Chapter 2 - Hailey’s CallSerena climbed halfway into the SUV before the hatch had fully opened.
Hailey practically fell into her arms.
“Mom.”
“I’ve got you.”
Hailey was shaking so violently Serena could feel it through both of their bodies.
“You’re okay,” Serena whispered. “You’re with me.”
Hailey clung to her neck.
Behind them, one officer ordered Nathan to place his hands behind his back.
Nathan protested.
“My wife is hysterical. You need to understand the context.”
Serena closed her eyes.
Even now.
He was still trying to control the story.
The younger officer, Officer Bennett, crouched beside the open hatch.
“Ma’am, we need paramedics to check both of you.”
“I’m not leaving her.”
“You don’t have to.”
Hailey buried her face against Serena.
Bennett looked inside the cargo area.
There was no luggage.
No groceries.
Only one child’s sneaker near the wheel well and several fresh scratches in the interior plastic where Hailey had apparently kicked against the side.
“Hailey,” Bennett said gently, “my name is Officer Bennett. Did someone put you inside the vehicle?”
Hailey stiffened.
Serena felt it.
“You don’t have to answer right now,” Serena said.
Bennett nodded.
“That’s right.”
Nathan twisted around from several yards away.
“Don’t coach her.”
The second officer immediately pushed him toward the patrol car.
“Face forward.”
“I’m her stepfather.”
“Face forward.”
Nathan looked at Serena one last time.
There was a warning in his eyes.
Hailey saw it.
Her fingers dug into Serena’s shoulder.
“Mom, don’t let him come back.”
Serena’s throat closed.
“He won’t.”
She did not know whether that was legally true.
She said it anyway.
Paramedics arrived within minutes.
They examined Hailey in the back of the ambulance while Serena remained beside her.
There were no major injuries.
Mild dehydration.
A scraped elbow.
Redness around one wrist.
And terror.
Serena’s cheek had already begun to swell.
The cut inside her lip was small.
She refused transport until the paramedic assured her Hailey did not need emergency hospitalization.
“You should both be checked by a doctor today,” he said.
“We will.”
Detective Maya Ruiz arrived while the patrol officers photographed the driveway.
She was in her early forties, dressed in plain clothes, with a calm voice that made Serena listen.
“Mrs. Vale?”
Serena looked up.
“Yes.”
“I’m Detective Ruiz. I need to ask you a few questions, but first I want you to know your husband is being detained.”
“Detained or arrested?”
Ruiz glanced toward Nathan.
“We’re beyond detained.”
Serena exhaled.
Nathan was standing beside the police cruiser now, handcuffed.
He looked furious.
Not frightened anymore.
Furious.
“How did you get here so fast?” Serena asked.
Ruiz looked toward Hailey.
“We received an emergency call.”
Serena frowned.
“I didn’t call.”
“We know.”
Hailey moved slightly.
Serena looked down.
Her daughter’s left hand had remained hidden beneath the blanket the paramedics had wrapped around her.
Now Hailey slowly lifted her wrist.
A small smartwatch was strapped around it.
Serena stared.
“You called?”
Hailey nodded.
“I pressed the button like you showed me.”
Months earlier there had been a lockdown drill at Hailey’s elementary school. Serena had bought the watch afterward, against Nathan’s objections.
“She’s eight,” he had said. “She doesn’t need a tracking device.”
Serena had ignored him.
Now her knees almost weakened.
“What did you tell them?”
“I tried to talk.” Hailey swallowed. “But he was outside. I thought he’d hear me. So I whispered the address.”
Ruiz nodded.
“Dispatch heard enough. The location data confirmed the property.”
Hailey looked at Serena.
“I kept kicking because I thought maybe the police wouldn’t know which car.”
Serena pulled her close again.
“You did exactly the right thing.”
Nathan had argued for weeks that the watch was unnecessary.
Serena suddenly wondered whether his objection had really been about privacy.
Ruiz waited before asking the next question.
“Hailey, do you remember why Nathan put you in the SUV?”
Hailey’s body tightened again.
“He got mad.”
“Why?”
“I went into his office.”
Serena looked at her.
Nathan’s private office was at the west end of the mansion.
Hailey had been told not to enter without permission because Nathan frequently handled company documents there.
“What happened in the office?” Ruiz asked.
Hailey looked at Serena instead of the detective.
“He was writing your name.”
Serena’s stomach dropped.
“What?”
“On papers.”
“Signing my name?”
Hailey nodded.
“He didn’t know I was there.”
Ruiz became very still.
“Did you see what the papers said?”
Hailey shook her head.
“There were numbers. A lot.”
Serena thought of Nathan’s comment beside the SUV.
You have no idea what she saw.
“Then what happened?” Ruiz asked.
“I took a picture.”
Serena blinked.
“With what?”
“My tablet.”
“Where is it?”
Hailey’s eyes filled again.
“Nathan took it.”
Serena looked across the driveway.
Nathan was speaking rapidly to one of the officers now.
For years he had handled most of the financial administration for Vale Residential Group, the development company Serena’s father had built and Serena now controlled.
Nathan was the chief financial officer.
He had access to contracts.
Wire authorizations.
Vendor accounts.
Acquisition documents.
But there were limits.
Certain transactions required Serena’s signature.
Always.
Serena turned back to Ruiz.
“He said something before you opened the trunk.”
“What?”
“He told me I had no idea what Hailey saw.”
Ruiz’s expression changed.
“Did he say anything else?”
“No.”
Hailey pulled away slightly.
“Mom?”
“What?”
“There was one thing on the paper I remember.”
Serena bent closer.
Hailey whispered the words as though saying them too loudly might bring Nathan back.
“Four point two million dollars.”
Serena stared at her.
“What?”
“And there was a name.”
“What name?”
Hailey squeezed her eyes closed, trying to remember.
“Wexler.”
Serena stopped breathing.
Wexler Ridge.
A land acquisition Nathan had been urging the company to close for months.
A deal Serena had refused to approve.
Because the land was overpriced.
Because the environmental reports were incomplete.
Because something about the seller had never felt right.
Nathan had told her the deal was dead.
Three weeks ago.
Serena looked toward the police cruiser.
Nathan was already looking at her.
And suddenly she knew.
The deal was not dead.
May you like
It was closing without her.
Using her name.
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