Chapter 4 - THE TRUTH ABOUT MIGUEL
Maya couldn't sleep.
She stared at the photograph until sunrise.
Miguel and Ethan.
Together.
Eight months ago.
Why?
Richard gave her space.
At breakfast, Maya finally asked:
“How did you find Miguel?”
Richard pushed a folder toward her.
“Private investigators.”
Inside were bank records.
Miguel had received three transfers from an account connected to Ethan.
The first was $25,000.
The second was $40,000.
The third was $75,000.
Maya felt sick.
“What did he do?”
Richard looked away.
“He was hired to obtain information about you.”
“About me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Richard's silence frightened her more than any answer.
Finally he said:
“Because Ethan needed someone close to you.”
Maya remembered the months before her divorce.
Miguel suddenly becoming distant.
His secret phone.
His affair.
His mother's cruel comments.
What if the marriage had been deliberately destroyed?
“What did they want from me?”
“Access.”
“To what?”
“Your father.”
Maya frowned.
“My father?”
Richard nodded.
“Your father worked in medical research before his stroke.”
She stared at him.
“I know.”
“He wasn't only a researcher.”
Richard handed her another document.
“He helped develop the original neural-interface technology that became the basis of the Helix Project.”
Maya's mouth went dry.
“My father?”
“He refused to sell the research.”
“Why?”
“Because he believed the technology could be abused.”
Maya remembered something.
After her father's stroke, he'd once told her:
“Never let anyone convince you that medicine is more important than the person receiving it.”
At the time, she thought it was simply an old man's wisdom.
Now she understood.
“Ethan wanted his research.”
“Yes.”
“And Miguel helped him?”
Richard nodded.
“But your father never gave them everything.”
“What happened to the missing files?”
Richard looked at her.
“They were hidden.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Maya stood.
“I need to call Miguel.”
Richard immediately said:
“Don't.”
She turned.
“Why?”
“Because if he was involved, he'll know we've discovered him.”
“He destroyed my marriage.”
“And perhaps saved your life.”
Maya stared.
“What?”
Richard's voice softened.
“Miguel's affair may have been real. But Ethan paid him to get close to you.”
Maya sat down slowly.
“Then why would he cheat?”
Richard didn't answer.
A phone rang.
Not Maya's.
Richard's.
He answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
A pause.
Then:
“Where?”
He hung up.
“What happened?”
“My mother is missing.”
Maya stood.
“Eleanor?”
Richard nodded.
Security footage showed Eleanor leaving the estate at 4:20 that morning.
She had been wearing a coat.
She had not taken her phone.
Or her purse.
Richard looked at Maya.
“Ethan says she went to the hospital.”
“Do you believe him?”
“No.”
They drove to the hospital.
Eleanor wasn't there.
Then Maya noticed a nurse watching them.
The nurse approached cautiously.
“Mr. Vance?”
“Yes.”
“I shouldn't tell you this.”
Richard waited.
“Your mother was here yesterday.”
Maya frowned.
“Why?”
The nurse lowered her voice.
“She asked me about a patient.”
“Who?”
The nurse glanced around.
“Your father-in-law.”
Maya's face changed.
“Excuse me?”
The nurse handed Richard a folded piece of paper.
“He told me to give this to you if anything happened.”
Richard opened it.
Inside was a single sentence.
The accident was staged, but Richard wasn't the intended victim.
Maya's heart stopped.
Richard looked at her.
“Then who was?”
May you like
The nurse whispered:
“Your father.”
