Chapter 4 - The Secret Laura Died Protecting
Evan turned toward Richard.
His father didn't deny it.
That was worse.
“Tell me she's lying.”
Richard looked tired.
“Not here.”
Evan grabbed his jacket.
“You don't choose where.”
Elena stepped forward.
“Let him speak.”
Evan released Richard.
Elena looked so much like Laura that it hurt to meet her eyes.
“Laura discovered something nine months before she died.”
“The charity accounts?”
“That was part of it.”
Richard interrupted.
“Laura misunderstood what she found.”
Elena laughed bitterly.
“My sister understood perfectly.”
She explained.
Richard had used legitimate Whitaker businesses to move money away from criminal operations decades earlier.
Years later, someone reopened dormant accounts.
Millions disappeared.
Richard suspected Vanessa's father, Arthur Vale.
Laura discovered the transfers.
Then she found something worse.
Arthur had been paying employees inside Evan's organization.
Including people responsible for his security.
Evan looked at Marcus.
Marcus shook his head.
“Not me.”
Richard continued.
“I tried to protect Laura.”
Elena's eyes flashed.
“You threatened her.”
“I told her to stop.”
“That's not protection.”
Evan stepped between them.
“Did you order her death?”
“No.”
“Did you know she was in danger?”
Richard hesitated.
“Yes.”
Evan hit him.
Richard fell against a table.
Nobody moved.
Evan stood over him.
“You knew.”
“I thought I could control it.”
“My wife died.”
“I know.”
“My children grew up without their mother because you thought you could control it.”
Richard wiped blood from his mouth.
“There’s more.”
Of course there was.
There was always more.
Laura had discovered Vanessa years before Evan met her.
Vanessa wasn't simply Arthur Vale's daughter.
She had worked for him.
She selected targets.
Relationships.
Access.
When Laura died, Vanessa waited.
Two years later, she met Evan at a foundation dinner.
Nothing about it was accidental.
“She was placed near you,” Elena said.
Evan felt sick.
Every smile.
Every coincidence.
Every moment Vanessa claimed fate had brought them together.
Calculated.
Grace handed him another document.
“Laura predicted Arthur would eventually use someone to reach you.”
“Why didn't anyone tell me?”
Elena's voice softened.
“Because you were surrounded by people we couldn't trust.”
A phone rang.
Vanessa.
Evan answered.
“You took the wrong child.”
Silence.
Then Vanessa laughed.
“Caleb wasn't the target.”
Evan looked toward Grace.
“What do you want?”
“Laura's files.”
“You're not getting them.”
“Then Sophie pays for your pride.”
Evan's blood froze.
Sophie was at the estate.
He called security.
No answer.
Marcus called another guard.
Nothing.
They raced back.
The estate was chaos.
Two guards had been drugged.
The power had been cut.
Evan ran upstairs.
“Sophie!”
Her bedroom was empty.
Grace saw the open window.
A rope hung outside.
“No.”
Evan stared at the bed.
Something rested on Sophie's pillow.
Her yellow hair bow.
And a phone.
It rang.
Evan answered.
Vanessa appeared on video.
Sophie sat behind her.
Unhurt.
Terrified.
“Daddy.”
“I’m here.”
Vanessa turned the camera.
“Give me the drive.”
Evan controlled his voice.
“You hurt her and nothing on earth protects you.”
“You still think this is about money.”
“What is it about?”
Vanessa smiled.
“Laura.”
Elena moved closer.
Vanessa saw her.
Her expression changed.
“So the spare sister finally came out of hiding.”
Elena whispered, “Where is Sophie?”
Vanessa ignored her.
“Ask Elena why Laura was at the mill the night she died.”
Evan looked at Elena.
“What does she mean?”
Elena said nothing.
Vanessa smiled.
“There it is.”
“Elena.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Laura called me that night.”
“And?”
“She wanted to disappear.”
Evan stared.
“What?”
“She was planning to take Sophie and leave.”
The room went silent.
Evan felt as though the floor shifted.
“Leave me?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Elena looked toward Richard.
“Your father.”
Richard closed his eyes.
Laura believed Richard's war with Arthur Vale would eventually destroy the children.
She intended to hide until she could expose both families.
But someone intercepted her.
Her car went over a bridge.
Her body was never recovered intact.
Evan remembered the closed coffin.
The official report.
Everything he'd accepted.
Vanessa spoke from the phone.
“Now ask the interesting question.”
Evan looked at the screen.
“What?”
“If Laura's body was never positively identified…”
Vanessa turned the camera.
Behind Sophie was a locked door.
Someone knocked from the other side.
Three slow knocks.
Sophie began crying.
May you like
Vanessa smiled at Evan through the screen.
“Why don't you ask who's been locked in this room for the last four years?”
