Chapter 4 - THE CONFRONTATION
I unplugged the drive instantly and shoved it back into my pocket. My heart hammered against my ribs. She had heard everything. She knew I knew.
“Adrian?” Her voice came soft through the wood. “Are you awake?”
I did not answer. I stood up slowly, stepping quietly toward the door.
“I know you are in there,” she said. There was no pretense of gentleness anymore. Her tone was sharp, edged with desperation. “I heard the video. Claire always was dramatic, wasn’t she? Spinning tales, imagining enemies. Give me the drive, Adrian. Walk away from this. We can still be together. I can protect you.”
“Protect me?” I said, finally speaking. “You were sent to spy on us. To steal evidence. Claire didn’t die of a fever, did she? She was murdered because she found the truth.”
Silence on the other side of the door.
Then her voice came again, lower, stripped of all lies. “Claire was stubborn. She refused to listen. She forced their hand. And now you are being just as foolish. Give me what belongs to them, and I promise you and Noah will be left alone. Refuse… and you will not be safe anywhere.”
“They threatened a dying woman to keep her silent,” I said. “They threatened my child. You threatened my child. How did you know to look in the bear, Vanessa? How did you know exactly where to search?”
“Because I watched her hide it,” she answered, and her voice had turned cold, completely unmasked. “I stood right here in this house, months before she died, and I watched her sew something inside that bear. I didn’t know what it was, only that it was important. And I have been waiting ever since to get my hands on it.”
Rage burned through me so hot it felt like fire in my veins. She had been here. Under our roof. While Claire was dying. While Noah was grieving. She had watched and waited and planned.
“You will never touch this drive,” I told her. “And you will never come near my son again. I am going to the authorities with everything. Every name. Every transaction. Every lie you have told.”
Vanessa laughed, a sharp, bitter sound. “Go ahead. Who do you think runs the authorities? Half the men on that drive own the police, the judges, the newspapers. You walk into a station with that, and you will disappear. And Noah… he will be left all alone.”
I reached for the lock. “Then let them try.”
I wrenched the door open. Vanessa stood there, her face hard and furious. She took a step back as I emerged into the hallway.
“You are making a terrible choice,” she said.
“You made your choice the day you agreed to spy on a dying mother and terrorize her child,” I replied. “Pack. Get out. And pray I do not decide to press charges for what you did to Noah tonight.”
Vanessa stared at me, hatred burning in her eyes. “You think this ends here? You think I am the only one watching? They know you are home. They know you found something. This house is no longer safe for any of you.”
She turned on her heel and walked away, her heels clicking sharply against the marble floor.
I went back into the bedroom. Noah was awake, sitting up in bed, rubbing his eyes. He looked small and fragile in the large bed.
“Daddy?”
I knelt beside him and brushed the hair from his forehead. “I’m here, buddy. We need to go. Right now.”
“Why?” he asked, his voice trembling.
“Because we are going on an adventure,” I lied gently. “Just you and me. Pack your favorite things. Quickly.”
May you like
While he gathered his toys, I looked down at the USB drive resting in my palm. Vanessa was right. If those men were as powerful as Claire had claimed, I could not simply walk into a local precinct. I needed help I could trust. I needed protection. And most of all, I needed to keep Noah alive long enough to expose the truth.
I glanced out the window as I helped Noah zip his small suitcase. A dark sedan was parked across the street. Engine running. Watching the house.
