Chapter 4
I attended the emergency hearing from a hospital bed.
Video screen.
Bandaged head.
No makeup.
No performance.
Daniel sat in court beside his attorney, wearing the same navy suit he had worn to my award ceremony.
Vanessa sat behind him, dabbing at her eyes.
She looked beautiful.
Fragile.
False.
Daniel’s attorney spoke first.
“Your Honor, Mrs. Carter suffered a violent emotional episode after drinking heavily at a gala. She attacked Ms. Monroe, fell, and now displays paranoia toward her devoted husband.”
Devoted.
The word made my stomach turn.
The judge looked at the screen.
“Mrs. Carter, can you hear me?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Do you understand the purpose of this hearing?”
“Yes. My husband is trying to gain control of my assets by claiming the head injury he helped cause makes me incompetent.”
Daniel flinched.
His lawyer objected.
Priya stood.
“We have evidence.”
The judge nodded.
“Proceed.”
Priya played the recording.
Not all of it.
Just enough.
Daniel checking my pulse.
Vanessa asking if I would remember.
The kiss.
The offshore money.
The incapacity petition.
Every person in that courtroom went still.
Daniel’s lawyer looked like he wanted to vanish into his own briefcase.
The judge removed her glasses.
“Mr. Carter, did you know this recording existed when you filed this petition?”
Daniel opened his mouth.
No sound came out.
Vanessa stood suddenly.
“She manipulated it!”
The judge looked at her.
“Sit down.”
Vanessa sat.
The petition was denied.
The judge froze Daniel’s access to every marital asset pending investigation.
She also referred the matter to criminal court.
Priya requested a protective order.
Granted.
Daniel and Vanessa were ordered to stay away from me, my home, my office, and all company systems.
For the first time since I woke on the floor, I took a full breath.
Then Marcus’s phone buzzed.
He glanced down.
His expression changed.
“What?” I asked.
He stepped closer and lowered his voice.
“Elaine is missing.”
My CFO.
The woman I had suspected first.
Gone.
Her office was empty.
Her phone off.
Her assistant said she left after receiving a message from Daniel the night before.
Detective Ruiz moved quickly.
By noon, police were at my company.
By two, they found Elaine’s car in a parking garage near the airport.
Empty.
By four, Marcus recovered a deleted calendar invite.
Meet D. Bring token. Urgent.
My heart turned cold.
Daniel had needed the rotating security key.
Elaine had access to an emergency backup.
“She wouldn’t help him,” I said.
Marcus said nothing.
“She warned me about the login.”
“I know.”
“So why meet him?”
“Maybe he threatened her.”
Detective Ruiz returned that evening with footage from the parking garage.
Elaine stepped out of her car carrying a small black case.
Daniel approached her.
They argued.
Then Vanessa appeared behind Elaine.
The footage cut off when the garage camera suddenly failed.
Marcus cursed under his breath.
“Someone disabled it.”
Detective Ruiz leaned closer to the screen.
“Back it up.”
Marcus did.
The last clear frame showed Vanessa’s hand near Elaine’s shoulder.
And something in Daniel’s hand.
A syringe.
My skin went cold.
“She is alive?” I whispered.
Detective Ruiz did not answer fast enough.
“We’re working on that.”
At midnight, my hospital room phone rang.
Not my cell.
The room phone.
I looked at Priya.
She answered and put it on speaker.
A woman’s weak voice came through.
“Brianna?”
I sat up too fast.
“Elaine?”
She was breathing hard.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know. Storage. Cold. They took the token.”
Marcus was already tracing.
Elaine sobbed.
“Daniel said if I didn’t help, he’d tell everyone I was stealing from you.”
“Elaine, listen to me. Stay on the line.”
Then Vanessa’s voice appeared in the background.
May you like
“You stupid woman.”
The line went dead.
