Chapter 12 - THEY PLANNED TO TAKE LILY
The recording changed everything.
They had discussed taking Lily months before Diane hit her.
Not because they loved her.
Because Lily was leverage.
Caroline filed the audio with the court.
The custody judge expanded the protective order.
Jason’s supervised visits were temporarily suspended.
Diane was ordered to stay away.
Robert became a person of interest in the federal investigation.
Brooke suddenly wanted to cooperate.
Of course she did.
She called me crying.
“I didn’t know how serious it was.”
I almost hung up.
“You laughed on the recording.”
“I was nervous.”
“You’re always nervous when you’re cruel?”
“Emily, please.”
“No.”
“I can help you.”
“With what?”
She lowered her voice.
“I know where Thomas hid the files.”
My entire body went still.
“How?”
“He told me.”
“When?”
“Last year.”
“Why would Thomas tell you?”
Brooke began crying harder.
“Because we were sleeping together.”
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
The Bennett family had found one more way to become disgusting.
“You were married.”
“I know.”
“He was working for your uncle.”
“I know.”
“And you told Robert?”
“No.”
“Then how did Thomas disappear?”
“I don’t know.”
Her voice broke.
“I swear.”
“Where are the files?”
“A storage unit.”
“Where?”
She gave me an address in Evanston.
I immediately called Caroline.
Federal investigators went first.
Inside the unit were boxes.
Hard drives.
Paper records.
Cash.
And Thomas.
Alive.
Weak.
Bruised.
But alive.
Brooke had lied about one thing.
Thomas had not been hiding there voluntarily.
Someone had locked him inside.
He had been there for days.
A neighboring unit owner had been slipping him water through a damaged section of wall after hearing noises.
Police recovered him.
Thomas identified the man who attacked him.
Robert.
Robert was arrested that evening.
The news spread quickly.
Then Brooke was arrested the next morning.
Not for Thomas.
For destroying evidence.
The missing phone had never been stolen.
Brooke had given it to Robert.
Robert destroyed it.
Jason turned himself in voluntarily.
Diane remained free.
For exactly eleven hours.
Then investigators found something in her condo.
A locked desk drawer.
Inside were copies of my records.
My mother’s information.
My father’s information.
And Lily’s Social Security number.
They were already preparing to use my daughter’s identity.
That broke something in me all over again.
Lily was two years old.
And they had already planned her first fraud.
Diane was arrested before sunset.
I watched the footage on the news.
She screamed at reporters.
“This is Emily’s fault!”
I turned off the television.
Rachel sat beside me.
“How do you feel?”
I looked toward Lily.
She was playing with blocks on the floor.
“Relieved.”
“Anything else?”
“Sad.”
“For Diane?”
“No.”
“For what I thought my life was.”
Rachel squeezed my hand.
Then my phone rang.
Caroline.
Her voice was tense.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Jason is asking for a deal.”
“With prosecutors?”
“Yes.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“He’s offering evidence.”
“So?”
Caroline paused.
“In exchange, he wants one thing.”
May you like
I already knew.
“Lily.”
