Chapter 3 - The Sister Who Left a Door Open
“Mom.”
Lorraine shook her head immediately.
“Ava, not here.”
“Where were you at 9:12 this morning?”
Richard tried to leave again.
Dante stopped him.
Lorraine looked at the closed office door as though she could somehow escape through it without moving.
“I was helping Vanessa.”
Ava felt something tighten in her chest.
“Helping her do what?”
“Pack.”
The word struck harder than Ava expected.
“You knew Vanessa was leaving?”
“I knew she was upset.”
“With my fiancé?”
“No.”
“Then why was she packing on my wedding morning?”
Lorraine's eyes filled.
“She told me she needed to get away.”
Ava stared at her mother.
At 9:12 that morning, Ava had been upstairs at Lorraine’s house having her hair done.
Vanessa had disappeared for twenty minutes.
She claimed she had gone downstairs to find earrings.
Ava remembered it perfectly because Vanessa had returned carrying coffee.
“What did you give her?”
Lorraine said nothing.
“Mom.”
“A key.”
“To what?”
“Your house.”
Ava stepped back.
Lorraine rushed forward.
“She said she left your grandmother’s bracelet there. She wanted to wear it as her something borrowed. You were busy. I had the spare key.”
Ava closed her eyes.
Her security token had been in her home office.
Vanessa had gotten access at exactly the right time.
“You gave her my key.”
“I thought she wanted a bracelet.”
“You always think whatever Vanessa needs you to think.”
Lorraine flinched.
Ava immediately regretted the cruelty.
But she didn't retract it.
Because it was true.
Her entire childhood had been structured around protecting Vanessa from consequences.
Vanessa failed a class; Ava tutored her.
Vanessa crashed Lorraine’s car; Ava helped pay the deductible.
Vanessa lost money; Ava covered it.
Vanessa wanted Ava’s fiancé—
Apparently she took him too.
Dante interrupted.
“Where is the spare key now?”
Lorraine swallowed.
“She never returned it.”
Ava grabbed her phone.
“I need to go home.”
Dante nodded.
Richard objected.
“We need attorneys.”
“You need one,” Dante said.
“I need answers.”
Twenty minutes later, Ava stood inside her own house wearing a wedding gown that suddenly seemed absurd.
Dante had driven.
Lorraine followed separately.
Richard was not invited.
Dante had instructed company security to prevent him from entering any corporate building until further notice.
Ava walked directly upstairs.
Her bedroom looked untouched.
The home office was different.
At first glance, nothing was wrong.
Then Ava saw the desk drawer.
Not broken.
Opened.
She pulled it out.
Her security token was gone.
Dante stood behind her.
“Vanessa?”
“Probably.”
Ava checked the small camera mounted above the bookshelf.
The status light was off.
She opened the security application on her phone.
Camera disconnected at 8:57 a.m.
Reconnected at 9:31.
Thirty-four missing minutes.
Someone knew exactly what they were doing.
Ava sat at her desk.
“Vanessa doesn't.”
Dante understood.
“Doesn't what?”
“Know how to disable this camera without triggering an alert.”
“Adrian does.”
“Maybe.”
But Ava was thinking of someone else.
Richard.
He had overseen corporate security for years.
Ava opened her local router logs.
At 8:56, an unfamiliar device had connected to her network.
She copied the identifier.
Dante called his technology director.
Within minutes they had a manufacturer.
A specialized corporate security tablet.
Only twelve had been issued by DeLuca Holdings.
Dante asked for the list.
One belonged to Adrian.
One to Richard.
The rest were accounted for.
Ava leaned back.
“So either Adrian came here before the wedding…”
“Or Richard did.”
Ava looked toward the hallway.
A floorboard creaked.
Dante turned.
Lorraine stood there.
But she wasn't looking at them.
She was looking toward the guest bedroom.
“What?” Ava asked.
Lorraine whispered, “Vanessa stayed here Thursday night.”
Ava stared.
“No, she didn't.”
“She told me she did.”
“She stayed at your house.”
Lorraine shook her head.
“She left after midnight.”
Ava walked toward the guest room.
The bed was perfectly made.
She opened the closet.
Empty.
Then she noticed the wastebasket.
A torn corner of paper was caught beneath the liner.
Ava pulled it out.
It was part of a boarding document.
Flight number.
Departure time.
Passenger code.
Dante photographed it.
“This flight didn't leave today.”
Ava checked the date.
Thursday.
Two days before the wedding.
“Then why did Vanessa have it?”
Dante called someone.
A minute later, he had the answer.
The flight had traveled from Chicago to Montreal.
Passenger manifest sealed.
Private charter.
Ava examined the torn paper again.
Something was handwritten along the edge.
E-17.
“What’s that?”
Dante’s expression darkened.
“Elena.”
Ava looked up.
“My wife kept a private records archive. E-series files were hers.”
“You said her credentials were deleted.”
“They were.”
“But someone is using them.”
Dante stared at the paper.
“And someone may have found her archive.”
Ava looked around her house differently.
Vanessa had not merely come here for a security token.
She had been searching.
“For what?”
Dante didn't answer.
His phone rang.
He listened.
Then his expression hardened.
“What happened?”
“The plane.”
“Adrian’s?”
Dante nodded.
“It never filed an international route.”
Ava frowned.
“The video made it look like they were leaving the country.”
“They wanted us to think that.”
“Where did it land?”
“Private airfield outside Chicago.”
Ava felt cold.
“They’re still here.”
Dante nodded.
Her phone vibrated.
Vanessa.
Not a message.
A call.
Ava answered.
“Vanessa?”
For several seconds, only breathing.
Then her sister whispered:
“Ava, listen to me. Adrian lied.”
Ava gripped the phone.
“Where are you?”
“I thought we were leaving.”
“Where are you?”
“He brought me back.”
Vanessa sounded frightened now.
Genuinely frightened.
“There’s something in your house he needs.”
Ava looked at Dante.
“What?”
“I don't know. Some file his mother hid.”
Ava’s eyes moved toward the torn boarding document.
E-17.
“Vanessa, where are you?”
A sound came through the phone.
A door.
Vanessa gasped.
“Ava—”
“What?”
“He’s here.”
The connection ended.
Ava immediately called back.
No answer.
Then a noise came from downstairs.
The front door had opened.
Dante moved toward the hallway.
Ava followed.
At the bottom of the stairs, the door to her locked basement office stood open.
Ava had not opened it.
May you like
Dante looked at her.
Someone was already inside.
