Chapter 1 - THE ARREST
David stared at the man in the dark suit as though he'd just spoken another language.
“Emergency executive what?”
The man opened the leather folder.
“Emergency executive arrest.”
David gave a nervous laugh.
It sounded strangely loud inside the empty house.
“You've made a mistake.”
“No, Mr. Vance.”
The man removed a document bearing a federal seal.
“We haven't.”
Julianne slowly released David's hand.
That tiny movement didn't escape him.
He looked at her.
“Don't.”
She froze.
One of the state troopers stepped forward.
“Keep your hands where we can see them, sir.”
David's face hardened.
He was accustomed to people obeying him.
Employees obeyed him.
Lawyers obeyed him.
Bankers returned his calls within minutes.
Even during the worst years of our marriage, David had carried himself like consequences were things that happened to other people.
Now two armed officers were standing in his living room.
And there was nowhere left for his arrogance to hide.
“Maya!”
His voice echoed through the house.
“Maya, come out here!”
I stepped from the hallway.
David went silent.
I was wearing black.
Not an elegant cocktail dress.
Not the expensive clothes he liked choosing for me.
Just a simple black dress and the same black coat I'd worn at Lily's funeral.
My wedding ring was gone.
So was almost everything else.
David stared at me.
“What did you do?”
I looked at him for several seconds.
Then I said the first words I'd spoken to my husband in fourteen days.
“I stopped protecting you.”
His mouth fell open.
The man in the suit turned toward me.
“Mrs. Vance.”
I nodded.
“Special Agent Marcus Hale.”
David looked between us.
“You know him?”
“I do now.”
“What the hell is happening?”
Agent Hale opened the folder.
“David Vance, you are being detained in connection with suspected wire fraud, securities fraud, conspiracy, falsification of corporate records, obstruction of a federal investigation, and unlawful diversion of restricted company funds.”
David's expression changed.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
It lasted less than a second.
But I saw it.
So did Agent Hale.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
Hale remained expressionless.
“I expected you to say that.”
“This is insane.”
David pointed at me.
“She did this.”
Agent Hale glanced toward me.
“Your wife provided evidence.”
David's eyes locked onto mine.
“You went through my files?”
“No.”
My voice remained quiet.
“You left them open.”
Something flickered behind his eyes.
Fear.
Julianne took another step backward.
David noticed.
“Where are you going?”
“I don't know anything about this.”
Her voice trembled.
“You said everything was legal.”
David's head snapped toward her.
“Shut up.”
Agent Hale immediately looked at Julianne.
“That's an interesting statement.”
David realized his mistake.
“Don't speak to her.”
Hale almost smiled.
“You don't get to make that decision anymore.”
One of the troopers approached David.
“Turn around.”
David didn't move.
Then he looked at me again.
There was hatred in his eyes now.
Pure hatred.
“What did you tell them?”
“Enough.”
“Enough for what?”
“For them to finally look at you.”
The officer reached for David's wrist.
David jerked away.
“Don't touch me!”
The second trooper immediately moved forward.
David finally understood how serious this was.
He slowly raised his hands.
“Fine.”
The cuffs clicked around his wrists.
That sound should have satisfied me.
It didn't.
Nothing had satisfied me since I watched a tiny white casket disappear beneath frozen earth.
David looked around the empty room.
His eyes landed on the pale rectangle on the wall where our family portrait had once hung.
“Where's everything?”
“Gone.”
“My paintings?”
“Gone.”
“The furniture?”
“Gone.”
“The wine collection?”
“Secured.”
“My cars?”
“Frozen.”
His breathing became faster.
“And my accounts?”
Agent Hale answered that one.
“Frozen.”
David closed his eyes.
For the first time, he looked genuinely afraid.
Then he opened them.
“Where's Lily?”
The room stopped breathing.
Even Julianne looked confused.
David glanced toward the staircase.
“Is she at your mother's?”
I said nothing.
“Maya.”
His voice changed slightly.
“Where is Lily?”
Agent Hale looked at me.
I had told him not to reveal it.
Not yet.
David had ignored fifty calls.
He had demanded fourteen days without interruption.
So fourteen days was exactly what he'd received.
I reached into my coat.
David tensed.
But I only removed an envelope.
I walked toward him.
“There's one more document.”
He stared at it.
“What is it?”
I placed it on the bare floor between us.
My petition for divorce.
David looked down.
Then back at me.
“You're divorcing me?”
“Yes.”
“Over Julianne?”
Julianne flinched.
I almost laughed.
Even now, he thought the affair was the center of the universe.
“No, David.”
I stepped away.
“This is bigger than Julianne.”
Agent Hale guided him toward the door.
David twisted around.
“Maya!”
I didn't answer.
“Maya, where is our daughter?”
I watched the man who had ignored fifty calls being dragged toward the front door.
And for the first time since Lily died, David was the one desperately calling my name.
I let him.
May you like
Because there was still one secret left inside that empty house.
And when David finally discovered where Lily was, losing his freedom would become the least painful thing that happened to him.
