Chapter 3 - DANIEL
Daniel came through the front door twenty minutes later.
He stopped when he saw Vanessa’s hair.
Then he saw Lily.
Then me.
“What happened?”
Vanessa burst into tears.
“She attacked me!”
I laughed.
It sounded broken.
Daniel looked at my clenched hands.
“Emma?”
I held up the tablet.
“Want to try that question again?”
His face changed.
Not much.
But enough.
“You watched it?”
Vanessa whispered, “Daniel…”
I looked between them.
“So it was you.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Emma, calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down.”
“Lily’s scared.”
“She should be.”
His jaw tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“It means your sister held her down, cut off her hair, made her bleed, livestreamed it, and threatened her with police.”
Daniel turned toward Vanessa.
“You livestreamed?”
Vanessa looked shocked.
“You told me to record it!”
“I said record what she said.”
“And how was I supposed to make her talk?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
There it was.
No denial.
No confusion.
Just irritation that Vanessa had gone too far.
I felt something inside me break.
“You knew.”
He looked at me.
“Emma, listen.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“You used our daughter.”
“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”
I stared at him.
“What was supposed to happen?”
Silence.
Lily tightened her arms around my waist.
Daniel glanced at her.
“Can we talk privately?”
“No.”
“Emma.”
“She gets to hear you explain why her father helped terrorize her.”
His face hardened.
“You’re making this worse.”
I almost smiled.
“You’re worried about worse?”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“I found some financial records.”
“What records?”
“In your office.”
“I don’t have an office.”
“At your mother’s house.”
That stopped me.
My mother had died eight months earlier.
Cancer.
I had inherited her small accounting firm and a box of personal files I still hadn’t been able to open.
Daniel continued.
“Your mother kept records connected to Dad’s company.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“Records that could destroy our family.”
I stared at them.
Their father, Robert Cross, owned Cross Development Group.
Commercial real estate.
Hotels.
Luxury apartments.
Publicly, he was generous.
Privately, he measured every person by usefulness.
“What records?”
Daniel hesitated.
Then Vanessa answered.
“Proof your mother stole money.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
“We have documents.”
“My mother worked for your father twenty years ago.”
“Exactly.”
“She left because your father cheated contractors.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Emma, there are signatures.”
“My mother’s?”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t mean she stole.”
“No.”
His voice dropped.
“But it does mean she knew where the money went.”
My anger shifted into confusion.
“Then why involve Lily?”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“Because we thought you had the password.”
“To what?”
“The encrypted files.”
I shook my head.
“I don’t.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“Then why did Lily say you opened the blue drawer every night?”
I looked at my daughter.
She whispered, “Grandma’s blue drawer.”
I froze.
My mother’s old desk had one blue drawer.
Locked.
I had never found the key.
Daniel reached into his coat.
“I did.”
He placed a small brass key on the table.
And beneath it, an envelope.
May you like
My mother’s handwriting was on the front.
FOR EMMA ONLY. IF THE CROSSES EVER COME ASKING, DO NOT TRUST YOUR HUSBAND.
