[CHAPTER 4]
The hospital locked down Ryan’s floor.
Security checked stairwells, elevators, storage rooms, and exits.
No one found the man.
The nurse swore she had never seen him before.
His badge had looked real from a distance.
It wasn’t.
Detective Ortiz arrived before two in the morning.
She watched security footage in a small office while I sat beside Ryan.
At three, she came in.
“We got a partial image.”
“Do you know him?”
“No.”
“Did Lucas send him?”
“I don’t know.”
“Vincent?”
“I don’t know that either.”
I hated that answer.
But Ortiz never pretended certainty she didn’t have.
She placed two uniformed officers outside Ryan’s room.
“No one moves him without your direct consent and Dr. Shah’s.”
I nodded.
“Thank you.”
She didn’t leave.
Instead, she pulled a chair beside me.
“Tell me about Vincent Hale.”
I did.
Vincent had been with the Mercer family longer than I had.
He attended Christmas dinners.
He spoke at Ryan’s father’s funeral.
He was the man Evelyn called whenever something went wrong.
He was also the person who had brought me Ryan’s will after the crash.
That memory struck me hard.
“He knew Ryan was declared dead before I did.”
Ortiz looked up.
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
The police officer had come to our house at 6:12 that morning.
Vincent called me at 6:34.
He told me not to sign anything until he arrived.
At the time, I had thought he was helping.
Now I remembered something else.
He had asked whether Ryan kept business documents at home.
“What did you tell him?” Ortiz asked.
“That I didn’t know.”
“Did he search?”
“He offered to help me find insurance papers.”
“Did you let him?”
“Yes.”
My stomach twisted.
“He was alone in Ryan’s office for maybe ten minutes.”
Ortiz stood.
“I’m sending officers to your house now.”
We reached my home just before dawn.
I left Ryan under police protection and hated every mile between us.
My sister Tessa stayed with Madison upstairs while Ortiz and another detective examined Ryan’s office.
At first, nothing looked disturbed.
Then I saw the bookshelf.
One framed photograph was crooked.
Ryan never left frames crooked.
I pulled it forward.
Behind it was a small wall safe.
Ortiz looked at me.
“You know the combination?”
“No.”
“I didn’t even know the safe existed.”
A locksmith opened it.
Inside were two passports, cash, a property deed, and an empty red folder.
Nothing else.
“Empty?” I whispered.
Ortiz examined the interior.
“Looks that way.”
I remembered Ryan’s words.
Numbers don’t disappear by themselves.
“What was in the folder?”
“We’ll find out.”
Tessa appeared in the doorway.
“Claire.”
Her face frightened me.
“What?”
“Madison is awake.”
I ran upstairs.
Madison sat on the edge of our guest bed holding her stuffed rabbit, Buttons.
Her cheeks were wet.
I knelt in front of her.
“Bad dream?”
She shook her head.
“Aunt Tessa said Daddy is still at the hospital.”
“He is.”
“Is Uncle Lucas there?”
I went still.
“No.”
She hugged Buttons.
“I don’t want him near Daddy.”
I felt cold all over.
“Why?”
Madison stared at the rabbit’s ears.
“Daddy told him to stop.”
“When?”
Her forehead wrinkled.
“The day Daddy went in the water.”
I tried to keep my voice gentle.
“You saw Daddy and Uncle Lucas that day?”
“At Daddy’s office.”
I had forgotten.
School had ended early because of a teacher training day.
Ryan had taken Madison to work for two hours before Tessa picked her up.
“What happened?”
“Uncle Lucas was yelling.”
“What was he saying?”
“I don’t know.”
She rubbed her eyes.
“Daddy told me to stay in his office.”
“Then what?”
“Uncle Lucas came in.”
“With Daddy?”
“No.”
My heartbeat sped up.
“Was Daddy there?”
“He went downstairs.”
“What did Lucas do?”
Madison looked confused by my questions.
“He gave Daddy his drink.”
“What drink?”
“The brown cup.”
Coffee.
Ryan always drank coffee from a dark insulated travel mug.
“What do you mean he gave it to him?”
“Daddy forgot it.”
“Did Uncle Lucas do anything with the cup?”
She thought.
“I don’t know.”
I didn’t push.
Ortiz had warned me not to shape Madison’s memories.
Then Madison said something I hadn’t asked.
“He smelled funny.”
“What smelled funny?”
“Uncle Lucas’s hands.”
I swallowed.
“Like what?”
“Like medicine.”
Tessa and I looked at each other.
I stopped the conversation immediately.
Detective Ortiz arranged for a child interviewer trained to speak with young witnesses.
I did not tell Madison what I suspected.
I didn’t need to.
The fear in her face had already told me enough.
At the hospital, Ryan’s condition improved slightly.
Dr. Shah said his organs were responding.
His temperature was normal.
His heart rhythm was stronger.
But he still had not fully awakened.
I sat beside him until afternoon.
Evelyn came in quietly.
She looked ten years older.
“I’m sorry.”
I kept my eyes on Ryan.
“For which part?”
“All of it.”
I didn’t answer.
She sat across from me.
“I always thought family loyalty meant protecting each other from consequences.”
Her voice trembled.
“Now I think maybe I taught Lucas that consequences were for other people.”
I looked at her.
“What did you protect him from?”
She closed her eyes.
“Debts. Lawsuits. Failed deals.”
“How much?”
“More than I want to admit.”
“Did Ryan know?”
“Some of it.”
I laughed bitterly.
“So Ryan kept saving Lucas because you kept begging him to.”
“Yes.”
“And Lucas hated him for it.”
Evelyn started crying.
“I think he hated needing him.”
Before I could answer, Ryan’s monitor changed.
I stood.
His fingers moved.
His eyes opened.
This time, fully.
“Ryan.”
He looked confused.
Terrified.
Then he saw me.
“Claire?”
I bent over him, crying.
“I’m here.”
His gaze moved toward the door.
“Madison?”
“She’s safe.”
His eyes closed with relief.
Then opened again.
“Lucas.”
“I heard you before.”
Ryan gripped my wrist with surprising strength.
“No.”
His voice was raw.
“You don’t understand.”
“What don’t I understand?”
May you like
He swallowed painfully.
“Lucas wasn’t alone.”
