Chapter 6
I did not show Lily the message.
I showed Detective Grant.
Within minutes, the hospital floor locked down.
A nurse cried when security found a phone taped under the sink in Claire’s bathroom.
Live camera.
Someone had been watching.
Claire went white.
“She never stopped.”
Michael slammed his fist into the wall.
I grabbed him before security did.
“We need clear heads,” I said.
He looked at me like he hated that I was right.
Detective Grant traced the phone to a prepaid account.
But the camera angle had been installed before Claire was found.
That meant someone inside the hospital knew she would be brought there.
Or someone had expected us to come.
Grace moved Claire and Lily to a protected wing under false names.
My company board demanded I attend the emergency meeting in person.
I refused.
Then Grace said, “Go.”
I stared at her.
“My family is here.”
“And Vanessa’s allies are trying to remove you from your company so they can trigger debt clauses tied to your estate.”
I looked at Claire.
She nodded once.
“Go. Fix the part you can.”
I went with Michael and two security officers.
The boardroom on the forty-second floor felt colder than I remembered.
My CFO, Ethan Marsh, would not meet my eyes.
That was the first sign.
Board member Allison Pike stood.
“Daniel, given the disturbing footage—”
I cut her off.
“You mean the edited footage released by the woman arrested for kidnapping my first wife.”
The room shifted.
Ethan cleared his throat.
“We only have your word for that.”
I stared at him.
“My wife is in a hospital bed.”
“Allegedly.”
Michael stepped forward.
I lifted a hand.
“Say that again.”
Ethan leaned back.
“I’m saying we need verified facts.”
Grace placed a folder on the table.
“Good. Let’s discuss verified facts.”
She displayed copies of wire transfers from Whitmore Systems to shell companies connected to Patricia Vale.
Ethan’s name approved three of them.
Allison sat down slowly.
Ethan stood.
“This is absurd.”
Grace clicked again.
A security photo appeared.
Ethan at the farmhouse.
My pulse hammered.
“You knew.”
Ethan looked at the door.
Michael blocked it.
Grace said, “Sit down.”
Ethan laughed, but his face had gone gray.
“You have no idea what Vanessa has on people.”
I stepped closer.
“What does she have on you?”
He swallowed.
“Nothing.”
My phone rang.
Detective Grant.
I answered on speaker.
“We found the farmhouse,” she said. “There’s a basement room. Medical supplies. Restraints. And files.”
Claire’s medical files.
Lily’s school files.
My financial records.
Then Detective Grant said, “Daniel, there are also photos of your board members.”
The room went dead.
Ethan whispered, “I told her this would go too far.”
I turned to him.
“What would?”
His eyes filled with panic.
“She was never supposed to keep Claire alive this long.”
Michael grabbed him by the collar.
Security pulled him back.
Grace’s voice sliced through the chaos.
“Everyone in this room is now a witness.”
May you like
Ethan sat, shaking.
And finally, the first person in Vanessa’s circle began to talk.
