Chapter 4
The darkness lasted less than five seconds.
It felt much longer.
My father pushed me behind the bed.
Men shouted in the hallway.
A red emergency light came on near the ceiling.
Dad pulled a handgun from beneath his jacket.
I stared at it.
He saw my face.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Emily.”
“I’m not staying alone.”
A loud bang came from outside.
Then another.
Not gunshots.
Metal.
The security gate.
Someone was hitting it.
Thomas entered with two men.
“Backup generator is running. Main line was cut.”
“Perimeter?”
“North camera is down. Vehicle outside the outer gate.”
Dad handed me to Rosa.
“Take her to the safe room.”
I pulled away.
“No.”
Dad looked at me.
“Not now.”
“I am done being moved around while everybody decides what I’m allowed to know.”
Another bang echoed outside.
He stepped closer.
“This is not about information. This is about keeping you alive.”
That shut me up.
Rosa took my hand.
We moved quickly through the hall.
The safe room was hidden behind a library wall.
I had been in that library hundreds of times.
I had never known the room existed.
That realization hurt almost as much as my bruises.
Rosa entered a code.
Steel opened behind wood.
Inside were monitors, emergency supplies, bottled water, phones, and another locked cabinet.
I stared at her.
“How long has this been here?”
“Long time.”
“You knew?”
She looked sad.
“Yes.”
“Did everyone know except me?”
“Your father wanted you to be his daughter, not part of his past.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“No.”
At least she didn’t pretend.
The monitors showed the outside cameras.
A black sedan sat beyond the gate.
No one got out.
A minute later it reversed and disappeared.
Dad entered.
“They’re gone.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know.”
“You have cameras.”
“License plate was stolen.”
I held up my phone.
“And the pictures?”
“Sent through a masked number.”
“Raymond Cole?”
“Probably.”
“Probably isn’t good enough.”
Dad rubbed a hand over his face.
I had never spoken to him like this before.
I had also never learned my entire marriage might have been arranged by people trying to reach him.
“What happens now?”
“You stay here.”
“No.”
“Emily.”
“I’m not living in a bunker.”
“You almost got photographed through a window by someone threatening you.”
“And hiding here fixes that?”
“It keeps you breathing.”
I stared at him.
“Do you know what Jason said this morning?”
Dad said nothing.
“He told me I had no power.”
“You do.”
“Then stop taking it from me.”
That hit him.
He looked away.
“I want to work with the detective.”
“Fine.”
“I want all the information you have about Jason.”
He hesitated.
“All of it.”
“Yes.”
“And I want my own lawyer.”
“I can provide—”
“My own lawyer.”
He nodded.
“Okay.”
That evening, I called Sarah Collins.
She had been my best friend since college and my maid of honor yesterday.
She answered immediately.
“Emily? Oh my God. Where are you? Jason’s mother is calling everyone.”
“What is she saying?”
“That your father kidnapped you.”
I almost laughed.
“What?”
“She says armed men invaded your house and took you.”
“Jason beat me.”
Silence.
“What?”
“With a cane.”
“Oh my God.”
“And Diane watched.”
Sarah started crying.
I closed my eyes.
“I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I need something from you.”
“Anything.”
“You recorded a lot at the wedding.”
“Too much.”
“I need every video.”
“Why?”
“Because Jason knew who I was before we met.”
Another silence.
Then Sarah said, “Emily, there’s something I need to tell you.”
My heart sank.
“What?”
“Yesterday, before the ceremony, I saw Diane arguing with a man near the service entrance.”
“Did you recognize him?”
“No.”
“Can you describe him?”
“Maybe late fifties. Tall. Gray coat. Scar near his chin.”
I looked at Dad.
He had been listening.
His expression hardened.
“Raymond Cole?” I asked.
Dad nodded once.
Sarah heard me.
“Who?”
“Did you record him?”
“I might have.”
“Send everything.”
Twenty minutes later, hundreds of videos began arriving.
