Chapter 2 - What Maria Had Hidden
“Disconnect the internet.”
Maria didn’t hesitate.
She ran.
Victoria did.
Daniel caught her before she reached the terrace.
“Where are you going?”
“To stop Maria from destroying evidence.”
Daniel laughed once, without humor.
“You’re accusing Maria now?”
“I’m telling you this house has been manipulated for years.”
“So have I.”
That silenced her.
Daniel handed his cracked phone to Lily.
“Hold this for me, sweetheart.”
Then he called the police.
Victoria stared at him.
“You would call the police on your wife?”
“I’m calling them for my daughter.”
“You’ll regret making this public.”
“What exactly are you afraid they’ll discover?”
Her mouth tightened.
“You think you saw one ugly afternoon. You have no idea what Elena did.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You knew she came here.”
“I knew many things you didn’t.”
Before he could answer, Maria returned.
“The router is disconnected. The control room computer is still deleting files, but I pulled the backup drive.”
She held a small black storage unit against her chest.
Daniel nodded.
“Put it somewhere Victoria cannot touch it.”
Victoria laughed.
“This is absurd. Maria has hated me since our wedding.”
Maria’s expression sharpened.
“No, Mrs. Mercer. I became afraid of you after the wedding.”
Lily flinched at Victoria’s name.
Daniel noticed.
That hurt more than anything.
The Greenwich police arrived eleven minutes later.
Officers separated the adults.
A detective photographed the garden and the riding crop. Lily was taken inside and examined by a pediatric nurse who later arrived with a child-abuse investigator.
Daniel sat outside the library while Lily spoke privately with trained professionals.
He hated every closed door.
He hated himself more.
Victoria had been escorted to the guest wing to collect personal necessities.
Because the immediate evidence showed abusive conduct but no serious physical injury requiring emergency hospitalization, police told Daniel the investigation would proceed quickly, especially once they reviewed the recordings.
Victoria emerged carrying two suitcases.
Her attorney had already called.
Daniel should not contact her except through counsel.
She stopped beside him.
“You think removing me makes Lily safe?”
Daniel stood.
“She’s safer the moment you leave.”
Victoria smiled faintly.
“Ask Elena where the six million went.”
Daniel’s anger faltered.
Victoria saw it.
“Exactly.”
She walked away.
Daniel remained motionless.
Three years earlier, the collapse of his first marriage had begun with missing company money.
$6.84 million.
Mercer Development’s auditors had traced transfers through vendors supervised by Elena, who had been the company’s senior vice president for strategic finance.
Then Daniel had received messages suggesting Elena was planning to leave him.
There had been photographs of her meeting secretly with a consultant.
Bank instructions carried her approval credentials.
Elena denied everything.
Daniel had not believed her.
Within six months, their marriage ended.
Within another month, Elena disappeared from Lily’s life.
He had spent years telling himself she had chosen that.
Now Victoria had used the exact amount.
Maria appeared in the library doorway.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“Lily is asking for you.”
He found Lily sitting on a sofa beneath a blanket.
Her pale-yellow sweater had been placed in an evidence bag.
She wore one of Daniel’s old college sweatshirts, the sleeves hanging past her fingers.
He knelt.
“Hey.”
“Are you mad?”
The question nearly broke him.
“At you? Never.”
“She said you’d be mad if I told.”
Daniel looked toward the door.
“Victoria?”
Lily nodded.
“She said you already got rid of one woman who caused trouble.”
Daniel couldn’t speak for several seconds.
Lily lowered her eyes.
“I thought she meant Mommy.”
He held her hand.
“Did Victoria hurt you before today?”
A pause.
“Sometimes.”
Daniel shut his eyes.
“How many times?”
“I don’t know.”
That answer was worse than a number.
Lily whispered, “She mostly got mad when I asked about Mom.”
Daniel looked at Maria.
Maria’s face changed.
“What?”
Maria walked to the library door and closed it.
Then she crossed to an old writing desk.
“Three years ago, Mrs. Elena came here after midnight.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me?”
“She begged me not to.”
Daniel stood sharply.
“Everyone keeps making decisions for me.”
Maria flinched.
He immediately regretted the volume of his voice.
Lily did too.
Daniel lowered it.
“Sorry.”
Maria opened a drawer and removed the false wooden bottom.
Inside lay a cream envelope, aged at the corners.
Elena had written one word across it.
DANIEL.
His pulse accelerated.
“How long have you had this?”
“Since the night she was under the oak tree.”
Daniel took the envelope.
“Why didn’t you give it to me?”
“I tried.”
He stared.
Maria continued.
“The next morning I placed it on your desk. Mrs. Victoria found me there.”
“She wasn’t my wife then.”
“No. She was your executive liaison.”
Daniel remembered.
Victoria had been working for Mercer Development, handling major investors and family-office matters while he fought through his divorce.
Maria’s voice fell.
“She told me Mrs. Elena was under criminal investigation. She said giving you anything from her could make me part of an obstruction.”
“That was nonsense.”
“I know that now.”
“Why hide it?”
“Because I became frightened.”
“For three years?”
Maria looked toward Lily.
“For three years I watched Mrs. Victoria become more powerful.”
Daniel opened the envelope.
Inside was a handwritten note and one photocopied ledger page.
The note was short.
Daniel, if you ever finally see this, follow Alder Crest. Start with Grant. Do not trust anything carrying my electronic signature after March 14. I made terrible choices, but stealing from you was not one of them. I am sorry about Lily. — Elena
Daniel read it twice.
Grant.
Grant Kessler had been his closest friend for nineteen years.
And Mercer Development’s chief financial officer.
Daniel unfolded the ledger page.
At the bottom were transfers totaling $6,840,000.
The receiving entity was Alder Crest Holdings LLC.
Daniel whispered, “I’ve never heard of this company.”
Maria had gone pale.
“What?”
She pointed to the page.
“Mrs. Victoria has.”
“How do you know?”
“Because last month I heard her talking on the phone.”
Daniel looked up.
May you like
Maria’s next words changed the direction of everything.
“She said, ‘Grant, if Daniel finds Alder Crest before the shareholder vote, we lose everything.’”
