Chapter 4 - The Woman Before Mara
Rebecca Sloan arrived carrying a black folder and said:
“Daniel didn’t start with you.”
She placed an old photograph on Elena’s table.
Daniel stood beside another engagement ring.
A date was written on the back.
Nine years earlier.
Elena realized she had never known his first victim.
Rebecca was forty-one, composed, and visibly uncomfortable sitting inside Elena’s kitchen.
“I almost didn’t call.”
“Why did you?”
“Because Mara contacted me.”
Elena looked surprised.
Rebecca explained that Mara had searched Daniel’s history after returning home.
She found an old social-media photograph.
Daniel and Rebecca.
Engaged.
Daniel had told Mara Rebecca was “an obsessive ex.”
The same phrase appeared in messages he had sent Elena years earlier.
Rebecca opened the folder.
Bank records.
Legal letters.
A police report.
Daniel had persuaded Rebecca to combine finances before their wedding.
Then money disappeared.
When she confronted him, he claimed she had authorized transfers.
The wedding ended.
Rebecca recovered only part of what she lost.
“Why wasn’t he charged?”
“Not enough evidence.”
“Forgery?”
“Not proven.”
Daniel had learned.
Improved.
Adapted.
Elena felt as though she were looking at the evolutionary history of a predator.
Rebecca’s losses had taught him what mistakes not to repeat.
Mara had become a tool.
Elena had become the target.
“What was the exit window?” Elena asked.
Rebecca’s face changed.
“You found that phrase?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca looked down.
“He used it with me.”
“What does it mean?”
“The point when he leaves.”
Elena felt cold.
Rebecca explained.
Daniel’s pattern was not simply stealing money.
He built emotional and financial dependence first.
Then he created a crisis.
Infidelity.
Mental-health accusations.
A sudden separation.
Something that made the woman appear unstable.
Then he left while retaining control of assets.
Elena remembered his calls to family members.
Postpartum stress.
Spiraling.
Misunderstanding.
He had already begun.
“He was preparing the story,” she whispered.
Rebecca nodded.
By Friday, the evidence had grown beyond a broken engagement.
The bank referred the case to investigators.
Thomas submitted documents concerning the forged property transfer.
Daniel stopped calling Elena directly.
His lawyer communicated instead.
Then came the custody filing.
Daniel requested temporary equal custody of Noah.
Elena read it twice.
Claire remained calm.
“This is expected.”
“He’s using our son.”
“Possibly. But we respond based on facts.”
Daniel claimed Elena had abruptly cut him off from Noah.
Not true.
Claire had offered supervised exchanges until financial and legal tensions stabilized.
Daniel had refused.
He wanted Noah overnight immediately.
Elena refused to panic.
At the hearing the following week, Daniel looked immaculate.
Dark suit.
Controlled expression.
Concerned father.
He did not look like a man whose fiancée had discovered forged signatures.
He looked reasonable.
That was his talent.
His attorney described Elena as “understandably emotional following the end of an engagement.”
Claire responded with documentation.
Messages.
Proposed visitation.
Daniel’s refusal.
The judge ordered a temporary schedule and instructed both parents to avoid discussing financial allegations around the child.
Elena agreed.
Daniel smiled at her outside the courtroom.
It was the first time they had been face-to-face since Santa Fe.
“You’re enjoying this,” he said quietly.
Elena looked at him.
“No.”
“You always wanted control.”
She almost laughed.
Instead she walked away.
Daniel called after her.
“Mara used you.”
Elena stopped.
He continued.
“She sent that text intentionally.”
Elena turned.
“What?”
“She knew exactly what she was doing.”
For one second, doubt entered.
Daniel saw it.
And smiled.
That was enough.
Elena understood.
He was trying to split them.
“No,” she said. “That doesn’t work anymore.”
His smile disappeared.
She left.
That evening, Elena called Mara.
“Did you text me intentionally?”
Mara was silent.
Elena’s stomach tightened.
“Mara?”
“I need to explain.”
The room went still.
Mara admitted she had begun suspecting Daniel Thursday night.
His story contained contradictions.
He said Elena knew about the trip but became nervous whenever Mara mentioned contacting her.
He said the wedding was postponed, yet Mara found a wedding website still active.
“So the message…”
“I wanted to see what you knew.”
Elena felt anger rise.
“You used me.”
“I tested him.”
“You tested him by detonating my life.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you just ask me directly?”
“I was afraid.”
“So was I.”
Mara began crying.
Elena did not comfort her.
Not yet.
But she listened.
Mara had not known about the financial fraud.
She had not known Daniel still intended to marry Elena.
She had suspected only that he was lying about the status of their relationship.
Her message had been bait.
Daniel had taken it.
“I’m sorry,” Mara said.
Elena closed her eyes.
“I’m not ready to forgive you.”
“I understand.”
“But keep helping the investigators.”
“I will.”
After the call, Elena sat alone.
Forgiveness, she realized, was not the same as trust.
Maybe Mara deserved one eventually.
Maybe not.
Elena did not need to decide tonight.
At 10:42, Thomas emailed.
They had identified Canyon North Holdings’ second bank account.
More transfers.
More money.
But one payment was different.
It went to a private investigator.
Elena called Thomas immediately.
“Why would Daniel hire an investigator?”
“We don’t know.”
“When?”
“Five months ago.”
“What was investigated?”
“We’re trying to find out.”
The answer arrived the next morning.
The investigator agreed to speak after receiving a subpoena.
Daniel had hired him to investigate Elena.
Her routines.
Her accounts.
Her father’s estate.
Even the daycare Elena had considered for Noah.
Elena stared at the report.
Then she saw photographs.
Her leaving the grocery store.
Her visiting Rachel.
Her walking Noah in the park.
Daniel had paid someone to follow her.
One photograph had been taken through the windshield of a parked car.
Elena was carrying Noah toward their front door.
Written beneath it:
SUBJECT RETURNS HOME 4:36 PM. ALONE.
Her hands shook.
Claire read over her shoulder.
“This changes things.”
Then the investigator’s final invoice appeared.
It contained an assignment Elena had not seen.
SECONDARY SUBJECT — R. SLOAN.
Rebecca.
Daniel had also been watching Rebecca.
Elena called her.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Then Rebecca finally texted.
Someone is outside my house.
Elena called immediately.
Rebecca whispered:
“He just got out of the car.”
“Who?”
A knock sounded through Rebecca’s phone.
Three slow knocks.
May you like
Then Daniel’s voice came from the other side of her door.
“Rebecca. We need to talk.”