Most were useless.
Flowers.
Guests.
Champagne.
Dancing.
Then I found one.
Sarah had been filming herself backstage while fixing her makeup.
Behind her, through an open doorway, Diane stood talking to a man in a gray coat.
The audio was faint.
I increased the volume.
Diane’s voice.
“She signed.”
The man answered, “Not everything.”
“She will.”
“Your son is impatient.”
“My son does what I tell him.”
I froze.
Dad leaned closer.
The man continued.
“If Bennett suspects anything—”
Diane stepped nearer.
“He won’t. He thinks his daughter married some ordinary boy from a respectable family.”
Dad closed his eyes.
Sarah’s camera shifted away.
Then back.
Diane said something else.
Three words.
“The trust unlocks.”
The video ended.
I stared at my father.
“What trust?”
He didn’t answer.
My anger exploded.
“What trust?”
“There is money your mother left you.”
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“That isn’t important.”
“That means it’s a lot.”
He looked at me.
“Approximately forty-eight million dollars.”
I actually laughed.
It was pure disbelief.
“What?”
“It is held across several trusts.”
“You told me Mom left me her jewelry.”
“She did.”
“You forgot forty-eight million dollars?”
“She wanted the money protected until you were older.”
“I’m thirty-one.”
“One trust changed terms upon marriage.”
I went still.
“What terms?”
Dad looked furious with himself.
“Your spouse could become an authorized beneficiary under certain conditions if you signed additional documents.”
I remembered Jason bringing papers to me two weeks earlier.
Insurance forms.
Estate planning.
He had said every married couple should have them ready.
I had signed some.
Not all.
My mouth went dry.
“The papers.”
Dad looked at me.
“What papers?”
“Jason gave me estate documents.”
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“What did you sign?”
“I don’t know.”
His face went white.
Thomas immediately started making calls.
Dad sat beside me.
“Emily, listen carefully. Did you sign anything with a notary?”
“One document.”
“Who brought the notary?”
“Diane.”
Dad stood so quickly the chair fell backward.
“That signature needs to be challenged immediately.”
I stared at him.
“So this wasn’t about my bank card.”
“No.”
“The card was just the beginning.”
“Yes.”
“What happens if they get access to the trust?”
Dad answered quietly.
“They could move enough money to disappear.”
A new message hit my phone.
This time it was from Jason.
I stared at his name.
He had apparently been released pending arraignment.
The message contained only six words.
MY MOTHER IS GOING TO KILL ME.
Then another.
SHE KNOWS I WANT TO TALK.
Dad reached for my phone.
I pulled it away.
Jason called.
I answered.
“Emily?”
His voice was shaking.
“You have thirty seconds.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Twenty-nine.”
“My mother planned everything.”
“Twenty-five.”
“I knew who you were, but I didn’t know what she was really doing.”
“You hit me.”
“I know.”
“You don’t get to blame her for that.”
“I know!”
He started crying.
I felt nothing.
Then he whispered, “The card wasn’t for your account.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“She wanted the card because she needed the number on the back.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
“Jason.”
“I swear.”
A door slammed somewhere near him.
He gasped.
“Mom?”
His voice became distant.
Then I heard Diane.
Very calm.
“Who are you talking to?”
Jason whispered, “Emily, don’t let her—”
The call ended.
I stood.
Dad said, “No.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”
“If Diane hurts him—”
“He assaulted you.”
“That doesn’t mean I want him dead.”
Dad’s expression hardened.
“I’ll send people.”
“No.”
“Emily.”
“Call the police.”
He hesitated.
I pointed at him.
“This is what I mean. We do this legally.”
Dad stared at me for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
Thomas called the detective.
Police arrived at Diane’s house seventeen minutes later.
Jason was gone.
Diane was sitting alone in the living room drinking tea.
She told them her son had left voluntarily.
May you like
But the security camera over her garage had been ripped from the wall.
And on the kitchen floor, police found three drops of fresh blood.
