Chapter 4 - WHAT DANIEL WAS PROTECTING
Adrian shut off the recorder.
I grabbed his wrist.
“Turn it back on.”
“Emma—”
“Turn it back on.”
My daughter had just been threatened by a dead man’s voice from six years ago.
I needed the rest.
Adrian pressed PLAY.
Daniel continued.
“Victor thinks I copied the shipping records. He’s wrong. I copied something worse.”
A pause.
“Dad’s original books.”
Adrian frowned.
Daniel’s voice grew quieter.
“Adrian, Victor didn’t inherit the organization after Dad died. He stole it.”
Adrian stopped the tape again.
This time I understood.
“You didn’t know.”
“No.”
“What are the original books?”
“Records my father kept himself.”
“Of what?”
“Everything.”
Adrian looked shaken.
Not frightened.
Wounded.
For years he had apparently believed Victor had rescued the family after his father’s death.
Daniel was saying the opposite.
I pressed PLAY myself.
“The records prove Victor was moving money without Dad’s knowledge. More importantly, they prove he was feeding information to rival crews, then blaming the leaks on our own people.”
Adrian stared at nothing.
Daniel’s final words came slowly.
“I hid the proof where Victor would never destroy it because destroying it would expose him. Emma has the key. Adrian knows the place.”
The tape clicked off.
I turned to Adrian.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re supposed to.”
“I said I don’t.”
Anger surged through me.
“Then think.”
His eyes snapped toward mine.
“You think I’m not?”
“I think my six-year-old daughter has spent her entire life in danger because men in your family keep secrets!”
My voice echoed.
Adrian absorbed it without defending himself.
That made me angrier.
Then he said quietly, “You’re right.”
I looked away.
He picked up Daniel’s coat.
Something metallic fell from the pocket.
A subway token.
Old, brass-colored, long obsolete.
Adrian stared at it.
Then his expression changed.
“I know the place.”
We returned to the mansion.
I hated bringing the danger closer to Mia, but Adrian refused to leave us unprotected, and for once I didn’t argue.
Victor was expected for dinner that evening.
Adrian did not cancel.
“You’re letting him come here?”
“If he knows we’re suspicious, he changes whatever game he’s playing.”
“What if Daniel was right?”
“Then Victor has already known about Mia for years.”
That thought chilled me.
“Why hasn’t he done anything?”
Adrian looked at me.
“That’s what bothers me.”
Victor arrived at seven.
He looked exactly like the man in the photograph, only older.
Silver hair.
Expensive charcoal suit.
Warm smile.
He brought Mia a book.
Not candy.
Not a toy.
A children’s book about constellations.
“You like stars, I hear.”
My skin prickled.
Mia accepted it politely.
“How do you know?”
Victor smiled.
“Your uncle told me.”
Adrian had told him nothing.
I knew because we had agreed on it.
Across the room, Adrian’s face revealed nothing.
Dinner was unbearable.
Victor asked Mia about school.
Asked me how long I had worked for Adrian.
Complimented the roast.
Then he looked at my necklace.
Daniel’s wedding ring hung from it.
His fork stopped.
Only for a fraction of a second.
But Adrian saw it too.
“You knew Daniel Reed?” I asked.
Victor dabbed his mouth.
“No.”
“You looked at his ring.”
“I looked at your necklace.”
“He wore it.”
Victor’s smile became sad.
“Then I’m sorry for your loss.”
Too smooth.
Adrian leaned back.
“You never met a Daniel Reed?”
“Not that I recall.”
Mia looked up from her potatoes.
“But you were in Daddy’s picture.”
Silence.
Victor turned toward her.
“What picture?”
“The truck one.”
I wanted the floor to swallow us.
Adrian spoke before I could.
“Mia has an old photograph. You happen to be in the background.”
Victor looked at him.
For the first time, the warmth disappeared.
Then something unexpected happened.
He laughed.
“Of course I was.”
My pulse jumped.
“You remember?”
“Daniel asked me to meet him.”
Adrian went still.
Victor set down his napkin.
“He wanted money.”
“For what?” Adrian asked.
“To disappear.”
“That’s not what you told me six years ago.”
“No. Because you were furious with him.”
Victor’s expression softened.
“You wanted him found. Daniel begged me not to tell you where he was.”
I stared at Adrian.
He looked blindsided.
Victor continued.
“He loved Emma. He wanted his child outside this family.”
That made terrible sense.
Maybe Daniel hadn’t trusted Adrian.
Maybe the tape had been recorded before something changed.
Then Victor looked directly at me.
“I helped your husband disappear.”
“Why?”
“Because he asked.”
“And the accident?”
Pain crossed Victor’s face.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Adrian rose.
“What does that mean?”
Victor stood too.
“It means I gave him money and a car. Two days later, it went off a mountain road.”
He looked genuinely haunted.
For one dangerous minute, I believed him.
Then Mia opened the constellation book.
Something slipped from between the pages.
A photograph landed beside her plate.
I picked it up.
Daniel.
Alive.
Standing beside Victor.
The date printed at the bottom was October nineteenth.
Two days after Daniel supposedly died.
My hands began shaking.
Adrian took the photograph.
Victor’s face drained of color.
May you like
On the back, in Daniel’s handwriting, were six words:
HE THINKS EMMA AND THE BABY DIED.
