Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN WHO STOPPED CRYING
We checked into a small hotel forty minutes outside the city.
Elena sat on the edge of the bed.
She hadn't spoken since we left the house.
I put our bags down.
Then I knelt in front of her.
"Tell me everything."
She looked at me.
"Everything?"
"Everything."
Her eyes filled again.
"I tried to call you."
"When?"
"Three weeks ago."
"Why didn't I get the calls?"
"My phone was taken."
I froze.
"By whom?"
"My mother."
I stared at her.
"Your mother?"
She nodded.
"My phone was confiscated. Your mother said I was becoming disrespectful."
"What happened after?"
"Lucas started controlling the household accounts."
I felt my jaw tighten.
"What accounts?"
"The ones you gave me access to."
"How much?"
"I don't know."
"Elena."
She looked down.
"About twenty thousand dollars."
My heart sank.
"Where did it go?"
"I didn't spend it."
"I know."
She looked at me.
"How?"
"Because I know you."
She started crying again.
I reached for her hand.
"Who used it?"
"Lucas."
That confirmed what I already suspected.
She continued.
"He told me your mother needed the money."
"For what?"
"He wouldn't say."
"Why were you washing her feet?"
Elena looked ashamed.
"She said if I wanted to stay in the house, I had to prove I was grateful."
My hands curled into fists.
"And Lucas recorded it."
"He records everything."
I looked at her.
"Why?"
"To threaten people."
That sentence stayed with me.
I had seen men use weapons to control others.
But psychological leverage could be just as dangerous.
Sometimes more.
I pulled out my phone.
"I need you to remember every person who came to the house while I was gone."
She frowned.
"Why?"
"Because the money didn't disappear by itself."
She hesitated.
"Michael..."
"What?"
"I think your mother knew you were investigating."
I stopped.
"Why?"
"Because she asked me one question."
"What question?"
Elena's voice dropped.
"She asked me whether you had ever mentioned the name Meridian."
I stared at her.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
I opened my folder.
There it was.
MERIDIAN WELLNESS LLC.
A company that had received $217,000 from Carter Industrial Systems.
I looked at Elena.
"Did she say anything else?"
"She said..."
Elena swallowed.
"She said your father left behind secrets you were never supposed to discover."
My blood ran cold.
"My father?"
She nodded.
"She said if you started digging into the company, you'd destroy the family."
I leaned back.
For eight years, I had believed my father's death was a heart attack.
Sudden.
Natural.
Unfortunate.
But now, for the first time, I wondered.
What if it hadn't been?
I closed the folder.
"Elena."
"Yes?"
"From now on, don't answer calls from my family."
She nodded.
"And don't tell them where we are."
"Okay."
I looked at her belly.
Then placed my hand gently over it.
Our baby moved.
A tiny kick.
For the first time that day, I smiled.
"We're going to protect you."
Elena covered my hand.
"Us."
I looked into her eyes.
"Us."
Then my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One message.
YOUR FATHER DIDN'T DIE NATURALLY.
Another message arrived immediately.
ASK YOUR MOTHER WHAT HAPPENED THE NIGHT HE DIED.
I stared at the screen.
Elena saw my face.
"What is it?"
I didn't answer.
May you like
Because suddenly, the $684,000 wasn't the biggest mystery anymore.
My father's death was.
