Chapter 3 - Someone in the House
Daniel reached the stairs before Sophie could stop him.
“Daniel!”
He raised one finger.
Silence.
Another creak.
He climbed.
At Noah’s bedroom door, his heart pounded so violently he could hear it.
He pushed the door open.
Noah slept beneath his dinosaur blanket.
Window closed.
Closet empty.
Nothing.
Then Daniel saw the hallway window.
Open.
Cold air moved the curtain.
Sophie appeared behind him.
“That was closed.”
Daniel knew it had been.
They searched the house.
Nobody.
Near the mudroom door, however, Daniel found wet footprints.
Someone had entered.
And left.
He called the police.
Sophie panicked.
“No.”
“Someone came into my house.”
“You don’t know who Richard owns.”
“I know these officers.”
“You thought you knew Richard.”
That silenced him.
Daniel packed quickly.
Clothes.
Documents.
Cash.
Noah’s medication.
They left through the garage and drove toward the cabin.
Noah woke halfway there.
“Are we going camping?”
“Something like that,” Daniel said.
“Mommy too?”
Daniel looked at Sophie.
“Yes.”
For the first time, Sophie didn’t contradict him.
The cabin sat beside a frozen lake almost ninety miles north.
By midnight, snow had begun falling.
Daniel lit the fireplace.
Noah fell asleep between them on the couch.
For several minutes Daniel and Sophie simply watched him.
“I missed everything,” she whispered.
“Not everything.”
“Three birthdays.”
Daniel swallowed.
“Yeah.”
“First day of school.”
“Yeah.”
“His first lost tooth.”
“He swallowed it.”
Sophie laughed unexpectedly.
Daniel looked at her.
The laugh became a sob.
He reached for her.
She hesitated before allowing him to hold her.
For the first time in three years, Daniel held his wife.
But grief had changed shape.
This wasn’t a reunion.
Not yet.
Too much stood between them.
At dawn they drove to First National Bank.
Sophie opened the safe-deposit box.
Inside were photocopied ledgers, photographs, two flash drives, and a sealed envelope.
Daniel examined the papers.
Company names.
Transfers.
Property acquisitions.
One document made him stop.
A life-insurance policy.
Sophie Cross.
Beneficiary: Daniel Cross.
Five million dollars.
“I never saw this.”
“I know.”
“Did I receive it?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Sophie handed him another document.
The payout had been transferred through an account controlled by Cross Family Holdings.
Richard’s signature appeared at the bottom.
Daniel stared.
“He stole your death benefit.”
“That wasn’t why he needed me dead.”
Sophie inserted a flash drive into the laptop she had borrowed from the bank manager.
A spreadsheet appeared.
Cross Development had purchased contaminated industrial land using shell companies, then resold it after falsifying environmental reports.
Millions in fraudulent profit.
Daniel felt nauseated.
“Our father built this company.”
“Richard was destroying it.”
Then Sophie opened an audio recording.
Richard’s voice filled the room.
“If she copied the ledger, we have a problem.”
Another voice.
Cole.
“What do you want done?”
A pause.
Richard answered.
“Make sure she can’t talk.”
Daniel closed the laptop.
He stood abruptly.
“I’m going to kill him.”
“No.”
“He tried to murder you.”
“And if you attack him, he wins.”
Daniel paced.
“He took three years from us.”
Sophie’s voice cracked.
“He took them from Noah.”
That stopped Daniel.
She was right.
This wasn’t revenge.
It was survival.
They needed evidence that could withstand Richard’s lawyers.
Sophie had one more item.
A photograph taken two weeks after the fire.
Richard entering the private clinic where Sophie had been held.
Daniel stared at it.
“Who took this?”
“A nurse.”
“Where is she?”
Sophie looked down.
“Missing.”
Daniel’s phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Their cabin.
Taken that morning.
Beneath it were five words:
GIVE US WHAT SHE STOLE.
Daniel looked through the bank window.
Across the street sat the black SUV.
Cole was behind the wheel.
Daniel grabbed Sophie.
“Back exit.”
They ran.
But when they reached the parking lot, Sophie suddenly stopped.
“Noah.”
Daniel’s heart dropped.
Noah had stayed at the cabin with Daniel’s elderly neighbor, Mrs. Harper.
Daniel dialed.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
They raced back.
The cabin door stood open.
Mrs. Harper was sitting on the floor, shaken but unharmed.
Daniel burst inside.
“Noah!”
No response.
Sophie screamed his name.
Then Daniel saw Noah’s red winter hat lying near the open back door.
His son was gone.
A phone on the kitchen table began ringing.
Daniel answered.
Richard’s voice came through.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
Daniel’s hand shook.
“If you hurt my son—”
“I don’t want Noah hurt.”
Sophie snatched the phone.
“You tried to burn me alive!”
Silence.
Then Richard spoke calmly.
“Hello, Sophie.”
She stopped breathing.
May you like
Richard continued.
“You should have stayed dead.”
