Chapter 6
I don't remember leaving the office.
I remember running.
I remember Malik shouting for the vehicle.
And I remember the terrible thought repeating inside my head.
Not my mother.
Please.
Not her.
She had already sacrificed too much.
She had buried her husband.
Raised a frightened little boy.
Worked through illness, exhaustion, and humiliation.
And somehow, she had never allowed bitterness to destroy her kindness.
If Edwin touched her, I didn't know what I would do.
During the drive, I called her fourteen times.
No answer.
Rachel contacted the police.
Malik coordinated with local security.
I sat in the back seat, staring at my mother's photograph on my phone.
Her smile looked so peaceful.
I couldn't bear the thought of losing it.
When we reached her house, two police vehicles were parked outside.
The front door stood open.
I ran inside.
“Mom!”
No answer.
The living room was untouched.
Her purse sat beside the sofa.
A cup of tea rested on the kitchen table.
Still warm.
“Mom!”
I searched every room.
The bedroom.
The bathroom.
The small sewing room where she made quilts for children at a local shelter.
Nothing.
Then I noticed something on the kitchen floor.
Her gold wedding ring.
I knelt.
Picked it up.
And felt my knees weaken.
My mother had worn that ring every day since my father's death.
She wouldn't have taken it off willingly.
A police officer approached.
“Mr. Bennett, we're reviewing nearby security footage.”
I stood.
“Find her.”
“We're doing everything we can.”
“That's my mother.”
My voice broke.
The officer's expression softened.
“I understand.”
But nobody could truly understand what she meant to me.
Not unless they had watched her skip meals so her child could eat.
Not unless they had seen her smile while hiding overdue bills.
Not unless they had heard her whisper prayers over a sleeping boy who believed his father's death was somehow his fault.
I stepped onto the porch.
And finally, I cried.
Malik stood beside me.
He didn't speak.
He simply placed a hand on my shoulder.
A few minutes later, Rachel approached.
“Marcus, we found something.”
I turned.
She showed me her phone.
A security camera across the street had recorded a dark SUV outside my mother's house.
At 2:16 that afternoon.
Two men exited.
Then my mother came outside.
One man held something in his hand.
A photograph.
My mother looked at it.
And climbed into the SUV.
She wasn't dragged.
She wasn't restrained.
But she didn't look willing either.
“Can you identify the vehicle?” I asked.
“Malik is working on it.”
I stared at the screen.
My mother had made a choice.
Someone had shown her something powerful enough to make her leave voluntarily.
I knew exactly who would do that.
Edwin Coleman.
I called him.
He answered immediately.
“Marcus.”
“Where is my mother?”
A pause.
Then a soft laugh.
“You sound upset.”
“If you've hurt her—”
“Careful.”
I closed my eyes.
“Where is she?”
“Your mother is perfectly comfortable.”
“I want to speak to her.”
“In time.”
My body shook with anger.
“What do you want?”
“An agreement.”
“About the resort?”
“Among other things.”
“Name your terms.”
Rachel shook her head violently.
But I needed to keep him talking.
Edwin's voice became satisfied.
“Transfer fifty-one percent of Bennett Hospitality's coastal assets into my holding company.”
I felt sick.
“You're insane.”
“Perhaps.”
“And my mother?”
“She goes home.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“Because you have no other option.”
He ended the call.
I stared at the phone.
For a moment, I seriously considered signing anything he wanted.
The company.
The villas.
The yacht.
Every dollar.
None of it mattered more than my mother.
Rachel grabbed my arm.
“Marcus, look at me.”
I turned.
“We're going to get her back.”
“You don't know that.”
“No. But surrendering everything doesn't guarantee her safety.”
I looked away.
She was right.
And I hated that she was right.
Then Malik approached.
“We found the SUV.”
“Where?”
“Registered through a rental company. It traveled toward Edwin's private marina.”
I looked up.
“The marina near where Daniel disappeared?”
“Yes.”
Everything suddenly connected.
Daniel.
Claire's son.
My mother.
Edwin was gathering people he could use as leverage.
He wanted to control every person who might expose him.
I turned to Rachel.
“We need federal investigators involved.”
“Already contacted.”
“Good.”
“And Marcus?”
“Yes?”
“Angela Reed has agreed to meet us.”
My heart pounded.
“Where?”
“At a secure location.”
I looked toward my mother's empty house.
“Then let's go.”
Two hours later, we entered a private meeting room at a federal office.
A woman stood near the window.
She was older than in the photograph.
Her hair was streaked with silver.
But the butterfly necklace was still around her neck.
Angela Reed.
She turned when I entered.
For a moment, she simply stared.
Then tears filled her eyes.
“You look so much like Samuel.”
I couldn't speak.
She approached carefully.
“Your father was a good man.”
Those six words nearly broke me.
For twenty years, I had wanted to hear them from someone who had witnessed what really happened.
I swallowed.
“Tell me everything.”
Angela sat down.
She explained how Edwin had hidden stolen investor funds through shell companies.
How he had forged my father's signature.
How my father had planned to expose him.
And how Edwin had threatened to destroy anyone who helped.
“Why did you disappear?” I asked.
Angela lowered her eyes.
“Because someone tried to kill me.”
The room went silent.
“My car was forced off the road. I escaped through the passenger window before it entered the water.”
“Why didn't you come back?”
“Because I was told Samuel had been killed.”
I froze.
“What?”
Angela began crying.
“I didn't know he died from a heart attack until years later.”
I stared at her.
“Who told you he was murdered?”
She looked toward Rachel.
“An attorney working for Edwin.”
My mouth went dry.
“Do you remember his name?”
Angela nodded.
“Harold Mercer.”
Rachel suddenly sat upright.
I turned.
“What?”
She looked at me.
“Harold Mercer is the attorney who filed Edwin's ownership claim.”
I felt anger rising again.
Angela reached across the table.
“There is something else.”
She removed a small envelope.
Inside was a photograph of a little girl.
About seven years old.
Standing beside Edwin.
And another woman.
I recognized the girl immediately.
Vanessa.
Angela's voice trembled.
“Edwin had a second family.”
I frowned.
“What does that have to do with my father?”
She looked at me.
“Because Vanessa's mother discovered the fraud.”
“And?”
“She tried to help Samuel.”
My chest tightened.
Angela wiped her eyes.
“Then she disappeared too.”
I stared at Vanessa's childhood photograph.
The arrogant woman beside my pool suddenly seemed connected to a tragedy she might not even understand.
“What happened to her mother?”
Angela whispered:
“Edwin told Vanessa she abandoned the family.”
I could barely breathe.
“But that wasn't true?”
Angela shook her head.
“No.”
“Where is she?”
Angela looked directly into my eyes.
“Marcus, she's alive.”
I leaned forward.
“And she's been trying to reach her daughter for twenty years.”
For the first time, I wondered whether Vanessa Coleman was not simply Edwin's spoiled daughter.
May you like
Perhaps she was also one of his victims.
And perhaps the truth about her mother would become the one thing Edwin couldn't control.
