Chapter 4 - The Enemy Inside the House
By sunrise, Danny had dismissed half the household staff.
Not fired them.
Removed them temporarily.
Everyone was searched.
Access logs were reviewed.
Phones were checked where legally permitted.
Luke slept for forty minutes in a chair and then returned to the security room.
Emma refused to leave Danny's private floor.
"My mother."
"Luke has people at Willow Creek."
"I want to see her."
"Not yet."
"Danny—"
"No."
Emma's expression sharpened.
Danny immediately corrected himself.
"Please."
That word changed everything.
"I need a few hours," he said. "Then I'll take you."
"You?"
"Yes."
She glanced at the wheelchair.
Not with pity.
With calculation.
"You haven't left the estate in months."
"Eleven months."
"And you're going to Willow Creek?"
"Apparently."
"Because of me?"
Danny held her gaze.
"Because somebody threatened your mother because of me."
---
At noon, Danny Romano left his estate.
The black SUV had been modified for his wheelchair, but he hated using it.
Every curb reminded him of dependence.
Every ramp felt like an announcement.
People stared.
Danny had once believed their stares meant weakness.
Emma climbed into the vehicle beside him.
She didn't mention any of it.
Instead, she handed him coffee.
"You look terrible."
Danny stared at her.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Luke sat across from them.
"I missed this."
"Nobody asked you," Danny and Emma said simultaneously.
Luke smiled.
For a moment, the danger receded.
Then they reached Willow Creek.
Emma found her mother in the garden.
Diane looked up.
Her face brightened.
"Emily!"
Emma stopped.
Danny watched the pain pass across her face.
Then Emma smiled.
"Hi, Mom."
Diane hugged her.
Danny looked away.
Later, Diane noticed him.
"Who's your friend?"
Emma hesitated.
"This is Danny."
Diane studied him.
"Are you kind to my daughter?"
Danny looked at Emma.
"Not always."
Diane nodded solemnly.
"Then improve."
Luke coughed to hide a laugh.
Danny said, "Yes, ma'am."
For the next twenty minutes, Diane told Danny stories about Emma as a child.
Some were real.
Some weren't.
Danny listened to all of them.
When they left, Emma was quiet.
"She called you Emily," Danny said gently.
"My aunt."
"Does it happen often?"
"More now."
He didn't know what to say.
Emma looked through the window.
Then Danny placed his hand beside hers.
Not over it.
Beside it.
Emma slowly moved her fingers until they touched.
Neither spoke.
---
The breakthrough came that evening.
Luke found a deleted security record from inside the estate.
Someone had entered Emma's room using a master credential.
Anthony Romano.
Danny stared at the screen.
"No."
Luke said nothing.
"Where is he?"
"His condo."
"Bring him."
Anthony arrived an hour later.
He was sixty-three, elegant, silver-haired, and furious.
"What is this nonsense?"
Danny showed him the access record.
Anthony laughed.
"My credentials were copied."
"Like the camera credentials?"
Anthony's expression changed.
Tiny.
But Danny saw it.
"You knew."
Anthony looked at Luke.
"You've filled his head with paranoia."
Danny's voice lowered.
"Look at me."
Anthony did.
"Did you know the footage was deleted?"
"No."
Danny watched him.
He had learned to recognize lies from this man.
Now he saw one.
And it nearly broke him.
"You taught me not to blink when I lie," Danny whispered.
Anthony froze.
"You just blinked."
Silence.
Luke closed the doors.
Anthony exhaled.
"Danny—"
"Did you hire the sniper?"
"No."
"Did you know?"
Anthony didn't answer.
Danny slammed his palm against the desk.
"DID YOU KNOW?"
Emma heard the shout from the hallway.
Anthony looked suddenly old.
"I knew there was going to be an attempt."
Danny's face emptied.
Luke whispered a curse.
"You knew."
"I tried to stop it."
"Who?"
Anthony closed his eyes.
"Samuel."
Danny stared.
"Price?"
"He believed you were destroying everything your father built."
"Why would he care?"
