Chapter 4 - THE SECOND TRAP
The police were called.
This time, Richard made the call himself.
Emily gave a statement about the necklace.
Daniel provided the footage.
Nathan handed over the threatening message.
By midnight, officers were on their way to Vanessa’s apartment.
She was gone.
So was her passport.
Her laptop remained behind.
But the hard drive had been removed.
Marcus had vanished too.
Nathan stood in the mansion library staring through the windows.
Emily approached carefully.
“You should sleep.”
He laughed without humor.
“I was supposed to marry her next Saturday.”
Emily said nothing.
“I knew she liked money.”
He turned.
“I didn’t know she liked it enough to destroy people.”
Emily touched her cheek.
Nathan noticed.
“I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t hit me.”
“No.”
“But I brought her into this house.”
“That still doesn’t make you responsible for what she did.”
Nathan looked surprised.
“You’re defending me?”
“I’m being fair.”
A faint smile touched his face.
“You’re probably the only person in this house doing that tonight.”
Before Emily could answer, Daniel rushed in.
“Emily, where’s your mother?”
Emily froze.
“What?”
“Where is she?”
“At home.”
“Call her.”
Emily immediately pulled out her phone.
No answer.
She called again.
Nothing.
Her heart started pounding.
“Why?”
Daniel showed her a photograph.
A car had been captured outside Emily’s apartment building twenty minutes earlier.
Marcus’s car.
Emily ran.
Nathan caught her arm.
“Where are you going?”
“My mother is there.”
“You’re not going alone.”
They drove across the city with Daniel and two police officers following.
Emily called twelve times.
No answer.
When they reached the apartment, the front door was open.
Emily ran inside.
“Mom?”
Silence.
The living room had been destroyed.
Drawers emptied.
Cushions ripped open.
Pictures smashed.
“Mom!”
A sound came from the bedroom.
Emily rushed toward it.
Her mother, Rosa, was sitting on the floor beside the bed.
Her wrists were tied.
Tape covered her mouth.
Emily dropped to her knees.
“Oh my God.”
She pulled away the tape.
Rosa gasped.
“They were looking for something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
Nathan untied her hands.
“Who?”
“A man and Vanessa.”
Emily stared at her mother.
“Vanessa was here?”
Rosa nodded.
“She kept asking where you hid it.”
“Hid what?”
“She said you took something from the mansion.”
Emily’s heart hammered.
“I didn’t.”
“I know.”
Rosa grabbed her hand.
“But they thought you did.”
Daniel searched the apartment.
Five minutes later, he returned holding Emily’s old work jacket.
Something had been cut from the lining.
A small opening.
Emily frowned.
“I didn’t do that.”
Daniel reached inside.
His fingers closed around something.
He pulled out a tiny black flash drive.
Everyone stared at it.
Emily whispered, “What is that?”
Daniel looked at her.
“I think this is what Vanessa was trying to find.”
Back at the mansion, they connected the drive to an isolated computer.
There were twenty-six files.
Bank statements.
Corporate transfers.
Copies of forged signatures.
Private emails.
And one video.
Daniel opened it.
Marcus appeared on screen.
Vanessa sat across from him.
The recording was dated six weeks earlier.
Marcus leaned toward her.
“Once Nathan signs the revised agreement, you’ll have your opening.”
Vanessa looked nervous.
“And Emily?”
Marcus smiled.
“If she becomes a problem, make her look like a thief.”
Emily stopped breathing.
Vanessa asked, “And if that doesn’t work?”
May you like
Marcus’s smile disappeared.
“Then we make sure she can’t talk at all.”
