Chapter 2 - THE HUSBAND WHO DIDN'T ASK IF SHE WAS SAFE
Daniel approached the stretcher.
"Kiora."
She turned her face away.
Daniel stopped.
"What happened?"
Elias watched him carefully.
He wasn't watching Daniel's face.
He was watching his eyes.
Daniel looked at Vanessa first.
Then the security officers.
Then the cameras.
Only then did he look at his pregnant wife.
Elias felt something cold settle inside him.
A loving husband would have asked one question.
Is she okay?
Daniel hadn't.
Instead, he asked again.
"What happened?"
Vanessa answered first.
"She slipped."
Kiora looked at her in disbelief.
"You hit me."
Vanessa shrugged.
"Your version."
"My version?"
Kiora tried to sit up.
A paramedic gently stopped her.
"Please stay still."
Daniel looked annoyed.
"Kiora, don't make this worse."
Her expression changed.
"What did you just say?"
"We can handle this privately."
Elias turned toward him.
"Privately?"
Daniel finally acknowledged him.
"This is between my wife and Vanessa."
"No."
Elias stepped closer.
"This became a criminal matter the moment Vanessa struck a pregnant woman inside a courthouse."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"Stay out of my marriage."
Elias stared at him.
"I've stayed out of it for three years."
A pause.
"That may have been my greatest mistake."
Daniel glanced toward the officers.
"We don't need police."
One officer raised an eyebrow.
"That's not your decision."
Daniel pulled out his phone.
"I know Chief Morrison."
Elias almost laughed.
"Call him."
Daniel hesitated.
Elias leaned closer.
"Please."
Daniel lowered the phone.
Kiora watched the exchange.
Something she had ignored for years was becoming impossible to ignore.
Daniel wasn't afraid for her.
He was afraid of what she might say.
The paramedics pushed the stretcher toward the exit.
Daniel tried to follow.
Kiora spoke.
"No."
He stopped.
"What?"
"I don't want you coming."
"Kiora."
"I want Elias."
Daniel's face darkened.
"I'm your husband."
"Then act like one."
The words hit harder than she expected.
Daniel stared at her.
The stretcher continued toward the doors.
Elias followed.
As they passed Vanessa, she leaned toward Kiora.
"You should have signed."
Kiora's blood ran cold.
Elias heard it.
He stopped.
"What did you say?"
Vanessa smiled.
"Nothing."
Elias turned to the nearest officer.
"Make sure she doesn't leave."
Vanessa laughed.
"You can't detain me."
The officer answered.
"We can ask you to remain while we review the footage."
Vanessa's smile disappeared.
Outside, rain covered the courthouse steps.
An ambulance waited at the curb.
Kiora was loaded inside.
Elias climbed in beside her.
The doors closed.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Kiora began crying.
Not loudly.
Quietly.
Elias took her hand.
"What papers?"
Kiora looked at him.
"Daniel brought them home three nights ago."
"What papers?"
"He said they were estate planning documents."
Elias frowned.
"What kind?"
"He wanted me to sign control of my trust to him."
Elias went completely still.
"Your Harrington trust?"
She nodded.
Elias's expression became frighteningly blank.
"How much does Daniel know?"
"About what?"
"Your inheritance."
Kiora wiped her eyes.
"He thinks it's around eight million."
Elias looked away.
That was what worried him.
Because Daniel was wrong.
Very wrong.
Kiora's inheritance wasn't eight million dollars.
It was closer to eight hundred million.
And almost nobody knew.
Her late father had designed it that way.
Kiora stared at Elias.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
He didn't answer immediately.
"Elias."
"There are things your father asked me not to tell you until you turned thirty-five."
"I'm thirty-two."
"I know."
"Then tell me now."
The ambulance turned onto another street.
Elias looked through the rain-streaked window.
"Your father didn't die believing Daniel loved you."
Kiora's breathing stopped for a moment.
"What?"
"He investigated him."
"Why?"
"Because Daniel approached you six months after learning who your father really was."
Kiora shook her head.
"No."
"He didn't know."
"He knew."
"That's impossible."
Elias looked at her.
"Your father proved it."
Kiora stared at him.
"And there's more."
Her voice trembled.
"What?"
Elias reached inside his coat pocket.
Then remembered his jacket was back at the courthouse.
"Damn."
"What?"
"There was a key."
"What key?"
"Your father gave it to me."
"To what?"
Elias looked toward the ambulance doors.
"A safe-deposit box."
Kiora's heart pounded.
"What's inside?"
"I don't know."
"You never opened it?"
"He specifically ordered me not to."
"Why?"
"Because he said you had to open it yourself."
The paramedic glanced at the monitor.
"Kiora, try to stay calm."
She barely heard him.
"What does this have to do with Daniel?"
Elias remembered the final conversation he'd had with Kiora's father.
Arthur Harrington had been dying.
Yet his warning had been perfectly clear.
If Daniel ever tries to gain control of Kiora's trust, give her the key.
Elias looked at her.
"Your father believed Daniel would eventually come after your inheritance."
Kiora closed her eyes.
A tear escaped.
Then Elias's phone rang.
He answered.
"Voss."
It was courthouse security.
"Mr. Voss?"
"Yes."
"We reviewed the footage."
Elias looked at Kiora.
"And?"
"There may be a bigger problem."
"What problem?"
The officer hesitated.
"Someone deleted fourteen minutes of security footage before the attack."
Elias sat upright.
"Who?"
"We're checking."
Another pause.
"But the deletion came from an administrator account."
"Whose account?"
The answer made Elias's expression harden.
"Daniel Bennett's."
May you like
Kiora heard it.
And suddenly the ambulance felt much colder.
