Chapter 2 - THE MAN UPSTAIRS
I handed Sophie to my sister, Rachel.
“Take her to the kitchen. Don’t leave with anyone but me.”
Amanda grabbed my arm.
“Ethan, please. We can explain this privately.”
“Who is upstairs?”
“No one.”
I held up the phone.
“He has my daughter’s passport.”
For the first time since I had met her, Amanda stopped pretending.
Her soft expression disappeared.
“You’re making a scene over messages you don’t understand.”
“Our guests are sitting downstairs.”
“Exactly. Think about what this will do to your reputation.”
She wasn’t worried about me.
She was worried about time.
I ran toward the stairwell as two security officers came around the corner. Amanda shouted that I was having a breakdown, but I showed them the message.
We checked the upstairs offices one by one.
The third room was empty except for an open laptop and a portable printer.
A document sat in the output tray.
POSTNUPTIAL PROPERTY AGREEMENT.
My name had already been signed.
So had Amanda’s.
The agreement transferred my house and control of Sophie’s trust into a company called Vale Family Holdings.
A floorboard creaked behind us.
A man wearing a catering uniform slammed one officer into the wall and bolted for the service stairs.
I chased him.
He knocked over a cart and sent champagne glasses crashing across the floor. I jumped over the broken glass and followed him into the ballroom.
Two hundred guests turned toward us.
The man pushed through the crowd, tore off his catering jacket, and disappeared behind the stage curtains.
I followed and found a service door swinging open.
Outside, a black SUV sped away.
Amanda had reached the ballroom behind me.
She looked at the departing vehicle and whispered one name.
“Darren.”
“You know him?”
She turned away too late.
My mother came rushing over.
“Ethan, what’s happening?”
I showed her the forged agreement.
Her eyes stopped on the company name.
Then she looked at Amanda with an expression I couldn’t read.
“Amanda,” my mother said quietly, “you told me Vale Family Holdings had been dissolved.”
I stared at her.
“You knew about this company?”
My mother’s hands began to shake.
Before she could answer, Rachel called me from the kitchen.
Her voice was frantic.
“Ethan, Sophie’s gone.”
The phone slipped in my hand.
“What do you mean, gone?”
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“The fire alarm started. The kitchen doors opened, and someone took her.”
Then Amanda smiled.
