Chapter 4 - The House Where They Took My Daughter
There is a kind of fear that makes you cry.
There is another kind that makes you move.
When the phone went dead, I became the second kind.
"Where would he take her?"
Arthur was already speaking to security.
I answered immediately.
"The old house."
He looked at me.
"My parents still own the house in Paradise Valley where Allison and I grew up. Dad refuses to sell it."
Arthur's security chief was already checking vehicle data.
"Black Cadillac Escalade registered to Richard Bellweather left the villa area twelve minutes ago."
"Direction?"
"West."
Arthur looked at me.
"Does that fit?"
"Yes."
Detective Cole was called before we left.
I wanted to race directly to the house.
Arthur refused.
"If your father is desperate enough to use Daisy as leverage, we don't know what else he's capable of."
"He won't hurt her."
Arthur's expression softened for half a second.
"Eleanor, twenty-four hours ago you would have told me he would never shove you into a fountain while you held her."
That silenced me.
Police units moved first.
Arthur and I followed at a distance in an SUV with security.
The twenty-three-minute drive felt like three hours.
I kept imagining Daisy's face.
She hated loud voices.
Thunder scared her.
She slept with the hallway light on whenever Arthur traveled.
And now she was trapped somewhere with a grandfather she had just watched attack her mother.
My phone remained silent.
Then, halfway there, a message arrived.
MOM: I'm sorry. I didn't know your father was going to take her. I'm trying to keep Daisy calm.
I typed with shaking fingers.
ME: Send your location.
No answer.
ME: Mom. If you have ever loved me, send it.
Three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Returned.
Then a pin dropped onto my screen.
The old house.
I handed the phone to Arthur.
He immediately forwarded it.
"She helped us," I whispered.
"Yes."
It did not erase anything.
But for the first time since the wedding, my mother had chosen correctly before being forced.
We stopped two blocks away.
Police surrounded the property quietly.
Detective Cole came to our vehicle.
"Your mother is communicating?"
"She sent the location."
"Anything else?"
As if summoned, another message arrived.
MOM: Daisy is in the upstairs guest room with me. Richard keeps saying you have to sign. Allison and Ryan are downstairs. Ryan is furious.
I stared at the last sentence.
"Ryan is there."
Cole's expression hardened.
"You're sure?"
I showed him.
Arthur's eyes went cold.
Ryan had left his own wedding to participate in this.
Whatever remained of my belief that he was merely arrogant vanished.
This wasn't embarrassment anymore.
It was conspiracy.
Money.
Fear.
And now my child.
Police established contact through the house phone.
My father answered.
He refused to come outside.
Then Ryan took over.
His voice carried through a negotiator's speaker.
"This is ridiculous. No one kidnapped anyone."
"You removed a four-year-old child without parental consent," the negotiator replied.
"Her grandparents picked her up."
"After her mother expressly refused contact."
"This is a civil disagreement."
I grabbed the microphone.
"Ryan."
Silence.
Then, "Eleanor."
"Let Daisy out."
"Don't make this dramatic."
Arthur actually laughed beside me.
Not from humor.
From disbelief.
I continued.
"You had one opportunity to prove last night was just arrogance. Instead you took my daughter."
"I didn't take anybody."
"Then walk outside."
No answer.
"Walk outside, Ryan."
"I am trying to protect my wife."
"By holding my child?"
"Your family has millions tied up in this trust issue. Sterling is using you to seize assets."
Arthur leaned forward, but I stopped him.
"This isn't about Arthur."
"It became about Arthur the second he threatened my company."
"You tried transferring nearly four million dollars offshore."
Silence.
So he hadn't expected me to know.
"We'll discuss that with lawyers," Ryan said.
"No. You'll discuss it with investigators."
His voice sharpened.
"Be careful, Eleanor."
Arthur's head snapped toward the speaker.
I spoke first.
"Was that a threat?"
"It was advice."
"Here's mine. Open the front door."
The line disconnected.
Five minutes passed.
Then ten.
Police prepared to enter.
Suddenly the upstairs balcony door opened.
My mother stepped outside holding Daisy.
My baby was crying.
"Mommy!"
I tried to run.
Arthur caught my arm.
"Wait."
My mother lifted both hands to show she carried nothing but the child.
Then my father appeared behind her.
He grabbed her shoulder.
The balcony microphone picked up shouting.
"Get inside!"
"No!"
"Margaret!"
"She is four years old!"
I'd never heard my mother scream at my father that way.
Daisy began crying harder.
My father tried to pull them back.
My mother twisted away.
Then Allison appeared.
Her wedding makeup was smeared. She was still wearing part of her bridal hairstyle, although she had changed into a tracksuit.
"Stop!" she shouted.
My father turned.
