Chapter 6 - Nobody Touches My Daughter
Daniel saw Emma’s face change before he saw the message.
“What happened?”
Emma handed him the phone.
He read it.
The room became silent.
Daniel did not shout.
He did not slam anything.
His expression simply emptied.
Rachel had seen powerful men get angry before.
This was different.
Daniel looked at Marcus.
“Lock down the building.”
Marcus was already moving.
“No one enters or leaves without being identified.”
Emma stood.
“Daniel.”
He turned.
“We need to get Lily somewhere safe.”
“We will.”
“No. Listen to me.”
He stopped.
Emma held their daughter closer.
“This is exactly what happened before.”
His face tightened.
“You decide danger means you should control everything.”
“I’m trying to protect you.”
“I know.”
That stopped him.
Emma stepped closer.
“But protecting me means I get a voice.”
Daniel said nothing.
“We make decisions together,” Emma continued. “Or you haven’t learned anything.”
For several seconds, old instinct fought new understanding.
Then Daniel nodded.
“You’re right.”
Emma exhaled.
Rachel said, “We move Emma and Lily to the Vermont property. Quietly. Separate vehicles. No electronic devices except fresh phones.”
Daniel looked at Emma.
“I won’t go unless you want me there.”
Emma thought.
She wanted to say no.
Then she remembered the photograph.
“This isn’t about our marriage.”
“I know.”
“You can come.”
Daniel nodded once.
“Thank you.”
The Vermont house sat beside a frozen lake surrounded by dense pine forest.
Emma arrived after midnight.
Daniel came thirty minutes later in a separate vehicle with Marcus.
Margaret was already there.
The moment she saw Emma carrying Lily, she cried.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
Emma expected Margaret to reach for the baby.
Instead she asked.
“May I?”
That tiny gesture nearly broke Emma.
“Yes.”
Margaret took Lily gently.
Daniel watched from across the room.
Emma caught his expression.
Regret had become something quieter than guilt.
He was watching people care for his daughter while knowing he had voluntarily missed the beginning.
Later, Emma found Daniel alone on the porch.
Snow drifted through the yellow light.
“You’ll freeze.”
“I needed air.”
She stood beside him.
For several moments neither spoke.
Then Daniel said, “I keep replaying that night.”
Emma looked forward.
“I know.”
“I imagine leaving the condo. Driving to the hospital. Being there when they took you into surgery.”
His voice cracked.
“I can see the version of my life where I made the right decision.”
Emma’s chest tightened.
“That version doesn’t exist.”
“I know.”
“You can’t punish yourself into changing the past.”
Daniel looked at her.
“That sounds almost compassionate.”
“It is.”
His eyes searched hers.
“Compassion isn’t reconciliation.”
He nodded.
“I know that too.”
Emma appreciated that he no longer grabbed at every kindness as evidence she might return.
Maybe he really was changing.
Inside, Lily began crying.
Both turned instantly.
Daniel smiled faintly.
“That sound terrifies me.”
Emma almost laughed.
“Wait until 3 a.m.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
They went inside.
At 3:07 a.m., Emma woke to silence.
That frightened her more than crying.
She sat up.
The portable crib beside her bed was empty.
Her heart stopped.
“Lily?”
Emma stumbled into the hallway.
Then heard Daniel’s voice downstairs.
Soft.
Awkward.
Singing.
She followed it.
Daniel stood near the fireplace wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt, Lily against his shoulder.
He was singing an old Fleetwood Mac song horribly off-key.
Emma leaned against the doorway.
Daniel noticed her.
“She woke up.”
“I gathered.”
“I changed her.”
Emma raised an eyebrow.
Daniel looked offended.
“Eventually.”
“Eventually?”
“There were complications.”
Emma laughed before she could stop herself.
Daniel smiled.
For one brief moment, they were simply new parents at three in the morning.
No Olivia.
No lawyers.
No separation.
No threats.
Then reality returned.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“She wouldn’t stop crying.”
“What did you do?”
“I apologized.”
Emma’s smile disappeared.
“For what?”
Daniel looked down at Lily.
“Everything.”
Emma’s throat tightened.
“She’s sixteen days old.”
“I know.”
“She doesn’t understand.”
“I know.”
Daniel swallowed.
“But someday she will.”
He carefully handed Lily over.
Emma held their daughter.
Daniel started walking away.
“Where are you going?”
“The couch.”
“You can sleep in the guest room.”
He stopped.
Emma immediately clarified.
“Downstairs. Across the hall.”
A tiny smile.
“Right.”
“Don’t make it weird.”
“I wouldn’t dare.”
For the first time in weeks, Emma smiled after he left.
The next morning, Marcus received a call.
Federal agents had located Ethan.
Or rather, his abandoned car.
At Boston Logan Airport.
There was blood on the steering wheel.
No body.
No Ethan.
Olivia had also disappeared.
Caroline couldn’t reach her.
Daniel listened from the kitchen.
Emma held Lily.
Rachel joined by encrypted video.
“If Ethan is injured,” she said, “Olivia may be running independently.”
Daniel frowned.
“Or Ethan wants us to think that.”
Marcus nodded.
Then Daniel’s new phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone froze.
Daniel answered on speaker.
“Hello?”
Breathing.
Then Olivia.
“Daniel.”
Her voice was trembling.
“Where are you?”
“I need help.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
The sentence was almost laughable.
The exact weapon she had used before.
Emma watched him.
Olivia whispered, “Ethan tried to kill me.”
Daniel said nothing.
“Please.”
Still nothing.
“Daniel, I have nowhere else to go.”
Emma saw something change in her husband.
Not cruelty.
Clarity.
Daniel looked directly at Emma when he answered.
“Call the police.”
Olivia went silent.
“Daniel—”
“I won’t come.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
His voice remained calm.
“You need help. Professional help. Police, federal investigators, an attorney. I will give them every piece of evidence I have.”
Olivia began crying.
“But I will not abandon my family again because you ask me to rescue you.”
Emma’s breath caught.
Olivia whispered, “You said you’d always be there.”
Daniel’s eyes remained on Emma.
“I was wrong.”
He ended the call.
Nobody spoke.
Then Marcus’s phone buzzed.
He checked it.
“Signal traced.”
“Where?”
Marcus looked at Daniel.
“Boston.”
He turned the screen.
The location pin sat over a familiar building.
Daniel stared.
Emma recognized the address from their documents.
The Mercer penthouse.
Their penthouse.
May you like
Olivia wasn’t calling from some hiding place.
She was inside Emma’s home.