"Because it wasn't just yours."
Anthony looked at Danny.
"Samuel has been a silent partner in half your legitimate holdings for seventeen years."
Danny's mind raced.
Anthony continued.
"He wanted you alive. Incapacitated. Dependent. He thought I could control you afterward."
"And you agreed?"
"No."
"But you didn't warn me."
Anthony's silence answered.
Danny looked as if someone had struck him.
"Why?"
"Because I thought Samuel was bluffing."
"You gambled with my life."
"I made a mistake."
Danny laughed once.
A terrible sound.
"A mistake?"
His hand struck the wheelchair armrest.
"I haven't stood up in two years because of your mistake."
Anthony's face collapsed.
"I know."
"No. You don't."
Danny rolled backward.
"Get him out."
"Danny—"
"GET HIM OUT!"
Luke escorted Anthony away.
Danny remained motionless.
Emma entered several minutes later.
He didn't look at her.
"Leave."
"No."
"Not tonight."
She stopped.
Danny's voice cracked.
"Please."
Emma understood.
She left him alone.
---
For three days, Danny barely spoke.
But on the fourth morning, he went to therapy.
Rachel looked surprised.
"Bad day?"
"Bad life."
"Those take longer."
Danny positioned himself for the exercises.
"Start."
He worked until his arms shook.
Then he returned the next day.
And the next.
Emma watched without commenting.
One evening, Danny found her on the terrace.
"I thought about what you said."
"That's dangerous."
He almost smiled.
"About deciding everything good in me died that night."
Emma waited.
"You were right."
"I know."
"You're terrible at humility."
"So are you."
Danny looked over the city.
"I don't know what happens if we find Price."
Emma understood.
"You choose."
"I spent half my life making sure men feared what happened if they betrayed me."
"And did it stop them?"
Danny looked at her.
"No."
"Then maybe fear isn't as powerful as you thought."
He looked back toward the skyline.
"What is?"
Emma thought about her mother.
About exhaustion.
About Danny waking in pain.
"Having something you don't want to lose."
Danny's gaze slowly returned to her.
Neither spoke.
The space between them changed.
Emma felt it.
So did Danny.
He lifted one hand toward her face, then stopped.
Emma didn't move away.
Before his fingers reached her cheek, Luke burst through the terrace door.
"We have a problem."
Danny's hand dropped.
"What?"
"Price made contact."
Luke handed him a phone.
A message displayed an address and a photograph.
The photograph showed Emma leaving Willow Creek earlier that day.
Beneath it:
Stop the investigation or next time she doesn't come home.
Danny's expression became lethal.
Emma read it.
"No."
Both men looked at her.
"We don't stop."
Danny shook his head.
"You don't get a vote."
Emma turned on him.
"You don't get to protect me by becoming my jailer."
"I'm trying to keep you alive."
"And I'm trying to make sure the man threatening my mother doesn't win."
"This isn't your war."
"It became mine when he put her picture on my pillow."
Danny stared at her.
Luke's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
"What?"
A security officer spoke rapidly.
Luke looked toward Danny.
"Willow Creek."
Emma went pale.
"What?"
"Someone tried to access your mother's records."
Danny was already moving.
"Lock the facility down."
Luke made another call.
Emma followed Danny.
They reached the hallway.
The lights went out.
Complete darkness swallowed the private wing.
Then came the sound of breaking glass.
Luke drew his weapon.
"DOWN!"
Emma dropped behind a marble console.
A suppressed gunshot struck the wall.
Security alarms erupted.
Danny maneuvered backward toward cover.
Another shot.
Luke returned fire.
Footsteps retreated.
Thirty seconds later, emergency lights flickered on.
The attacker was gone.
Nobody had been hit.
But something lay on the floor beside Danny's wheelchair.
A spent cartridge.
Luke picked it up carefully.
His face changed.
Danny knew why.
The caliber matched the bullet that had entered Danny's spine two years earlier.
And taped around the cartridge was a tiny strip of paper.
Three words.
May you like
NEXT ONE'S HERS.
---
