Chapter 8 - DANIEL'S PERFECT MARRIAGE
Nora read the letter six times.
Each reading hurt differently.
I FOUND RICHARD BENNETT'S DAUGHTER.
SHE HAS NO IDEA WHAT SHE OWNS.
SHE'S VULNERABLE RIGHT NOW.
HER MOTHER JUST DIED.
GIVE ME TIME.
Arthur couldn't look at her.
Rebecca didn't speak.
Nora remembered meeting Daniel.
A bookstore café.
Rain outside.
She had dropped a folder.
Daniel helped pick up the papers.
He bought her coffee.
He listened while she talked about losing her mother.
He remembered everything she said.
Or Nora had believed he remembered because he cared.
Now she understood.
He had been collecting information.
"What happened to Robert Hale?"
Rebecca asked.
Arthur answered.
"Died seven years ago."
Nora stared at the letter.
"So Daniel continued the plan."
"Apparently."
Nora laughed quietly.
It sounded broken.
"I married a man who hunted me."
Nobody contradicted her.
Then Lucy walked into the room.
Nora immediately closed the laptop.
Lucy carried two pieces of toast.
"I made breakfast."
Nora smiled despite everything.
"You did?"
Lucy nodded proudly.
"One is a little burned."
Arthur accepted the burned one.
"I prefer burned."
Lucy studied him.
"Really?"
"No."
Lucy giggled.
It was the first normal sound Nora had heard in days.
Arthur ate it anyway.
Nora watched her daughter.
Lucy had been the one thing Daniel hadn't planned.
At least Nora hoped so.
Then a terrible thought occurred.
"Rebecca."
The attorney looked up.
"Lucy's trust."
Rebecca understood immediately.
"What trust?"
"Daniel created one when she was born."
Within two hours, they had documents.
Daniel had established a trust in Lucy's name.
It looked generous.
It wasn't.
The controlling trustee was Daniel.
If Nora died, Daniel controlled everything.
If Daniel died, control passed to...
Celeste Laurent.
Nora stared at the page.
"He put his mistress in control of my daughter's money?"
Rebecca nodded grimly.
"And potentially her guardianship."
Nora felt rage replace grief.
Daniel had not only targeted her.
He had built a future in which Lucy could be trapped with Celeste.
The woman who had already frightened her.
Already grabbed her.
Already slapped her.
Nora stood.
"What do we do?"
Rebecca looked at her.
"We stop reacting."
Arthur nodded.
"We make Daniel react."
Nora looked between them.
"How?"
Arthur's expression hardened.
"We let him believe you're scared."
Nora understood.
Daniel expected fear.
Submission.
Silence.
Those were the tools he understood.
So Nora gave him exactly what he expected.
She called him.
Daniel answered immediately.
"Nora?"
Her voice shook deliberately.
"I can't do this."
A pause.
Then his tone softened.
"I know."
"I don't know who to trust."
"Trust me."
The ease with which he said it nearly made her sick.
"Arthur lied about my father."
Daniel seized the opening.
"I tried to warn you."
Nora closed her eyes.
"I want to come home."
Rebecca watched carefully.
Daniel was silent for several seconds.
Then:
"Come alone."
Nora's skin prickled.
"What about Lucy?"
"Leave her with Rebecca."
Arthur wrote something on paper.
KEEP HIM TALKING.
Nora swallowed.
"Why?"
"We need to talk without distractions."
Nora forced herself to sound uncertain.
"Are you still with Celeste?"
"No."
Lie.
"Do you love her?"
Another pause.
"No."
Another lie.
"Did you ever love me?"
This time Daniel answered immediately.
"Of course."
And somehow that was the ugliest lie of all.
Nora whispered.
"I'll come tonight."
Daniel exhaled.
"Good."
"What time?"
"Eight."
"Okay."
Then he added.
"Use the side entrance."
Nora looked at Detective Brooks.
"Why?"
"Reporters are outside."
That part was true.
The story of Lucy's assault had leaked.
Someone had recorded the aftermath.
Social media was exploding.
Daniel Hale's perfect reputation was collapsing.
Nora said quietly.
"Eight o'clock."
She ended the call.
Detective Brooks immediately began preparing.
Nora would wear a wire.
Officers would remain nearby.
Arthur hated the idea.
Rebecca hated it more.
But Nora insisted.
"He thinks I'm still the woman he married."
Arthur looked at her.
"You're not."
Nora nodded.
"That's why this might work."
At 7:58 p.m., Nora stood outside the mansion where she had spent ten years pretending to be happy.
She entered through the side door.
Daniel waited in the kitchen.
He smiled when he saw her.
That smile had once made her feel safe.
Now it made her skin crawl.
"I knew you'd come back."
Nora said nothing.
Daniel approached.
He reached toward her face.
She forced herself not to recoil.
"We can fix this."
"Can we?"
"Yes."
He poured wine.
Nora looked at the glass.
Daniel noticed.
"What?"
"Nothing."
He handed it to her.
Nora didn't drink.
Daniel smiled.
"Still don't trust me?"
She looked at him.
"I don't know."
"Drink."
One word.
Soft.
Casual.
But Nora heard the command beneath it.
She lifted the glass.
Then deliberately dropped it.
Wine spilled across the floor.
Daniel stared at the broken glass.
For one second, his face changed.
Pure rage.
Then he smiled again.
"Clumsy."
Nora looked at the red liquid spreading across the marble.
Something white sat near the broken stem.
A small tablet.
Partially dissolved.
May you like
Daniel saw her looking.
And suddenly the smile disappeared.
