Chapter 4 - THE BETRAYAL I COULD SEEI slapped him.
The sound echoed across the garage.
Flynn didn't move.
Richard closed his eyes.
"You filed paperwork to have me declared mentally incompetent."
"They threatened Clara."
Everything stopped.
"What?"
"They sent me photographs."
He pulled out his phone.
I didn't want to look.
I looked anyway.
Clara leaving school.
Clara at ballet.
Clara in the backyard.
Clara sitting in the car.
Photos taken from different angles.
Different days.
Different locations.
My hands shook.
"They've been following her."
"Yes."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe you?"
"No."
That answer surprised me.
Flynn lowered his phone.
"I expect you to hate me."
I stared at him.
"But I need you alive."
Richard interrupted.
"Which is why we need to move."
"Move where?"
"Somewhere they can't reach."
I shook my head.
"I'm not running."
Richard looked at me.
"You don't understand what you're dealing with."
"I understand perfectly."
I held up the trust document.
"My father left me control of a company worth billions."
Flynn said softly:
"Four point eight billion."
I stared at him.
"What?"
"Vance Global is worth approximately four point eight billion dollars."
I laughed in disbelief.
"I thought it was less than one."
"That was the public valuation."
"Then what is the rest?"
Flynn didn't answer.
Richard did.
"Private holdings. Investment vehicles. Patents. Real estate. Energy assets."
He looked at me.
"Your father built an empire."
I stared at the documents.
All those years.
I'd thought my husband was the powerful one.
Apparently, I'd been sitting on a throne without knowing it.
Then my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Clara.
Sleeping.
Taken through her bedroom window.
Underneath it was one sentence.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE FOLDER CLOSED.
I froze.
Flynn grabbed my phone.
His face drained of color.
"Where is she?"
"At home."
"Who is with her?"
"No one."
Flynn ran toward the elevator.
I followed.
We drove home at terrifying speed.
When we arrived, the front door was open.
Flynn drew his weapon.
I stared at him.
"You have a gun?"
"Later."
We entered.
The house was silent.
Too silent.
"Clara!" I screamed.
Nothing.
I ran upstairs.
Her bedroom door was open.
The bed was empty.
The window was broken.
My daughter was gone.
I screamed her name.
Flynn grabbed the window frame.
There was a small white envelope on Clara's pillow.
My name was written on it.
With my father's handwriting.
I opened it.
Inside was a single key.
And one sentence:
“Go to the hotel where I first introduced you to Flynn.”
I remembered it instantly.
The Hawthorne Hotel.
The day we'd met.
The beginning of everything.
My phone rang.
Unknown.
I answered.
A man's voice said:
"You have one hour."
"Who are you?"
"You've spent twelve years thinking Flynn Vance was your enemy."
My blood froze.
The voice continued.
"He isn't."
"Where is my daughter?"
A quiet laugh.
"Ask yourself a better question."
"What?"
"Why did your father choose Flynn to protect you?"
The call ended.
Then my phone buzzed.
A video appeared.
I pressed play.
Clara was sitting in a dark room.
She was crying.
A man stood behind her.
His face hidden.
He leaned toward the camera.
"Your daughter will be safe."
I could barely breathe.
"Until midnight."
The video cut to black.
Then a final image appeared.
A photograph of my father.
Standing beside the same hidden man.
Taken twenty years earlier.
May you like
And the message underneath made my blood turn to ice.
YOUR FATHER KNEW HIM.
