Chapter 4 - THE MAN ON THE CAMERA
Nathan didn’t shout.
That was worse.
He stood in the middle of the library, looking at Vanessa with the calm of a man whose anger had gone somewhere deeper.
“Who?”
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
“This is ridiculous.”
Nathan repeated:
“Who was the man?”
“There was no man.”
Sophia tugged my sleeve.
I asked her to describe him.
She touched her hair.
DARK.
Then her chin.
BEARD.
Then she signed:
PHONE.
SUIT.
Nathan looked at Reyes.
“Pull exterior security.”
Vanessa stiffened.
“There are no cameras in the west hall.”
“No,” Reyes said. “But there are cameras at every entrance.”
Nathan’s eyes stayed on Vanessa.
“Let’s see who came in.”
Reyes opened a security tablet.
He searched recordings from the past month.
Visitors.
Deliveries.
Employees.
Contractors.
Most were expected.
Then Sophia pointed at the screen.
She slapped her tiny palm against it.
HIM.
The footage showed a black SUV entering through the service gate eleven days earlier.
A man stepped out.
Dark hair.
Trim beard.
Gray suit.
Reyes paused the footage.
Nathan went pale.
“I know him.”
Vanessa whispered, “Nathan…”
“Evan Ward.”
I had heard the name before.
Everyone had.
Evan Ward had been Nathan’s chief financial officer until eighteen months earlier.
Nathan fired him after an internal audit uncovered hidden losses in a real-estate division.
The separation had been ugly.
Public.
Evan blamed Nathan personally.
Nathan looked at Vanessa.
“What the hell was Evan Ward doing in my house?”
“He came to see me.”
“Why?”
“To talk.”
“About?”
She said nothing.
Nathan walked closer.
“Were you sleeping with him?”
“No.”
Sophia signed KISS again.
Nathan saw the movement.
He didn’t need translation this time.
Vanessa’s eyes flashed.
“She’s three years old!”
Nathan nodded.
“And she’s still doing better than you at answering questions.”
Vanessa’s face twisted.
“You want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
She stepped toward him.
“Yes, Evan came here.”
Nathan waited.
“He said he had information about the company.”
“What information?”
“He said you were hiding money.”
Nathan laughed.
“Evan says a lot of things.”
“He had documents.”
“And you believed him?”
“I listened.”
“Did you kiss him?”
Vanessa hesitated.
That was enough.
Nathan closed his eyes.
I saw pain hit him before anger covered it.
“You kissed him.”
“It happened once.”
“Inside my house.”
“Nathan—”
“Two weeks before our wedding.”
“It didn’t mean anything.”
“People always say that after it means something.”
Vanessa reached for him.
He stepped back.
Reyes’ tablet beeped.
“Sir.”
Nathan turned.
Reyes had opened gate records.
“This isn’t Ward’s only visit.”
Nathan frowned.
“How many?”
“Six.”
No one moved.
Vanessa looked at the floor.
“Six?”
Nathan asked.
Reyes scrolled.
“Over the last three months.”
Nathan’s jaw flexed.
Exactly the same period his hearing had been deteriorating.
Reyes brought up timestamps.
Most visits happened in the afternoon while Nathan was at work.
One occurred at 1:11 a.m.
Nathan looked at Vanessa.
“You brought him here after midnight?”
She said nothing.
“Answer me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“We were talking.”
Nathan stared.
“At one in the morning?”
Vanessa snapped, “Do you want a list of every stupid thing I did?”
“No.”
Nathan’s voice broke slightly.
“I want the list of things you did that might kill me.”
That silenced her.
Reyes tapped again.
“One more thing.”
“What?”
“Ward hasn’t used the front gate since his termination.”
“How’d he get access?”
“Temporary service credentials.”
“Created by who?”
Reyes looked up.
“The credentials were issued under Maria’s employee profile.”
My blood went cold.
Nathan turned to me.
I stared at the screen.
“No.”
Reyes asked, “Have you ever created guest access?”
“I don’t even know how.”
“Someone used your login.”
“I never gave anyone my login.”
Vanessa smiled.
A tiny smile.
There it was.
Nathan saw it.
“So somebody framed Maria.”
“I didn’t say that,” Reyes replied.
Vanessa folded her arms.
“Or Maria’s lying.”
I looked at her.
“You knew.”
Her smile vanished.
“You knew Sophia saw you.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You knew she was in the study. You knew she saw him.”
Vanessa’s eyes narrowed.
“And?”
“You thought no one would believe her.”
That hit.
She didn’t answer.
My chest tightened.
Because suddenly I understood something ugly.
Sophia wasn’t invisible to Vanessa because she was a child.
She was invisible because Vanessa assumed a deaf child couldn’t tell anyone what she saw.
I stepped closer.
“You thought she couldn’t talk.”
Vanessa looked at me.
“I thought nothing of the kind.”
“You thought her hands didn’t count.”
Nathan’s expression hardened.
Vanessa shook her head.
“This is becoming emotional nonsense.”
Before I could answer, Reyes’ phone rang.
He listened for several seconds.
Then said:
“Understood.”
He hung up.
Nathan asked, “What?”
“Police are five minutes out.”
Vanessa reached for her purse.
Reyes blocked her again.
Then another security officer entered the room carrying a laptop.
“Sir, we found something in Mr. Ward’s gate records.”
Nathan frowned.
“What?”
The officer turned the screen around.
“There’s an audio clip attached to one of the service-entry logs.”
“Audio?”
“It was accidentally captured by the intercom.”
He pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then Evan Ward’s voice.
Clear enough.
“Once he signs after the wedding, the company is ours.”
A pause.
Then Vanessa’s voice answered.
“And if his hearing gets worse?”
Evan laughed.
“That’s the point.”
Nobody moved.
The recording continued.
Vanessa whispered:
“What if he figures it out before the wedding?”
May you like
And Evan Ward said:
“Then we move the schedule up.”
