed everything.
Nathan called Maya and placed her on speaker.
Daniel joined remotely.
Elena told them what she knew.
Maya asked, "Did Thomas ever mention Greenfield Consulting?"
Elena shook her head.
"Richard?"
Her expression changed.
"Richard?"
Nathan noticed.
"You know him."
Elena stood.
"He came to my apartment."
"When?"
"Two months ago."
"What did he want?"
"He asked questions about you."
Nathan's pulse jumped.
"What questions?"
"Whether you loved Victoria. Whether the wedding would really happen. Whether you had changed your estate plans."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I tried."
Nathan closed his eyes.
Again.
She had tried.
Victoria had successfully placed herself between Nathan and everyone who might warn him.
"Did Richard threaten you?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"He warned me."
"About Victoria?"
"He said, 'Don't let her finish what she started with Thomas.'"
Maya interrupted.
"Elena, can you describe Richard?"
Elena described him.
Maya opened a photograph on her computer and sent it.
Nathan showed Elena.
"That him?"
Elena nodded immediately.
"Yes."
Maya said, "That's Richard Hale. Former private investigator."
Nathan frowned.
"Why is Victoria meeting with a private investigator?"
"Maybe she isn't."
Maya pulled up another record.
"Richard Hale worked for Thomas Bell."
Silence.
Nathan looked at Elena.
"Thomas hired him?"
"Apparently."
Maya continued.
"And according to this, Richard disappeared around the same time Thomas did."
Daniel said, "Then we may have two men who were investigating Victoria and vanished."
Nathan felt a growing realization.
"What if Richard didn't disappear?"
Maya understood.
"You think he's still working."
"And watching Victoria."
Elena whispered, "Maybe he sent the photograph."
DON'T TRUST DANIEL.
Daniel sounded offended.
"Wonderful."
Nathan almost smiled.
Almost.
They agreed to investigate the safe-deposit box indirectly.
Daniel would request information through a legitimate fraud inquiry.
Nathan would continue behaving normally.
That evening, Victoria seemed unusually affectionate.
She made Nathan's favorite dinner.
She wore the perfume he had given her in Paris.
She asked about Chicago.
Nathan lied smoothly.
At one point, she touched his cheek.
"You seem different."
"Tired."
"Are you nervous about the wedding?"
"No."
"Good."
Her smile lingered.
"Because after Saturday, everything changes."
Nathan met her eyes.
"I'm counting on it."
At midnight, Nathan pretended to sleep.
Victoria lay beside him.
At 1:17 a.m., she quietly got out of bed.
Nathan waited.
The bedroom door closed.
He followed several minutes later.
Victoria went downstairs.
She entered the library.
Nathan approached silently.
He heard her speaking.
"We have a complication."
Pause.
"No, he doesn't know."
Pause.
"I said he doesn't know."
Nathan leaned closer.
Victoria whispered:
"Elena has become a problem."
Nathan's face hardened.
Another pause.
"No. Not yet."
Then:
"We do it Friday."
Friday.
Three days.
Nathan's heart pounded.
Victoria ended the call.
Nathan slipped away before she emerged.
The next morning, he met Maya at a coffee shop.
She handed him a tablet.
"I found something."
Security footage from the private bank.
Yesterday morning.
A man entered wearing a baseball cap.
The camera captured only part of his face.
Elena had joined them.
The moment she saw him, she began crying.
"Thomas."
Nathan stared.
Alive.
Older.
Thinner.
But unquestionably the man in Elena's photograph.
Elena pressed a hand against her mouth.
"He's alive."
Maya advanced the footage.
Thomas entered the safe-deposit area.
Forty minutes later he exited.
He left carrying a small metal case.
Nathan said, "Where did he go?"
"We don't know."
"Can you track him?"
"Trying."
Elena wiped her eyes.
"Why wouldn't he contact me?"
Nathan had no answer.
His phone rang.
Daniel.
"There's been another development."
"What?"
"The trust amendment was withdrawn this morning."
Nathan frowned.
"By whom?"
"Victoria."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
Maya said, "Maybe she knows we're investigating."
Daniel continued.
"That's not all. She submitted something else."
Nathan's stomach tightened.
"What?"
"A new wedding agreement."
"I haven't signed anything."
"You don't need to."
"What are you talking about?"
Daniel's voice became grave.
"It activates only if something happens to you before the wedding."
Elena stared at Nathan.
Maya whispered, "Life insurance?"
Daniel said, "No."
"Then what?"
"A controlling-interest proxy."
Nathan stood.
"To whom?"
Daniel hesitated.
Then:
"Victoria."
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
"But it requires certification by a medical authority."
"Medical?"
"Declaring you temporarily incapacitated."
Nathan looked down at the untouched coffee in front of him.
Victoria had cooked dinner last night.
Poured his wine.
Made his coffee.
His stomach turned.
Maya saw his face.
"What did you eat this morning?"
Nathan didn't answer.
"Nothing," Elena said quickly. "I made breakfast."
Maya exhaled.
Nathan remembered Victoria's words.
We do it Friday.
This was no longer simply financial fraud.
They were planning to incapacitate him.
Maybe worse.
Nathan called his private physician.
He arranged immediate bloodwork.
Two hours later, the preliminary result arrived.
There was something in Nathan's system.
A sedative.
Small dosage.
Not enough to make him unconscious.
Enough to build gradually.
Nathan remembered headaches he had blamed on work.
Dizziness.
Unusual exhaustion.
Victoria had been dosing him.
The anger that entered him was almost frightening in its clarity.
Maya grabbed his wrist.
"Don't confront her."
"I wasn't going to."
"What are you going to do?"
Nathan looked at Elena.
"Let Victoria believe her plan is working."
That night, Nathan returned home.
He acted tired.
He stumbled slightly.
Victoria watched carefully.
"You okay?"
"Just exhausted."
She touched his forehead.
"Maybe you're getting sick."
Nathan leaned against the counter.
"Maybe."
Victoria smiled.
Almost imperceptibly.
Then she poured him a glass of water.
Nathan accepted it.
He didn't drink.
At 10:42 p.m., Victoria's phone lit up on the nightstand while she showered.
Nathan glanced at the screen.
A text preview appeared.
RICHARD: Tomorrow. Same place. Bring the final dose.
Nathan stared.
Richard.
The investigator who had worked for Thomas.
Was Richard helping Victoria?
Or setting her up?
The bathroom water stopped.
Nathan stepped away.
Victoria emerged.
She picked up her phone.
Her expression changed when she read the message.
The next morning, Nathan followed her.
Victoria drove to an abandoned warehouse near the river.
Nathan parked two blocks away.
He entered through a side entrance.
Voices echoed inside.
Victoria stood beneath a hanging industrial light.
Across from her was Richard Hale.
Nathan moved closer.
Victoria handed Richard a small bottle.
Nathan's blood turned cold.
Richard examined it.
Then he said:
"Once Nathan drinks this, there's no going back."
Victoria smiled.
"No."
Nathan reached for his phone to record them.
A hand suddenly clamped over his mouth from behind.
May you like
And a man's voice whispered into his ear:
"If you want to survive, don't move."
