Chapter 4 - THE BOY WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
I ran before Richard could stop me.
“Elena!”
Max screamed again.
Every instinct in my body overruled common sense.
I reached the staircase as two security men moved toward the rear hall.
The enormous front windows were intact.
A decorative glass door near the kitchen was not.
Rain blew through shattered panes.
A black patio chair lay inside on the marble floor.
No attacker.
No gunman.
Just a chair thrown through glass.
Diversion.
Richard understood at the same moment I did.
“Where are the boys?”
A guard’s face went pale.
“They were with Lewis.”
Richard’s voice turned deadly.
“Where is Lewis?”
No answer.
Then Alex appeared from beneath the staircase.
“Dad!”
Richard crossed the room in seconds.
He dropped to one knee.
“Where’s Max?”
Alex was crying.
I had not seen him cry before.
“He followed the dog.”
“Where?”
“The back hallway. Bruno ran when the glass broke.”
Richard stood.
“Seal every internal door.”
I grabbed Alex’s hand.
“Come with me.”
“I want Dad.”
“He’s getting Max.”
“I’m going too.”
“No.”
“You’re not my mother!”
The words hit hard, but I did not release him.
“You’re right.”
He stared at me.
“I’m not your mother. Which means I’m not going to pretend I have some magical authority over you. But I am the adult standing here, and someone may be inside this house trying to hurt you. So you can hate me as much as you want while we move somewhere safer.”
For half a second, he looked shocked.
Then he came.
We reached the library.
Teresa locked the door behind us.
I crouched beside Alex.
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
“Bruno started barking.”
“Before the window broke?”
He nodded.
“At someone?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where was Lewis?”
“Talking to a man.”
“What man?”
“I couldn’t see his face.”
“What did he look like?”
Alex squeezed his eyes shut.
“Black suit.”
That described everyone in Richard’s world.
“Anything else?”
“He had silver things on his sleeves.”
“Cufflinks?”
“Yes.”
“What shape?”
Alex opened his eyes.
“Snakes.”
Teresa made a tiny sound.
I looked at her.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That was not nothing.”
Before she answered, pounding hit the library door.
“Elena.”
Richard.
Teresa unlocked it.
Max was in his arms.
The boy had both arms around his father’s neck, face buried against his shoulder.
Bruno trotted behind them, tail low.
Relief nearly knocked me backward.
Richard set Max down.
I hugged him before thinking.
The child clung to me.
“I couldn’t find you.”
“I’m right here.”
“Bruno went downstairs.”
“He’s a terrible bodyguard.”
Bruno sneezed.
Max laughed shakily.
Richard watched us.
Something moved across his face so quickly I could not name it.
Then he looked at Alex.
“What happened?”
Alex repeated the story.
When he mentioned snake cufflinks, Richard became still.
“You know who wears them,” I said.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Dominic Caruso.”
Teresa looked away.
“Who is Dominic?”
“My father’s oldest friend,” Richard said.
“And?”
“My senior adviser.”
I laughed once.
“Of course.”
“He has access to this house.”
“Of course.”
“He also knew your father.”
My stomach dropped.
Richard turned to one of his men.
“Find Dominic.”
“He left the city this morning.”
Richard’s eyes narrowed.
“Where?”
“Philadelphia, according to his office.”
“Confirm it independently.”
The guard left.
I looked at Richard.
“Your father’s oldest friend just happens to wear the same cufflinks as the man your son saw during a security breach.”
“I know what it sounds like.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
Alex tugged my sleeve.
“There’s something else.”
We all looked at him.
He hesitated.
“The man was talking to Lewis.”
“What did he say?”
“I only heard part.”
Richard crouched.
“You’re not in trouble.”
Alex looked toward me instead of his father.
“He said the new woman was here because of her dad.”
The room went silent.
My pulse pounded in my ears.
“What exact words?” I asked.
Alex swallowed.
