Chapter 2 - THE CALL SHE COULDN’T MAKE
I took Vanessa’s phone before she could unlock it.
“Give that back.”
“No.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“You have no right to search my property.”
“You were standing over my children with a hanger.”
“They’re lying.”
Ethan lifted his head.
“She told us you’d send Dad away if we talked.”
Vanessa’s expression remained smooth, but her fingers curled into fists.
I had married her eighteen months earlier.
She had been patient, polished, and endlessly understanding after my first wife, Rachel, died.
At least that was what I believed.
Now I wondered how much of that woman had ever been real.
“Lily,” I said gently, “take Ethan into the kitchen.”
“No.”
She clung to my hand.
“I don’t want to leave you.”
My heart cracked.
“You won’t lose me.”
Vanessa laughed under her breath.
“That’s exactly what Rachel used to say.”
The room went still.
I turned.
“You knew Rachel?”
Vanessa blinked.
Then recovered.
“Everyone knew Rachel. You talked about her constantly.”
“That isn’t what you meant.”
She stepped toward the hallway.
“I’m not standing here while you interrogate me.”
I blocked her path.
“You’re not leaving until the police arrive.”
That was the first moment her confidence broke.
“The police?”
“You assaulted two children.”
“You shoved me.”
“To stop you from hitting them.”
Her gaze flicked toward the front door.
I saw the calculation happening behind her eyes.
Then the security panel beside the wall beeped.
The front gate had opened.
Vanessa smiled.
“You’re too late.”
Headlights swept across the windows.
A black SUV rolled up the driveway.
My private security chief, Daniel Ross, stepped from the passenger side.
But he was not alone.
A man in a gray suit climbed out behind him.
I recognized him immediately.
Robert Vale.
My late wife’s former attorney.
May you like
He had disappeared three days after Rachel’s funeral.
And he was carrying the same red file Lily had described.
