Chapter 15 - Anna Comes Home
Police reached the Cross estate before Daniel did.
This time, he did not follow.
He stayed in Maya’s office.
He hated every second.
At 11:43 p.m., Detective Ruiz called.
“We found her.”
Daniel could not speak.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
He sat down.
“Condition?”
“Sedated. Dehydrated. Bruising on both wrists. Ambulance is taking her to St. Anne’s.”
“Charles?”
“Not home.”
“Marcus?”
“Also gone.”
Daniel covered his face.
Maya asked, “Can he see her?”
Ruiz heard.
“Not tonight. She asked not to see him.”
Daniel’s hands lowered.
That hurt.
He nodded even though Ruiz could not see him.
“Tell her I understand.”
Anna was placed under protective security.
The next morning Ethan and Lily were brought to the hospital.
Daniel remained downstairs.
He sat in the same emergency-department corridor where he had first seen Ethan’s bruised cheek.
A nurse recognized him.
She said nothing.
He deserved that.
After nearly an hour, Ethan came down.
Daniel stood.
“How is she?”
“She looks small.”
Daniel’s throat tightened.
Ethan stared at him.
“You didn’t come to the room.”
“She didn’t want me there.”
“Are you mad?”
“No.”
Ethan studied him.
“You usually get mad when people tell you no.”
“I’m learning.”
“Slow.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“Yes.”
Ethan sat beside him.
For several minutes they said nothing.
Then Ethan whispered, “She said the bracelet was mine.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“So she told you.”
“She said my old name was Lucas.”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to call me that?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I heard you when you told me your name was Ethan.”
The boy looked at him.
Daniel added, “I should have learned earlier that loving someone doesn’t mean naming their choices for them.”
Ethan leaned back.
“Mom said something like that.”
“I stole it from her.”
For the first time, Ethan smiled.
It disappeared quickly.
“She says Charles is going to sell the company.”
Daniel nodded.
“Tomorrow.”
“Why does that matter?”
“Because if he sells enough assets and moves enough money before the fraud is frozen, recovering it becomes harder.”
“Can he do that?”
“Maybe.”
“Stop him.”
Daniel looked at Ethan.
“How?”
Ethan frowned.
“You’re the rich businessman.”
“I’m the unemployed businessman.”
That earned a tiny laugh.
Then Daniel became serious.
“I’m going to court. Maya will ask a judge to freeze the sale.”
“No breaking into houses?”
“No.”
“No airport fighting?”
“No.”
“No hitting?”
Daniel looked him straight in the eyes.
“No hitting.”
Anna agreed to meet Daniel that afternoon.
He entered her hospital room alone.
For eight years he had imagined this moment.
In every version, Anna ran into his arms.
Reality was different.
She sat upright in bed, pale, wrists bandaged.
Her gray-green eyes looked older.
Daniel stopped near the door.
“Anna.”
She stared at him.
Then at his hands.
He noticed.
He kept them visible at his sides.
“You hit him.”
It was the first thing she said.
Daniel’s face crumpled.
“Yes.”
“Twice.”
“Yes.”
“He protected Lily instead of himself.”
“Yes.”
Anna’s eyes filled with tears.
“You became exactly what I was afraid of.”
Daniel did not defend himself.
“I know.”
She shook her head.
“No. You know because a camera forced you to see it.”
He absorbed the blow.
“You’re right.”
Anna looked away.
Daniel waited.
Finally she said, “Charles took me from Marcus.”
“Marcus picked you up.”
“I asked him to.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“Why?”
“I thought he would help get Lily out.”
“Why trust him?”
Anna laughed bitterly.
“Because people repeat their mistakes.”
Daniel felt that.
“Marcus betrayed you before.”
“Eight years ago.”
“And again?”
Anna looked toward the window.
“Six months ago, he sold Charles my location.”
“Why?”
“Money. Position. Fear. Pick one.”
“He’s Lily’s father.”
“Yes.”
“Did you love him?”
Anna stared at Daniel.
“That question is none of your business.”
He lowered his head.
“You’re right.”
She seemed almost irritated by the answer.
Then she continued.
“Marcus helped me after I fled. Years later, we became something else. I believed he had changed.”
“He hadn’t.”
“No.”
Daniel whispered, “Neither had I.”
Anna’s face softened for the first time.
Only slightly.
She reached toward the bedside drawer.
Inside was a folded document.
“Charles is selling a controlling package of Cross Meridian assets to Alder Ridge Capital tomorrow at noon.”
“I know.”
“You don’t know why.”
Daniel looked at her.
Anna handed him the paper.
It was an internal indemnification schedule.
If the sale closed, certain historic liabilities would be pushed into a nearly insolvent subsidiary.
Including claims related to North Quay.
“He’s burying the fraud.”
“Yes.”
“And cashing out.”
“Yes.”
Anna’s eyes hardened.
“Tomorrow isn’t about your company.”
She leaned closer.
“It’s about whether Charles gets to erase what he did before Ethan’s identity takes away his control forever.”
Daniel looked at the clock.
May you like
Seventeen hours.
The final confrontation had a deadline.