“He said, ‘Hart’s daughter is finally inside. The boss did the hard part for us.’”
Richard closed his eyes for one second.
The implication was obvious.
By bringing me into his home, he had possibly delivered me directly to whoever wanted me.
I stepped back.
“This was a mistake.”
“Elena.”
“No. This arrangement, this house, all of it.”
“You’re safer here than outside.”
“Your own security people might be compromised!”
“They are being reviewed.”
“You brought your enemy’s target into the same house as your children.”
His expression sharpened.
“I did not know the threat came from inside.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
“Why? Because you made a bad tactical decision?”
“Because I put you in danger.”
The words landed differently than I expected.
I looked away.
Max still held my hand.
That made everything worse.
By morning, Lancaster House looked like a military checkpoint.
Half the staff had been temporarily removed.
Every employee was questioned.
Lewis, the security officer assigned to the boys, had vanished.
His car was later found abandoned near the Taconic Parkway.
No sign of him.
Dominic Caruso answered Richard’s call from Philadelphia and sounded genuinely furious when informed about the cufflinks.
According to Richard, anyway.
I didn’t hear the conversation.
I trusted no one now.
Not even him.
Especially not him.
Around noon, I found Max underneath the dining table feeding pieces of turkey to Bruno.
“You know dogs can become spoiled.”
“He’s already spoiled.”
“Then carry on.”
I sat on the floor opposite him.
He studied me.
“Are you leaving?”
The question hurt.
“I don’t know.”
“Alex says everybody leaves.”
My chest tightened.
“Your mom didn’t choose to.”
“I know.”
He tore another piece of turkey.
“Dad says people who make promises should keep them.”
I almost smiled.
“Your father says a lot of things.”
“Will you promise?”
“Promise what?”
“That you won’t leave today.”
Today.
Not forever.
The smallness of the request broke something in me.
“I can promise today.”
“Okay.”
He handed me a slice of turkey.
“Bruno likes the edge pieces.”
That afternoon, Richard showed me an office in the west wing.
A temporary workspace, he said.
Inside was a computer, a desk, and three boxes of documents relating to my father.
I stared at them.
“You had all this?”
“Everything we recovered from company archives.”
“You’re letting me read it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you were right.”
I turned.
“I’m sorry, could you repeat that? I’d like witnesses.”
His mouth almost moved.
“You deserve the truth.”
For hours, I read.
Invoices.
Payroll lists.
Shipping manifests.
Bank transfers.
Most meant nothing to me.
Then I found an old handwritten expense sheet.
My father’s writing.
I knew it instantly.
His sevens always had a line through the middle.
One entry was circled.
VALE CONSULTING — 2.4M.
My blood turned cold.
Gabriel Vale.
Isabella’s brother.
Richard stood behind me.
“That company dissolved seventeen years ago.”
“One year after my father died.”
“Yes.”
I flipped through more pages.
Then something fell from between two folders.
An old Polaroid.
My father stood outside a warehouse.
Beside him was a dark-haired young woman.
Not me.
I turned the photograph over.
One sentence had been written on the back.
THOMAS—IF RICHARD WON’T LISTEN, I WILL.
Signed:
ISABELLA.
I looked up.
“Your wife knew my father.”
Richard stared at the photograph like he had seen a ghost.
“I never knew this existed.”
My heart began hammering.
“Then Isabella was investigating too.”
Richard said nothing.
Three years ago, Isabella Lancaster had supposedly died when her car lost control on an icy road.
My father had supposedly died in an accident eighteen years earlier.
Two people.
Same secret.
Same family.
Same convenient explanation.
“Richard.”
He looked at me.
“What if Isabella wasn’t an accident either?”
His face went white.
Before he could answer, Alex appeared in the doorway.
“Dad?”
Richard turned.
The boy looked frightened.
“There’s somebody in Mom’s room.”
Every muscle in Richard’s body tightened.
“Who?”
May you like
Alex whispered the answer.
“Mom.”
