Chapter 4 - THE BASEMENT
I ran.
I didn’t care who saw me.
I didn’t care that I was wearing heels.
I kicked them off halfway down the service stairs and kept going barefoot.
David followed.
“What did he say?”
“Joe found him.”
“What?”
“Call security.”
“I already did.”
“Call the police.”
“Sarah—”
“Call the police!”
The basement corridor was lined with storage rooms, kitchens, wine cages, and employee offices.
I heard shouting ahead.
Then a child cried.
Not Tommy.
Leo.
I turned the corner.
Tracy was crouched beside him.
Her mascara was running.
“Where’s Tommy?”
She pointed toward a gray service door.
“Joe went in there.”
I ran to it.
Locked.
I pounded on the metal.
“JOE!”
Nothing.
“Tommy!”
A muffled voice answered.
“Mom!”
I nearly collapsed.
“Move away from the door!”
David grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall.
He hit the handle twice.
Nothing.
Again.
The latch broke.
I shoved the door open.
Tommy stood inside a small storage room.
Alone.
I pulled him into me so hard he complained.
“Mom, ribs.”
“I don’t care.”
He hugged me back.
“Where’s your father?”
“He left through the other door.”
There was a second exit leading toward the loading dock.
David ran after him.
I grabbed Tommy’s face.
“Did he hurt you?”
“No.”
“Did he touch you?”
“He tried to take the USB.”
“Did he get it?”
Tommy smiled.
“No.”
I closed my eyes.
“Please stop smiling like that. You’re taking ten years off my life.”
“Sorry.”
Tracy appeared behind us with Leo.
“I need to tell you something.”
I looked at her.
For the first time that night, I didn’t see my husband’s mistress.
I saw a terrified young mother.
“What?”
“Joe lied to me.”
“That’s not exactly breaking news.”
Her face tightened.
“I know what you think of me.”
“You don’t.”
She looked surprised.
“I don’t know you well enough to think anything about you yet.”
Her eyes filled.
“He told me you two had been separated for almost two years.”
I said nothing.
“He said you stayed in the house because of Tommy.”
Tommy muttered, “That’s convenient.”
“Tommy.”
“What? It is.”
Tracy swallowed.
“Joe made me sign documents.”
My attention sharpened.
“What documents?”
“I don’t know. He said they were related to a trust for Leo.”
“When?”
“Last month.”
“Did you read them?”
“He gave me the signature pages.”
Of course he did.
“What did they say?”
“I don’t know.”
She took out her phone.
“But I took pictures because something felt wrong.”
She opened a folder.
There were six photographs.
Legal pages.
Banking documents.
Transfer authorizations.
Then I saw my name.
SARAH VANCE.
My signature appeared underneath it.
A signature I had never made.
I zoomed in.
The document authorized the transfer of $4.8 million from a Vance Development reserve account into three holding companies.
I looked at Tracy.
“Send these to me.”
She nodded.
Then Tommy tugged my sleeve.
“Mom.”
“What?”
“I think Grandma knew about these too.”
“How?”
He held up the USB.
“Because there’s another recording.”
May you like
He looked toward the stairs.
“And this one makes what we already heard sound nice.”
