Chapter 6
Daniel hated my decision.
We argued until sunrise.
“You’re not staying here alone.”
“I never said alone.”
He stared at me.
“What does that mean?”
“It means if you’re determined to protect me, you can sleep in your childhood bedroom.”
For the first time in two days, Daniel almost laughed.
Almost.
Police installed temporary cameras around the property.
Daniel hired private security.
Rebecca filed emergency motions freezing disputed trust assets and preventing transfers involving my property.
Then something unexpected happened.
The wedding video went viral.
A guest had recorded Lauren slapping me.
Within twenty-four hours, millions of people had watched it.
I hated that strangers saw my humiliation.
But the video destroyed Lauren’s public lie.
It clearly showed me approaching with roses.
It clearly showed Lauren striking me.
It clearly captured her words afterward.
No grabbing.
No threatening.
No attack from me.
Just a slap.
Then Daniel canceling the wedding.
News reporters appeared outside.
I refused interviews.
Lauren didn’t.
She went on a local morning show.
I watched from my kitchen.
She wore a cream-colored suit and no wedding ring.
“I regret what happened,” she said tearfully. “But people don’t understand years of manipulation behind closed doors.”
Daniel turned the television off.
“I can’t.”
I picked up the remote and turned it back on.
He stared at me.
“I want to hear.”
Lauren dabbed her eyes.
“Margaret never accepted me. She constantly reminded Daniel that no woman would love him like his mother.”
I whispered, “I never said that.”
“I know.”
Lauren continued lying.
She described me as controlling.
Jealous.
Emotionally abusive.
Then the interviewer asked about financial allegations.
Lauren’s face changed.
“My father and I categorically deny wrongdoing.”
The screen displayed Charles Mercer walking into an attorney’s office.
I studied him.
He looked confident.
Too confident.
Daniel’s phone rang.
Detective Ellis.
He answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
He listened.
“Where?”
Then he looked at me.
“They found Martin.”
My breath stopped.
Alive.
Police located him at an abandoned hunting cabin outside the city after tracking metadata from the photograph.
He had dehydration, fractured ribs, and a concussion.
But he was alive.
And he was talking.
That afternoon, Ellis came to us.
“Martin says Charles Mercer ordered two men to hold him.”
“Can he prove it?” Daniel asked.
“He recorded part of a conversation.”
She placed a small device on the table.
Martin had hidden a voice recorder inside his belt buckle.
The audio was rough.
But Charles’s voice was recognizable.
“You should have kept doing what you were paid to do.”
Then Martin.
“You said nobody would get hurt.”
Charles laughed.
“Nobody important.”
My stomach turned.
Another voice asked about me.
Charles answered.
“The old woman will be handled through Grant.”
Daniel shut his eyes.
The recording continued.
“If the medical route fails?”
A pause.
Then Charles said, “There are other ways to make an elderly woman incapable of managing property.”
Daniel stood.
“That’s enough.”
Ellis stopped the recording.
“We arrested Charles an hour ago.”
I stared at her.
Daniel did too.
“For kidnapping?” he asked.
“Conspiracy, unlawful imprisonment, financial crimes. Additional charges are likely.”
Relief moved through me.
Then Ellis’s expression warned me not to celebrate yet.
“Lauren hasn’t been arrested.”
“Why?” Daniel demanded.
“Because Martin claims she didn’t know about the kidnapping.”
“She knew about everything else.”
“We need evidence.”
Rebecca found it before the police did.
Or rather, Lauren gave it to us herself.
That evening, my phone rang.
Lauren.
Daniel shook his head.
I answered anyway.
“Hello?”
Her breathing was uneven.
“Your precious Daniel got my father arrested.”
“Your father got himself arrested.”
“Don’t act innocent.”
“I’m not acting.”
She laughed bitterly.
“You always hated me.”
“No, Lauren.”
My voice remained calm.
“I welcomed you.”
Silence.
“I gave you family jewelry.”
She said nothing.
“I invited you to holidays.”
Nothing.
“I trusted you inside my home while I could barely see.”
Her voice changed.
“You signed those papers willingly.”
Daniel immediately started recording.
I continued.
“You knew I couldn’t read them.”
“You could have refused.”
“So you admit you brought them?”
A pause.
Then she realized.
“You’re recording me.”
I didn’t answer.
Lauren screamed.
“You think you’re clever now?”
“No.”
My heart pounded.
“I think I finally stopped believing you were.”
She hung up.
Rebecca nearly cheered when she heard the recording.
“It helps.”
But the biggest surprise came the next morning.
A woman appeared at my gate.
Security stopped her.
She asked for Daniel.
Her name was Olivia Mercer.
Lauren’s younger sister.
Daniel knew of her but had met her only twice.
She looked terrified.
“I need to talk to you,” she said.
We brought her inside after police confirmed her identity.
Olivia sat at my kitchen table holding a flash drive.
“My father controls everyone in our family.”
She looked at Daniel.
“Lauren learned from him.”
Daniel’s expression remained hard.
“Why are you here?”
Olivia looked at me.
“Because I saw that video.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“And I realized Lauren had become exactly like him.”
She placed the drive on the table.
“These are recordings from our family office.”
Daniel didn’t touch it.
“What recordings?”
“My father records meetings because he trusts nobody.”
She swallowed.
“I copied them before the police sealed his office.”
Rebecca arrived an hour later.
We listened together.
Most recordings involved finances.
Then one file appeared.
Dated six months earlier.
Lauren’s voice.
“If Daniel doesn’t cooperate after the wedding, what happens?”
Charles answered.
“You control him through Margaret.”
“How?”
“You already know how.”
Lauren laughed.
“She’ll sign anything if I tell her Daniel needs it.”
Daniel’s face went white.
Then Lauren said something that silenced the room.
“And if she figures it out?”
Charles answered.
“She won’t.”
Lauren laughed again.
“If she does, I can always make her look confused.”
I felt something inside me harden.
Then came Lauren’s final words.
“Good. Because once Daniel’s company is ours, I don’t want that woman anywhere near us.”
Daniel stopped the recording.
He looked at Detective Ellis.
“Is that enough?”
Ellis’s expression changed.
“Yes.”
Hours later, officers arrived at Lauren’s hotel.
But when they entered her room, she was gone.
Her phone remained on the bed.
Her suitcase was open.
May you like
And written across the bathroom mirror in red lipstick were four words:
I’M TAKING WHAT’S MINE.
