Chapter 6
My father had died six years earlier.
Until that afternoon, I believed cancer killed him.
Now I questioned everything.
Detective Brooks gathered information on Sebastian while I stood inside the command vehicle parked half a mile from his property.
Sebastian Vale was sixty-two.
Former executive vice president of Vale International.
My father had pushed him out fifteen years earlier after a dispute neither man discussed openly.
Sebastian claimed retirement.
My father called it restructuring.
Now Brooks had uncovered offshore transfers connecting Sebastian to Bellweather Strategic Holdings.
The same company paying Leonard.
The conspiracy was older than Vivienne.
She wasn’t the architect.
She was part of it.
“What did Claire discover?” I asked.
Brooks looked at the files.
“She appears to have traced unauthorized transfers from your father’s company to accounts controlled indirectly by Sebastian.”
“And Vivienne?”
“Victoria Lane was working for the consulting company Claire hired.”
“She betrayed Claire.”
“Possibly.”
I hated that word.
Possibly.
I wanted certainty.
I wanted someone I could blame entirely.
But truth was arriving in pieces.
Ugly pieces.
Marco sat beside me.
“There’s something I should have told you years ago.”
I turned.
“What?”
“Claire called me the night she died.”
My chest tightened.
“You never told me that.”
“She asked whether your father kept duplicate financial records.”
“Why?”
“She said she had found evidence someone close to you was stealing.”
“Did she name Sebastian?”
“No.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That your father kept private records at the Montauk house.”
I stared at him.
“You sent her there?”
“No. I answered a question.”
“She died on the road to Montauk.”
His face filled with guilt.
“I know.”
Anger surged through me.
“You knew this for eight years?”
“I knew she called. I didn’t know why the information mattered until now.”
“You should have told me.”
“Yes.”
The simple admission stopped me.
He didn’t defend himself.
Didn’t make excuses.
That was the difference between guilt and manipulation.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
I looked away.
“We get Rosie first.”
“Yes.”
Brooks interrupted.
“We have the warrant.”
The tactical team moved.
Sebastian’s property covered seven acres along the sound.
Officers entered from three sides.
I stayed with Brooks because she threatened to handcuff me to the command van if I interfered.
The first shots came twenty seconds after entry.
My entire body went rigid.
“Rosie.”
“Stay here.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
Another shot.
Then shouting over police radios.
Suspect down.
One detained.
Searching residence.
I paced so hard my legs hurt.
Then the message came.
Child located.
Alive.
I stopped breathing.
Brooks touched my arm.
“They found her.”
My knees weakened.
“Where?”
“Upstairs bedroom.”
“Vivienne?”
“No.”
“Sebastian?”
“Detained.”
“Rosie?”
“Paramedics are checking her.”
I was out of the van before Brooks finished.
Nobody stopped me this time.
I ran through the house.
Officers filled the foyer.
Sebastian sat against the wall in handcuffs, blood running from a cut above his eyebrow.
He looked at me and smiled.
“Damian.”
I kept walking.
“Your father was smarter than you.”
I stopped.
Every part of me wanted to hit him.
Instead, I turned.
“Maybe.”
His smile widened.
“But I learned faster.”
Then I walked upstairs.
Rosie sat wrapped in a silver emergency blanket.
A female paramedic examined her.
When she saw me, she screamed my name.
I dropped to my knees.
She ran into my arms.
I held her so tightly I worried I might hurt her.
She buried her face against my neck.
“You came.”
“I told you I would.”
“I was scared.”
“I know.”
“The bad lady left.”
I pulled back.
“Vivienne?”
Rosie nodded.
“She yelled at the old man.”
“When?”
“Before the police.”
“Where did she go?”
Rosie pointed toward the window.
“Boat.”
Again.
Vivienne had escaped minutes before officers arrived.
Sebastian had apparently stayed behind to destroy records.
Police recovered hard drives from a fireplace before they burned completely.
They also found the wooden box stolen from Sofia.
Inside were photographs of Sofia’s husband.
Rosie’s baby bracelet.
Letters.
And an empty ring slot.
I returned Sofia’s ring to the box.
But the biggest discovery came from Sebastian’s basement.
A locked office.
Inside were files on me.
My father.
Claire.
Sofia.
Even Rosie.
Photographs.
Medical records.
Schedules.
Financial statements.
Years of surveillance.
On one shelf sat bottles labeled with my supplements.
Several contained prescription sedatives.
I felt sick.
Vivienne had been slowly drugging me.
Not enough to kill me quickly.
Enough to create a medical record.
Enough to make me appear unstable.
Enough to eventually activate the forged incapacity clauses after our marriage.
Sebastian planned to control my company through Vivienne.
I confronted him while police processed the house.
“Was that the plan?”
He sat handcuffed at the dining table.
He smiled.
“Your father stole the company from me.”
“He built it.”
“We built it.”
“He owned seventy percent.”
“Because our father favored him.”
There it was.
Not business.
Resentment.
Forty years old.
He had spent decades believing my life belonged to him.
“What about Claire?”
His smile weakened.
“She was curious.”
“You killed her.”
“I didn’t touch her car.”
“Who did?”
He said nothing.
“Vivienne?”
Still nothing.
Then I understood.
“Leonard.”
A tiny movement in his eyes.
Enough.
Police would prove it.
I leaned closer.
“You murdered Sofia because she found the same secret Claire found.”
“I didn’t murder anyone.”
“Vivienne poisoned her medication.”
“She made her own choices.”
“And Rosie?”
“She was never supposed to be harmed.”
I nearly lost control then.
“You kidnapped a three-year-old.”
“To negotiate.”
“She watched her mother die because of you.”
For the first time, Sebastian looked uncomfortable.
Good.
I wanted him uncomfortable for the rest of his life.
Brooks approached.
“We found something.”
She held a recovered hard drive.
“What?”
“Emails between Sebastian and Vivienne.”
I looked at him.
He went pale.
Brooks continued.
“One was sent yesterday.”
“What does it say?”
She read it.
If Leonard talks, eliminate him. If Damian refuses, use the child. After that, leave the country.
My stomach tightened.
“Where would Vivienne go?”
Sebastian looked away.
Brooks leaned toward him.
“Help us now, and the prosecutor will know.”
He laughed.
“You think I need mercy?”
Then Rosie appeared in the doorway holding Elena’s hand.
Sebastian saw her.
She hid behind Elena.
Something changed in his face.
Maybe shame.
Maybe simple fear of what he had become.
He looked back at Brooks.
“There’s an airfield in Westhampton.”
My heart jumped.
“She has a plane?”
“Chartered jet.”
“When?”
He checked the clock.
“Forty minutes.”
Brooks moved immediately.
I carried Rosie outside.
She clung to my neck.
“Is the bad lady coming back?”
I looked into her eyes.
“No.”
May you like
It was a promise I intended to keep.
“She will never hurt you again.”
