Chapter 2 - The Boy Nobody Mentioned
Nathan’s hand remained on the lock.
“What did Mina give you?”
I slid my closed fist behind my back.
“Nothing.”
He smiled.
It was the first time I had ever seen Daniel’s older brother look at me for longer than a few seconds.
Nathan Whitmore was thirty-seven and looked like the kind of man magazines described as disciplined.
Expensive suit.
Perfect posture.
Measured voice.
No wasted movement.
Now I understood that discipline could mean something else.
Mina retreated until her shoulders touched the wall.
Nathan noticed.
His expression didn’t change.
“Come here.”
She shook her head.
Two tiny movements.
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
Daniel stepped between them.
“Leave her alone.”
Nathan looked almost amused.
“You’re giving me instructions now?”
“She needs a doctor.”
“She needs to stop making scenes.”
I stared at him.
“She’s covered in bruises.”
Nathan finally looked at me.
“My wife has health issues.”
“Do those health issues have your fingerprints?”
Eleanor hissed my name.
Nathan’s smile vanished.
Daniel grabbed my elbow.
“We’re leaving.”
Nathan blocked him.
“No.”
The brothers stood inches apart.
For the first time, I saw something underneath Daniel’s calm exterior.
Hatred.
Old hatred.
Eleanor stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Charles Whitmore appeared behind the glass door.
Daniel’s father had barely spoken during dinner.
Now he looked at the shattered bowl.
Then Mina.
Then me.
His expression remained unreadable.
“Guests are asking questions.”
Nathan opened the door.
“Then tell them Mina dropped something.”
Charles’s eyes rested on his daughter-in-law’s bruises.
He said nothing.
That silence told me whose side he had chosen long ago.
Daniel pulled me through the doorway.
I kept my fist closed around the paper.
We passed the dining room.
People watched us.
Eleanor followed.
“Claire, you’re emotional.”
I turned so fast she nearly walked into me.
“Your daughter-in-law is injured and eating scraps on your kitchen floor.”
“She is mentally unstable.”
From behind us, Mina whispered, “I’m not.”
Everyone went silent.
Nathan appeared.
Mina immediately lowered her head.
I wanted to cross the room and drag her out with me.
Daniel squeezed my arm.
“Claire.”
The warning in his voice wasn’t for me.
It was about timing.
I understood.
Barely.
I walked with him toward the foyer.
Eleanor followed all the way to the front doors.
“The wedding is Saturday.”
“Not anymore.”
Her expression barely shifted.
Daniel said, “Mom.”
She ignored him.
“You’re upset. Sleep. We’ll speak tomorrow.”
“There is nothing to discuss.”
Eleanor looked at my hand.
I realized I was still holding the folded paper.
“Give me what Mina gave you.”
“No.”
“She is confused.”
“Then it shouldn’t matter.”
She stopped smiling completely.
“You have no idea what you are interfering with.”
“You’re right.”
I stepped outside.
“But I intend to find out.”
Daniel followed me.
I expected his mother to call him back.
She didn’t.
That frightened me.
We got into his car.
Neither of us spoke until the iron gates disappeared behind us.
Then I said, “Pull over.”
“Claire.”
“Pull over.”
He drove another quarter mile before stopping near an empty church parking lot.
I got out.
He followed.
The night air felt sharp against my skin.
I unfolded Mina’s note beneath a streetlamp.
There were only three lines.
ELI W.
ST. MATTHEW’S CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER
ASK FOR MRS. HAYES
I looked at Daniel.
“Who is Eli?”
He closed his eyes.
“My nephew.”
“You told me Nathan and Mina didn’t have children.”
“I told you they didn’t have children living at home.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“I know.”
“Where is he?”
“At a residential center.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked toward the road.
“Nathan says Eli has severe behavioral problems.”
“And what does Mina say?”
“She says he doesn’t.”
“Who decided?”
“My family.”
