Chapter 4 - Two Voices
Lucas stared at his phone.
Then at his mother.
Margaret looked horrified.
“What?”
Lucas couldn't answer.
The voice had sounded exactly like hers.
Not similar.
Exact.
“Lucas?”
He replayed the final seconds from the call recording.
“You should have stayed quiet.”
Margaret covered her mouth.
“That sounds like me.”
Vanessa suddenly stood.
“It isn't.”
Everyone looked at her.
Lucas narrowed his eyes.
“How do you know?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Because I've heard it before.”
Richard's face hardened.
“Vanessa.”
She ignored him.
“My father has recordings.”
“Recordings of what?”
“Voices.”
Lucas stared.
“Deepfakes?”
Vanessa nodded.
“They've used them before.”
Richard shouted.
“Stop talking!”
Detective Hale moved toward him.
“Sit down.”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“You think this ends with me?”
Hale's face changed.
Richard saw it.
“You still don't understand, Detective.”
“You were never protecting me.”
“You were protecting them.”
Lucas caught the word.
“Them?”
Richard said nothing.
Lucas grabbed the laptop.
He opened the second folder.
BENNETT
Inside were spreadsheets.
Bank transfers.
Property deeds.
Private emails.
Photographs.
And one scanned document.
Lucas opened it.
His hands went cold.
It was Rachel's life insurance policy.
Twenty million dollars.
Lucas had known about the policy.
What he had never seen was the amendment attached to it.
Signed three weeks before Rachel died.
If Lucas died within five years of Rachel's death, control of the Bennett family trust would transfer temporarily to Daniel.
If both Lucas and Daniel were unavailable, control would pass to Margaret.
Lucas looked at his mother.
Margaret shook her head.
“I've never seen that.”
Lucas zoomed in.
His signature appeared at the bottom.
But he had never signed it.
“Forged.”
Hale whispered.
Lucas looked at Richard.
“Was this your plan?”
Richard laughed.
“My plan?”
For the first time, the powerful developer looked genuinely exhausted.
“You still think I'm running this?”
Lucas said nothing.
Richard looked at Sophie.
Then back at Lucas.
“My daughter was supposed to marry you.”
“Yes.”
“But not because I wanted your company.”
“Then why?”
Richard looked toward Vanessa.
She closed her eyes.
“Tell him.”
Richard whispered.
Vanessa began crying.
“Lucas...”
“Tell me.”
She looked at Sophie.
Then said:
“Because someone believed Rachel left a second copy of everything inside your house.”
Lucas stared.
“And you were supposed to find it?”
Vanessa nodded.
“How long?”
“Since I met you.”
Every memory became poisonous.
Their first dinner.
Their first vacation.
The night Vanessa told him she loved him.
Her relationship with Sophie.
The proposal.
All of it.
“You never loved me.”
Vanessa started crying harder.
“At first?”
“No.”
Lucas looked away.
She continued.
“But then I did.”
“Don't.”
“I did.”
“You locked my daughter in a bathroom.”
“I was trying to protect her.”
Lucas turned sharply.
“By terrifying her?”
“You don't understand what my father told me.”
Richard stared at the floor.
“What did he tell you?”
Lucas asked.
Vanessa wiped her face.
“That if I didn't find Rachel's evidence before the wedding, Sophie wouldn't leave the hotel.”
Margaret grabbed Sophie.
Lucas's blood turned cold.
“Who threatened her?”
Vanessa whispered:
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“My father got the message.”
Lucas turned toward Richard.
Richard slowly removed his phone.
He unlocked it.
Opened an encrypted message.
Then handed it to Lucas.
A photograph appeared.
Sophie.
Sleeping in her bedroom.
Taken from inside Lucas's house.
Three nights earlier.
Underneath were six words.
FIND THE CARD OR LOSE HER.
Lucas felt physically sick.
Someone had been inside his home.
Near his daughter.
While she slept.
“When did you receive this?”
“Tuesday.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“Because the next photograph was of Vanessa.”
Lucas swiped.
Vanessa sleeping.
Then Daniel.
Then Margaret.
Then Lucas himself.
Every member of the family had been photographed without knowing it.
The final image was different.
It showed Rachel.
Alive.
Standing outside Bennett Private Storage.
Timestamped two days before her death.
Beside her stood a man.
Lucas zoomed in.
Detective Hale.
Lucas looked up.
Hale backed toward the door.
“Lucas.”
“What were you doing with my wife?”
Hale's hand moved toward his weapon.
Security reacted immediately.
“Hands where we can see them.”
Hale stopped.
Lucas moved closer.
“What did Rachel give you?”
Hale looked at the laptop.
Then Sophie.
Then the door.
Finally, he whispered:
“She gave me the original evidence.”
Lucas stared.
“Where is it?”
Hale shook his head.
“I don't have it anymore.”
“Who does?”
Hale looked toward the ballroom.
“Your best man.”
Daniel.
Lucas's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Lucas Bennett?”
“Yes.”
“This is St. Matthew's Hospital.”
His heart stopped.
“We have a patient here carrying identification belonging to your brother.”
Lucas gripped the desk.
“Is Daniel okay?”
The voice paused.
“Mr. Bennett, the man who arrived here isn't Daniel Bennett.”
Lucas frowned.
“What?”
“He had your brother's wallet.”
“Then who is he?”
Another pause.
“He says his name is Michael Reeves.”
Lucas had never heard that name.
May you like
Then the nurse said:
“And he claims he's Sophie's biological father.”
