Chapter 6
I couldn’t breathe.
For days, I had believed Melissa was drowning.
Now the message suggested something worse.
Maybe she hadn’t lost all the money.
Maybe some of it had been hidden.
Detective Lewis photographed the screen.
“Don’t touch anything.”
“That message came from my wife.”
“I know.”
“She told Derek she moved money.”
“I saw it.”
“Where?”
“That’s what we’ll determine.”
I started pacing.
“Was she working with him?”
Lewis remained careful.
“We need evidence before drawing conclusions.”
I hated that answer.
But I knew he was right.
The hidden phone went with him.
I called Melissa.
Straight to voicemail.
Again.
Nothing.
I checked our doorbell camera.
At 5:42 that morning, she had left carrying a suitcase.
She got into a rideshare.
No return footage.
I sent the video to Lewis.
Then I called Rebecca.
Her advice was immediate.
“Do not chase her.”
“I’m not chasing her.”
“Good. Your job is Sophie.”
Those words grounded me.
My daughter.
That was what mattered.
I returned to Mom’s house.
Sophie was at the kitchen table painting.
The second she saw me, she smiled.
“Daddy!”
She ran toward me.
I hugged her.
That small moment reminded me that despite everything spinning out of control, I still had something solid.
Her.
“Where’s Mommy?” she asked.
I chose my words carefully.
“She’s figuring some things out.”
“Is she in trouble?”
I sat beside her.
“There are grown-up problems happening.”
“Because of the money?”
“Yes.”
Sophie looked down.
“I shouldn’t have told.”
I immediately lifted her chin.
“No.”
I needed her to hear every word.
“You telling the truth helped us.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Mommy said secrets keep families together.”
My chest hurt.
“No, sweetheart. Good surprises are okay. Birthday presents. Christmas gifts. Things like that.”
I touched her hand.
“But secrets that make you scared are different.”
She nodded slowly.
“You can always tell me those.”
That afternoon, Lewis called.
They had accessed part of the hidden phone.
“There’s an account we need you to see.”
I went back to the station.
He showed me records from an online bank.
Balance: $42,860.
I stared.
“That belongs to Melissa?”
“Account is in the business name.”
“Carter Luxe?”
“Yes.”
My anger sharpened.
“She told me she was thirty thousand in debt.”
“She is.”
“Then why is there forty-two thousand sitting there?”
Lewis opened transaction records.
Money had moved through the account repeatedly.
Payments from customers.
Transfers from credit lines opened under my name.
Deposits from Melissa.
Payments to Derek.
Refunds.
Then several large incoming transfers.
“Where did those come from?”
“That’s what caught our attention.”
He pointed.
One came from another person.
A woman named Lauren Bell.
$8,500.
Another from Thomas Reed.
$6,000.
Another from Patricia Gordon.
$11,200.
“Customers?”
“Possibly investors.”
I stared at him.
“Investors in what?”
Lewis opened messages recovered from the phone.
Melissa had been telling people Carter Luxe had exclusive contracts to resell authenticated designer merchandise.
She promised returns.
Twenty percent.
Thirty percent.
Sometimes more.
My stomach turned.
“She was taking investments.”
“It appears so.”
“Without products?”
“That’s one question.”
I read more.
One message froze me.
Lauren:
My husband can’t know I used our savings. You promised this was guaranteed.
Melissa:
Relax. My husband runs the financial side. He would never let anything go wrong.
I pushed the phone away.
“She used my name.”
“Yes.”
“She made them think I was involved.”
“Yes.”
I felt sick.
Now I understood why Lewis had been so careful.
I wasn’t just a victim in these records.
On paper, Melissa had made me look like her partner.
“Am I in trouble?”
Lewis studied me.
“Right now, evidence supports your claim that you didn’t know.”
Right now.
Those words stayed with me.
“You need to keep cooperating,” he said.
“I will.”
Then he showed me another message.
Derek to Melissa:
Take the 40 and disappear before Adam figures out what you did.
Melissa:
I can’t leave Sophie.
Derek:
Then bring her.
My blood turned cold.
“When was that?”
“Last night.”
I stood.
“Sophie is with my mother.”
“Keep her there.”
“I’m going there now.”
Lewis stopped me.
“We’re already putting patrol attention around the address.”
I stared.
“You think Melissa might take her?”
“We don’t know.”
That wasn’t good enough.
I called Mom while walking to my car.
“Lock the doors.”
“What happened?”
“Just do it.”
“I already did.”
“Do not let anyone take Sophie.”
“Not even Melissa?”
I hesitated.
“Especially not until I get there.”
I drove faster than I should have.
When I turned onto Mom’s road, two police cars were outside.
My heart nearly stopped.
I parked crooked and ran.
An officer met me.
“Mr. Carter?”
“My daughter?”
“She’s safe.”
My knees almost buckled.
“What happened?”
“Your wife showed up.”
I looked toward the house.
Melissa sat on the front steps.
Crying.
Her suitcase lay beside her.
Mom stood inside holding Sophie.
I rushed past.
Sophie threw herself into my arms.
“Daddy!”
“I’ve got you.”
Melissa stood.
“I wasn’t taking her.”
I looked at her.
“You told Derek you couldn’t leave without Sophie.”
She went still.
“You read my phone.”
“The police did.”
Her shoulders collapsed.
“I came to say goodbye.”
“That makes no sense.”
“I was going to turn myself in.”
I stared at her.
“Then why the suitcase?”
“Because Derek told me to meet him first.”
“Why?”
She looked at the officers.
Then back at me.
“Because he has something worse than the money.”
“What?”
Melissa’s lips trembled.
“He recorded everything.”
“Everything what?”
She started crying harder.
“The first night I met him.”
I froze.
Met him.
Not online.
In person.
She whispered,
May you like
“The business wasn’t how this started.”
And suddenly I knew our marriage had another wound I hadn’t even discovered yet.
