Chapter 13 - THE TRUTH COST EVERYONE SOMETHING
Vanessa survived surgery.
Luke was charged with kidnapping, extortion, fraud, conspiracy, and several weapons offenses.
Daniel Mercer faced even more.
Mark Lowell began cooperating before his lawyer had finished removing his coat.
Cowards always discovered honesty when prison became real.
Federal investigators spent three weeks tearing through my company.
They found thirty-one shell vendors.
Forged signatures.
False invoices.
Encrypted messages.
Daniel had stolen almost forty million dollars over six years.
Luke had built the original system.
Rachel had tried to expose it.
Then had made a series of illegal, reckless decisions trying to stop it.
Including the Zurich account.
I wasn’t charged.
But that didn’t mean I walked away clean.
I had ignored warning signs.
I had trusted people because trusting them was easier than asking ugly questions.
Worst of all, I had ignored Sophie’s changing behavior because I wanted to believe everything was fine.
One evening, Sophie and I sat on the back steps of our Malibu house.
She had refused to sleep there for weeks.
We were packing the last boxes.
I was selling it.
Too many ghosts.
She leaned against me.
“Are you mad at Mommy?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes widened.
I smiled sadly.
“You can love somebody and still be angry at what they did.”
She thought about that.
“Are you mad at Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
“Do you hate her?”
I didn’t answer immediately.
“I hate what she did to you.”
“But her?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Sophie kicked her feet.
“She said sorry.”
“I know.”
“Does sorry fix it?”
“No.”
She nodded.
“I didn’t think so.”
That sentence hurt.
Eight-year-olds should not understand apologies that well.
Rachel came outside.
Her shoulder had healed enough that she no longer wore a sling.
Sophie stiffened slightly.
Rachel noticed.
She didn’t force anything.
“Can I sit?”
Sophie shrugged.
Rachel sat two steps away.
For a while, nobody spoke.
Then Sophie asked,
“Are you leaving again?”
Rachel’s face changed.
“No.”
“You said that before.”
“I know.”
“Everybody says ‘I know.’”
I nearly smiled.
Rachel did too.
A sad little smile.
“You’re right.”
Sophie looked at her.
“What if I don’t want to live with you?”
Rachel swallowed.
“Then you don’t.”
Sophie seemed surprised.
“You won’t make me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve made enough choices for you.”
The silence lasted a long time.
Then Sophie moved one step closer.
Not a hug.
Not forgiveness.
Just one step.
Rachel cried anyway.
My phone buzzed.
Detective Torres.
I answered.
“Tell me you’re calling with good news.”
“Depends.”
“What happened?”
“We found another encrypted file in Mercer’s server.”
My stomach tightened.
“What’s in it?”
“A payment record.”
“To who?”
She hesitated.
“Someone close to Rachel.”
I looked at her.
Torres continued.
“The payments started after Rachel disappeared.”
“How much?”
“Twenty thousand a month.”
“Who?”
A pause.
Then Torres said a name I wasn’t expecting.
“Your attorney, Ethan.”
I stood.
“David?”
Rachel looked at me.
“What?”
David Klein had been my lawyer for twelve years.
He handled Rachel’s death certificate.
My company documents.
My estate.
Sophie’s guardianship papers.
Everything.
Torres said,
“We think he was the reason Vanessa could alter the proxy agreement.”
My hands went cold.
“Where is he?”
“That’s the problem.”
“What problem?”
“He withdrew Sophie from her school records as your legal guardian twenty minutes ago.”
I looked at Sophie sitting beside me.
May you like
Torres finished,
“And according to the system, you’re no longer listed as her father.”
