Chapter 5 - The Target
Michael Didn’t Need Noah to Call Him Dad
Elena Voss was sitting alone in a coffee shop when we arrived.
She looked nothing like the woman in the photograph.
Her hair was shorter.
Her face thinner.
But her eyes were unmistakable.
She had the kind of eyes that belonged to someone who had spent too long looking over her shoulder.
Detective Reed sat across from her.
My mother and I sat beside him.
Noah stayed with an officer at another table.
Elena looked at me.
“You're Emily.”
“Yes.”
She nodded.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For knowing your name.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did Michael do to you?”
Her fingers closed around her coffee cup.
“He convinced me I couldn't survive without him.”
Mom stared at her.
“He told me you left because you were unstable.”
Elena laughed quietly.
“That’s what he tells everyone.”
“What really happened?”
She looked at Detective Reed.
“Do you want the long version?”
“Yes.”
Elena leaned back.
“When I met Michael, he was charming.”
Mom's face fell.
“I know.”
“He remembered everything.”
“What?”
“Birthdays. Favorite foods. Things you said once and forgot five minutes later.”
She looked at my mother.
“That is how it starts.”
My mother lowered her eyes.
Elena continued.
“He doesn't become controlling immediately. He becomes necessary.”
My skin prickled.
“He offered to handle my bills. My taxes. My insurance.”
Mom whispered,
“He did that to me.”
Elena nodded.
“Then he convinced me my friends didn't respect me.”
Mom closed her eyes.
“Then my family became the problem.”
She looked at me.
“Then I became the problem.”
“How?”
“He started telling me I was forgetful.”
“Were you?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“He moved things.”
I frowned.
“My keys. My papers. Medication. Then he would ask why I couldn't keep track of anything.”
My mother looked up.
“He did that too.”
Elena nodded.
“That’s when I started recording him.”
Detective Reed asked,
“Why didn't you go to the police?”
“I did.”
“What happened?”
“He told them I was emotionally unstable.”
“You had recordings?”
“Not enough.”
She stared at the table.
“I needed proof that showed a pattern.”
My chest tightened.
“The storage unit.”
Elena nodded.
“He had been collecting evidence against people.”
“Why?”
“To control them.”
She reached into her bag.
She placed a photograph on the table.
A woman.
A house.
A young boy.
“This family?”
“The Harpers.”
“Who are they?”
“The family before mine.”
Elena explained that before she had met Michael, he had been involved with another woman named Laura Harper.
Laura had two children.
Michael had moved in.
He became essential.
Then he began controlling the money.
The house.
The children.
After Laura tried to leave, her husband was mysteriously accused of financial crimes.
He lost his business.
Laura eventually signed over the house.
Michael disappeared.
Then Elena met him.
Then Sarah.
I stared at the photo.
“How many families?”
Elena looked at me.
“We don't know.”
Detective Reed asked,
“Why was Emily the target?”
Elena's expression changed.
“Because you're old enough to remember.”
“Remember what?”
“Your father.”
I froze.
“My biological father?”
Mom looked at Elena.
“No.”
Elena spoke gently.
“Michael didn't meet Sarah by accident.”
My mother gripped the edge of the table.
“What are you saying?”
“He researched you before he approached you.”
“I knew he had searched me.”
“No.”
Elena shook her head.
“He researched your family.”
My heart began pounding.
“My father?”
Elena nodded.
“He knew about the lawsuit.”
“What lawsuit?”
Mom looked confused.
“I was never involved in a lawsuit.”
Elena looked at her.
“Not you.”
Then she looked at me.
“Your father.”
I felt dizzy.
My biological father had died when I was ten.
At least, that was what Mom had always told me.
“He was involved in a company called Bellmore Holdings.”
The name meant nothing.
“Marcus Bell?”
Elena nodded.
I stared at Detective Reed.
“That’s the name from Michael's files.”
“Yes,” Reed said.
Elena leaned closer.
“Marcus Bell wasn't Michael's friend.”
“Who was he?”
“He was investigating Michael.”
My mother's face drained of color.
“What?”
Elena looked down.
“Marcus was a private investigator.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Why was he investigating Michael?”
“Because people around him kept disappearing from their own lives.”
Disappear.
Not physically.
Financially.
Socially.
Legally.
Michael didn't need anyone dead.
He needed them isolated.
Then replaceable.
Detective Reed asked,
“What happened to Marcus?”
Elena shook her head.
“He got too close.”
“Is he alive?”
She looked at me.
“I don't know.”
My throat tightened.
“Then why did Michael say he was supposed to be dead?”
“I don't know.”
Elena reached into her bag again.
This time, she pulled out a USB drive.
“This was hidden in my apartment.”
She handed it to Reed.
“Michael doesn't know I have it.”
The detective's expression hardened.
“What’s on it?”
“A recording.”
“Of?”
“Your father.”
My world went silent.
I looked at Mom.
She looked like someone had struck her.
“My father?”
Elena nodded.
“He was investigating Michael before he died.”
“My father died in a car accident.”
“I know.”
I stared at her.
“What are you saying?”
May you like
She leaned toward me.
“I’m saying it may not have been an accident.”
