Chapter 4 - VANESSA FINALLY UNDERSTOOD
Vanessa had lied to me for nearly two years.
She had manipulated my daughter.
She had helped Daniel enter my house.
She had known Rachel was alive.
I should have hated seeing fear on her face.
Instead, I recognized it.
Because Daniel had finally shown her what he really was.
Vanessa grabbed the phone.
“My father has nothing to do with this.”
Daniel took it back.
“He does now.”
“You promised me.”
“I promise many things.”
“You said once Ethan signed, we’d leave.”
Daniel smiled.
“You believed that?”
Vanessa’s lips parted.
No answer came.
Daniel looked at me.
“She thought we were going to Europe.”
“Daniel…”
“She even packed.”
“Stop.”
“A blue suitcase upstairs, right?”
Vanessa started crying.
Not the polished tears I had seen before.
These were messy.
Real.
Daniel seemed amused by them.
I understood then that Vanessa hadn’t been his partner.
Not really.
She had been a tool.
A cruel one.
But disposable.
Rachel whispered, “He does this to everyone.”
Daniel pointed the gun toward her.
“You should be grateful I let you live.”
“You needed me alive.”
“For a while.”
My eyes moved around the cellar.
Two exits.
The stairs behind me.
A small service door near the climate-control unit.
Daniel was blocking the second.
Sophie still stood behind Rachel.
I needed her upstairs.
Away from him.
I said, “Sophie, go to your room.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
I kept looking at my daughter.
“Sweetheart, remember the game we play when the power goes out?”
Her eyes widened.
Months earlier, I had taught her how to use an old manual release hidden behind the pantry cabinet.
It opened the side mudroom door even if the smart locks failed.
I prayed she remembered.
She gave me the smallest nod.
Daniel said, “I said no.”
Sophie suddenly started crying harder.
“I need my stuffed rabbit.”
Daniel frowned.
Rachel understood immediately.
“She’s scared.”
“I don’t care.”
“She’s eight.”
“Rachel.”
“Let her get the stupid rabbit.”
Daniel watched Sophie.
Then me.
“Vanessa goes with her.”
Vanessa looked surprised.
“Why me?”
“Because I said so.”
Sophie’s face fell.
I said, “No.”
Daniel lifted the gun.
“Yes.”
Vanessa walked slowly toward Sophie.
My daughter backed away.
“I don’t want her.”
Vanessa stopped.
Something passed across her face.
Shame.
Maybe the first real shame she had felt.
She crouched.
“Sophie.”
“Don’t touch me.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“I won’t.”
Sophie looked at me.
I wanted to say something comforting.
Everything sounded useless.
So I said, “I’m right here.”
She nodded.
Vanessa followed her upstairs.
Daniel watched them disappear.
Then he looked at Rachel.
“You never told him the best part.”
Rachel’s body stiffened.
“What?”
He smiled at me.
“Ask her who helped fake the plane crash.”
I looked at Rachel.
She said nothing.
“Rachel?”
Her eyes dropped.
Daniel laughed.
“Oh, this should be good.”
“Rachel.”
She looked at me.
“I did.”
The words hit harder than I expected.
“You planned your own death?”
“Yes.”
“You let Sophie believe you were dead?”
Her eyes filled.
“I thought it was the only way to protect her.”
“You let me tell our daughter you were gone.”
“I know.”
“I watched her stop eating.”
“I know.”
“I slept on her floor for six months because she screamed every night!”
Rachel covered her mouth.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Daniel watched us like theater.
Rachel whispered, “They threatened to take her.”
“So you disappeared?”
“I was told if I contacted you, they’d kill both of you.”
“Who told you?”
Rachel looked toward Daniel.
He clapped once.
“Beautiful.”
I moved toward him.
He raised the gun.
“Careful.”
I stopped.
Then a sound came from upstairs.
A heavy bang.
Daniel looked toward the ceiling.
Another bang.
Then the alarm system suddenly screamed.
Daniel spun toward the security panel.
The side door had been opened.
Sophie remembered.
Daniel cursed and ran toward the stairs.
I swung the fireplace poker into his wrist.
The gun flew across the floor.
Rachel kicked it beneath the wine rack.
Daniel slammed into me.
We crashed against the wall.
He hit hard.
Fast.
Years of pretending to be harmless disappeared.
He drove his elbow into my ribs.
I lost my breath.
Rachel grabbed a bottle and smashed it against the table beside his head.
Daniel recoiled.
I tackled him.
From upstairs, Vanessa screamed,
“Sophie ran outside!”
Daniel froze.
Then smiled beneath me.
“Good.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
May you like
His smile widened.
“Because she’s running toward the wrong person.”