The answer made my skin crawl.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Mina asked me not to involve you.”
“Tonight she involved me herself.”
“I know.”
“What did you promise her?”
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.
“That if things became dangerous, I would help her leave.”
“And did you?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Eight months ago.”
“What happened?”
“She changed her mind.”
I stared at him.
“A terrified abused woman changed her mind?”
“She said Nathan would get Eli transferred somewhere she couldn’t find him.”
I thought about Mina’s bruises.
“Did you call the police?”
“She begged me not to.”
“So you did nothing?”
“I hired a private attorney for her.”
“Where is the attorney?”
“Gone.”
“What does that mean?”
“She stopped returning calls after two meetings.”
“What was her name?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Rebecca Lane.”
“Stopped returning calls to Mina?”
“To everyone.”
“How long ago?”
“Six months.”
A terrible possibility formed.
“You think your family did something to her?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re marrying me in two days and you don’t know whether your family disappeared an attorney?”
Daniel flinched.
“I was trying to get evidence before I told you.”
“Evidence of what?”
He looked at me.
“Financial coercion.”
My company.
I remembered the acquisition contract.
“What happened to Mina’s career?”
“She owned a small architectural design studio.”
Owned.
Past tense.
“What happened after she married Nathan?”
“The Whitmore company acquired it.”
My stomach dropped.
“And then?”
“She stopped working within a year.”
I remembered Eleanor saying I wouldn’t need my little company.
It had not been an assumption.
It had been a pattern.
“How many women?”
“What?”
“How many women in your family gave up businesses after marriage?”
Daniel went silent.
“That many?”
“Three.”
I laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“Your mother planned to do the same thing to me.”
“I wasn’t going to let that happen.”
“You gave her my financial records.”
“Because she suspected I was hiding something.”
“So you helped her.”
“I fed her incomplete information.”
I stared at him.
“The contract looked complete.”
“It isn’t.”
He stepped closer.
“Claire, I know how this looks.”
“You really don’t.”
“I have been trying to get enough information to expose Nathan and my father.”
“And your mother?”
His silence stretched.
“Daniel.”
“She controls most of the family trusts.”
“So yes.”
“Yes.”
I walked away several steps.
I needed distance.
Every memory from the past eighteen months was rearranging itself.
Daniel asking about my contracts.
Daniel asking about my ownership structure.
Daniel suggesting I move certain accounts.
Had he been protecting me?
Or profiling me?
“How do I know you’re not part of it?”
“You don’t.”
His answer stopped me.
He didn’t beg.
Didn’t defend himself.
“You shouldn’t trust me just because I ask you to.”
That was the first thing he had said all night that made sense.
“So what now?”
“You go home.”
“And Mina?”
“I’ll get her out.”
“When?”
“Tonight if I can.”
“No.”
He stared at me.
“No?”
“I’m going to St. Matthew’s tomorrow morning.”
“That could be dangerous.”
“Why?”
“Because if Eli is part of how Nathan controls Mina, the center may be involved.”
“Then I’ll find out.”
“I’m going with you.”
“I haven’t decided whether I ever want to see you again.”
“You can decide that after Eli is safe.”
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I opened the message.
A photograph appeared.
Mina.
She was standing beside Nathan inside the mansion foyer.
Nathan had one hand on her shoulder.
She looked terrified.
Under the picture was one sentence.
RETURN THE NOTE.
Daniel stared at my screen.
Then another message arrived.
WE KNOW WHERE YOUR SISTER LIVES.
My blood went cold.
My younger sister, Leah, lived alone in Chicago.
I called her immediately.
No answer.
Again.
Voicemail.
Daniel reached for his phone.
“Call the police.”
I was already dialing.
Then my phone rang.
Leah.
I answered.
“Leah?”
No response.
“Leah!”
A man breathed softly on the other end.
Then Leah’s voice whispered in the background.
May you like
“Claire?”
The call disconnected.
