Chapter 9 - THE SECOND DEAD PARENT
Daniel turned toward Margaret.
“My father is dead.”
Margaret stared at the disappearing SUV.
“No.”
Daniel laughed once.
It sounded broken.
“Of course not.”
“Apparently nobody in this family stays dead.”
Emily stepped outside carrying Sophie.
Aaron ran back.
“We lost them.”
Daniel barely heard him.
He looked at Margaret.
“Start talking.”
Margaret sat on the porch steps.
“Your father’s heart attack was real.”
“But he didn’t die?”
“He survived.”
“Then why did we bury him?”
“Because he wanted out.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Out of what?”
“The investigation.”
“What investigation?”
Margaret looked at Emily.
Emily answered.
“The same missing money I found.”
Daniel felt sick.
“This started eleven years ago?”
Emily nodded.
“Your father built the shell companies.”
Margaret began crying.
“He said the money was temporary.”
“He said he was hiding assets during a lawsuit.”
“When I discovered the truth, he threatened to leave us with nothing.”
“So you helped him fake his death?”
“I helped him disappear.”
“And then Ethan continued stealing?”
Margaret covered her face.
“Yes.”
Daniel walked away several steps.
He needed air.
Space.
A different life.
Sophie slipped her hand into his.
He looked down.
She was exhausted.
Confused.
Terrified.
He picked her up.
“No more tonight.”
Aaron nodded.
“I’ll secure everyone separately.”
Vanessa was arrested.
Margaret agreed to go to the station.
Emily refused medical treatment until Sophie was safe.
Daniel took Emily and Sophie home.
It was nearly midnight when they reached the house.
Emily stopped in the foyer.
She stared at family photographs.
Daniel and Sophie at Christmas.
Daniel and Vanessa at a charity dinner.
Sophie’s preschool picture.
Three years of life she had missed.
Emily touched one frame.
“You got taller.”
Daniel almost smiled.
“So did Sophie.”
Emily laughed through tears.
Then her expression changed when she saw the engagement photo.
“I didn’t know about Vanessa.”
Daniel removed the picture.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
“I loved you.”
Emily looked at him.
“Past tense?”
Daniel’s throat tightened.
“I buried you.”
“I don’t know what tense any of this belongs in.”
She nodded.
“That’s fair.”
Sophie appeared in the hallway.
“Mommy?”
Emily turned.
“Yeah, baby?”
“Can you sleep in my room?”
Emily’s face broke.
“If Daddy says it’s okay.”
Daniel nodded.
Sophie reached for both their hands.
“Both.”
Daniel and Emily looked at each other.
They followed her upstairs.
Sophie fell asleep between them twenty minutes later.
Daniel stared at the ceiling.
Emily whispered:
“I never stopped trying to come home.”
Daniel turned his head.
“I believe you.”
“There’s something else you need to know.”
He closed his eyes briefly.
“Of course there is.”
Emily almost smiled.
Then she became serious.
“The trust amendment isn’t only about the company.”
“What else?”
“Your father created a hidden account.”
“How much?”
“More than forty million dollars.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“But I know who does.”
“Ethan?”
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
“Vanessa.”
Daniel sat up.
Emily continued.
“She wasn’t Ethan’s girlfriend.”
“I never said she was.”
“She wasn’t working for him either.”
“Then who?”
Emily looked toward sleeping Sophie.
“Your father.”
Daniel felt cold.
“Vanessa was sent into your house.”
“To get close to you.”
“To marry you.”
“And once Sophie turned five…”
Emily stopped.
Daniel stared at her.
“Once Sophie turned five, what?”
Emily whispered:
May you like
“She planned to become Sophie’s legal guardian.”
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