That single distraction was enough.
My mother lifted Daisy over the low side wall of the balcony toward the flat garage roof.
A police officer positioned below called instructions.
She climbed after her.
My father reached toward them—
And police breached the front door.
Everything exploded into movement.
Arthur held me back for perhaps fifteen seconds.
Then the officer signaled.
I ran.
I met my mother on the side lawn.
Daisy launched herself into my arms.
"Mommy!"
I dropped to my knees.
"I'm here."
She buried her face against me.
"I'm sorry about the juice."
My heart shattered.
"No, baby. No. None of this is because of the juice."
Arthur knelt beside us.
Daisy reached for him.
He wrapped both of us in his arms.
For several seconds, the entire world disappeared.
Then handcuffs clicked somewhere behind me.
I turned.
Police were escorting my father from the house.
His face burned with humiliation.
"Eleanor, tell them this is unnecessary."
I stared at him.
"You took my daughter."
"I was protecting this family."
"You used a four-year-old as leverage."
"I would never hurt her."
"You already did."
He looked toward my mother.
"Margaret!"
She wouldn't look at him.
Ryan emerged next.
No handcuffs.
Yet.
His attorney had already arrived, and according to Detective Cole, Ryan insisted he had come only to "mediate."
Arthur approached him.
I grabbed Arthur's wrist.
"No."
Ryan smiled faintly.
He thought I was protecting him.
I wasn't.
"I want him free to make mistakes," I said.
Ryan's smile vanished.
Arthur looked at me.
Then nodded.
Ryan walked away with his lawyer.
Allison remained inside.
When I entered to collect Daisy's things, I found my sister sitting alone at our childhood kitchen table.
For the first time in years, she didn't look perfect.
She looked twenty-nine.
Exhausted.
Terrified.
And painfully familiar.
"Did you know Dad was taking her?" I asked.
"No."
"Did Ryan?"
Her silence answered.
"Allison."
"Ryan said bringing Daisy here would make you come."
My stomach tightened.
"And then?"
"He said we would explain everything."
"He knew Dad planned to make me sign?"
She began crying.
"I don't know."
"Stop."
She flinched.
"Everyone keeps saying they don't know. Mom didn't know about the kidnapping. Dad didn't know the forgery would hurt me. You didn't know Ryan had a plan."
"I swear—"
"You always know enough to benefit."
Her face went white.
That landed.
She looked down.
"I didn't understand what they took from you."
"But you knew something was taken."
"Yes."
The answer surprised me.
She wiped her face.
"When Dad told me about the trust, he said Grandpa always intended most of it for me."
"Did you believe him?"
"I wanted to."
At least that was true.
"When did Ryan find out?"
"Before we got engaged."
I felt sick.
"He told me it didn't matter because your waiver was legally binding."
"It was forged."
"I know that now."
"Ryan knew then."
She didn't answer.
I stepped closer.
"Allison, did he?"
Her mouth trembled.
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"I found messages."
My pulse quickened.
"What messages?"
"Between Ryan and Dad."
She looked toward the hallway.
"When?"
"Months ago."
"And you said nothing?"
"I was scared."
"Of losing Ryan?"
Her eyes met mine.
"Of losing everything."
There it was.
The family religion.
Everything.
Money.
Status.
Appearance.
Anything except each other.
I turned away.
Then Allison whispered, "There's something else."
I stopped.
"Ryan asked me to delete the messages."
"Did you?"
"No."
I looked back.
"Where are they?"
"On my old phone."
"Give it to Detective Cole."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because Ryan took the phone this morning."
My frustration rose.
"Then why tell me?"
"Because I copied everything first."
She reached into the pocket of her hoodie.
Not a phone.
A tiny silver flash drive.
"I kept this."
She held it toward me.
"Dad's emails. Ryan's messages. Trust documents. Things I didn't understand."
I stared at it.
"Why?"
"Because three weeks ago Ryan told Dad that after the Sterling acquisition closed, there couldn't be any loose ends."
A chill ran through me.
"What does that mean?"
"I asked him."
Her face had lost all color.
"He told me not to worry about it."
I took the drive.
At that exact moment, Arthur entered the kitchen.
Behind him was Detective Cole.
Allison looked at him.
"I think my husband married me because of the trust."
Cole took the drive.
Then Allison said something worse.
"And I think he planned the acquisition because he already knew Arthur Sterling was Eleanor's husband."
Arthur went completely still.
I stared at her.
"What?"
She nodded.
"Ryan knew who Arthur was before last night."
My heartbeat thundered.
"How?"
"I don't know."
"But if that's true," Arthur said slowly, "then Ryan didn't discover the connection at the wedding."
May you like
Detective Cole looked at the drive in his hand.
"He was waiting for it."
