Chapter 3 - Daniel Locks the Bedroom DoorDaniel locked the bedroom door.
This time, it was not to keep his mother inside.
It was to keep Vanessa from leaving.
His wife stared at him.
“Unlock it.”
“No.”
“You cannot hold me in here.”
“You’re not going anywhere until I understand what happened.”
Vanessa glanced toward Maria.
“She’s poisoning you against me.”
Daniel looked at Maria’s swollen cheek.
The shame returned.
He turned to her.
“Maria, I’m sorry.”
She said nothing.
“I had no right to touch you.”
“No,” Maria replied quietly. “You didn’t.”
Daniel flinched.
He deserved it.
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
“Oh, for God’s sake. We have a much bigger problem than Maria’s feelings.”
Daniel looked at her.
“That sentence tells me more than you think.”
Margaret remained in the chair.
Her hair looked worse the longer Daniel stared at it.
There was cruelty in the unevenness.
This had not been a haircut done in anger and stopped after one impulsive pass.
Vanessa had gone over multiple sections.
Daniel crouched beside his mother again.
“Where is the evidence?”
Margaret hesitated.
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Daniel—”
“Quiet.”
His tone stopped her.
Margaret looked toward Maria.
“Tell him.”
Maria’s expression changed.
“What?”
“You saw where I put it.”
Maria frowned.
Then understanding appeared.
“The envelope?”
Margaret nodded.
Vanessa went pale.
Daniel noticed.
“What envelope?”
Maria looked at Margaret.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Maria walked toward the bathroom.
Vanessa blocked her.
“You’re not taking anything.”
Daniel stepped between them.
“Move.”
“Daniel, you’re making a mistake.”
“I’ve already made one today.”
He glanced at Maria.
“I’m not making another.”
Vanessa moved aside.
Maria entered the bathroom and opened the cabinet beneath the sink.
She reached behind a stack of towels.
Nothing.
Her face changed.
“It’s gone.”
Margaret sat straighter.
“What?”
Maria removed the towels.
The compartment was empty.
“I put it here myself.”
Vanessa laughed softly.
“There. Your mother is confused.”
Margaret looked at her.
“You took it.”
“I didn’t even know it existed.”
“You searched this room before you cut my hair.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“Prove it.”
Daniel stared.
Most innocent people did not respond to an accusation from their terrified mother-in-law with prove it.
“Vanessa,” he said slowly, “what was in the envelope?”
“How would I know?”
Margaret answered.
“Bank records.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What bank records?”
“Transfers from Whitmore Development.”
“To Northline?”
“Yes.”
Daniel frowned.
He knew the name.
Not well.
But he had heard Vanessa mention it years ago.
“Northline was your father’s company.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“My family had an investment business. That doesn’t make every company with Northline in the name ours.”
Margaret laughed weakly.
“I found the registration.”
Daniel looked at Vanessa.
“Is Northline Holdings connected to your family?”
She hesitated.
That was enough.
“Yes or no?”
“My brother has an interest.”
“How large?”
“I don’t know.”
“How did four million dollars from my company reach it?”
“I don’t know.”
Margaret spoke.
“You signed the approval.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
“That’s why I became suspicious.”
“I didn’t approve any four-million-dollar transfer.”
“There is an electronic authorization with your signature.”
“I never signed it.”
Vanessa looked at him.
“You sign dozens of things every week.”
“I would remember four million dollars.”
“Would you?”
The question landed harder than she intended.
Daniel stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
“No. Say it.”
“You’ve been exhausted. You drink too much when you work late. Half the time you don’t remember what you agreed to the next morning.”
Daniel felt anger rise.
“I don’t drink during the week.”
Vanessa laughed.
“You absolutely do.”
“No, I don’t.”
“I pour wine for you all the time.”
Daniel stopped.
She did.
He had begun finding a glass beside him in the study most evenings.
He rarely remembered asking for it.
A strange memory surfaced.
Three weeks earlier, he had awakened on the study sofa at two in the morning with no idea how he had fallen asleep.
He had blamed exhaustion.
Another night, he had found a signed contract on his desk that he barely remembered reviewing.
His stomach tightened.
“Mom.”
Margaret was watching him carefully.
“Did you find anything else?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Insurance.”
Vanessa’s head snapped toward her.
Daniel saw it.
“What insurance?”
Margaret hesitated.
Vanessa stepped toward the door again.
Daniel blocked her.
“Answer me, Mom.”
“Three months ago, a life-insurance policy was opened.”
Daniel frowned.
“I have life insurance through the company.”
“Not this one.”
“How much?”
Margaret looked at Vanessa before answering.
“Twenty-five million dollars.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
Vanessa spoke immediately.
“That was estate planning.”
“Who is the beneficiary?” Daniel asked.
His wife said nothing.
Margaret did.
“The Whitmore Family Asset Trust.”
Daniel stared.
“What trust?”
“The one Vanessa wanted me to place the company shares into today.”
The bedroom went silent.
Daniel slowly looked toward the blue folder on the desk.
Except the folder was no longer there.
He remembered seeing nothing when he first searched.
Someone had removed it.
“Where are the papers?” he asked.
Vanessa’s expression did not change.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel’s phone vibrated.
A text message.
Unknown number.
He opened it.
A photograph appeared.
The blue folder.
Sitting on the passenger seat of a car.
Underneath was one sentence.
ASK YOUR WIFE WHO CALEB ROSS REALLY WORKS FOR.
Daniel lifted his eyes.
“Who sent that?” Vanessa asked.
May you like
He looked at her.
But for the first time, she seemed genuinely afraid.
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