Chapter 4
Daniel pulled Elena back into the house.
The social worker protested.
“She was almost hit,” Daniel said. “She isn’t walking home alone.”
The police searched the street, but the black car was gone.
The license plate had been covered.
Elena stared at Sofia’s photograph.
“This came from her apartment.”
“How do you know?” Daniel asked.
“I kept it inside a box after she died. Someone has been inside my home.”
Daniel arranged for Elena to stay at a guarded hotel.
Lily clung to her at the door.
“Promise you’ll come back.”
Elena hugged her tightly.
“I promise.”
After she left, Daniel reviewed the old security footage again.
Vanessa had spent months learning his routines.
She knew when he entered the safe code.
She knew when the cameras were checked.
She knew which accounts he rarely opened.
Worst of all, she knew Lily’s fears.
Rachel studied the trust files still inside the safe.
“There’s another problem.”
“What?”
“The missing document names a temporary guardian if you become unable to care for Lily.”
“Who is it?”
“Your sister, Claire.”
Daniel frowned.
Claire lived three states away and had not spoken to him in two years.
Their argument had begun after their father died.
Claire believed Daniel had received more than his fair share of the family company.
Vanessa had encouraged the fight.
At the time, Daniel thought she was defending him.
Now he understood that she had been isolating him.
Rachel continued.
“If Marcus altered the guardianship page, he could name Vanessa.”
“She isn’t Lily’s family.”
“She was about to become her stepmother. With forged signatures and false medical reports, she could create a legal disaster.”
Daniel called Claire.
She answered after the fourth attempt.
“What do you want?”
“I need your help.”
“You only call when something is wrong.”
“Vanessa is trying to take Lily.”
The anger left Claire’s voice.
“What happened?”
Daniel told her everything.
Claire was silent for several seconds.
“I warned you about her.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t. I hired someone to investigate Vanessa last year.”
Daniel stood.
“You did what?”
“I found three previous engagements. All wealthy men. One died before the wedding. Another lost his company. The third accused her of stealing, but he disappeared before the trial.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried. Vanessa convinced you I was jealous.”
Daniel remembered the final argument with his sister.
Vanessa had been standing behind him, crying.
Claire sent him the investigator’s files.
One photograph showed Vanessa meeting Marcus outside Brightwell Clinic.
Another showed Marcus paying a man beside a black sedan.
Daniel enlarged the image.
The sedan had the same damaged front light as the car that had nearly hit Elena.
Rachel called the detective handling the theft.
Within thirty minutes, police were searching for the driver.
Then Claire called again.
“There’s more. The investigator found a storage unit rented under one of Vanessa’s old names.”
“Where?”
“Near the river.”
Daniel wanted to leave immediately, but Rachel stopped him.
“You have to stay with Lily.”
Claire said, “I’ll go.”
“No. Wait for the police.”
“I already lost two years with my niece because of that woman. I’m not waiting.”
The call ended.
Daniel tried calling back.
Claire ignored him.
At the hotel, Elena received a message from an unknown number.
I FOUND WHAT SOFIA HID.
The message included the storage unit address.
Elena called Daniel.
He told her Claire was already going there.
“Then it’s a trap,” Elena said.
She left the hotel through the guarded lobby and took a taxi to the river.
By the time she arrived, Claire’s car was outside the storage facility.
The gate stood open.
Elena called her name.
No answer.
She entered the building.
Rows of metal doors stretched beneath flickering lights.
Unit 214 was open.
Inside, Claire stood beside several boxes.
“Elena?”
Before Elena could answer, the main door slammed shut behind her.
Vanessa stepped from the shadows.
Marcus stood beside her.
He held a metal container and a lighter.
“You both should have stayed out of my family,” Vanessa said.
Claire moved in front of Elena.
“You don’t have a family. You collect victims.”
Vanessa’s face twisted.
Marcus poured gasoline across the floor.
Elena backed toward the wall.
“You killed Sofia.”
Marcus lit the lighter.
“She should have minded her own business.”
A siren sounded in the distance.
Vanessa looked at her brother.
“You said they wouldn’t find us.”
May you like
Marcus dropped the lighter.
Flames raced across the floor.
