Chapter 5 - The Man Who Came Back
Jonathan arrived 18 minutes later with private security.
He found Emily sitting beside Lily’s bed.
The photograph lay on the kitchen counter.
Jonathan read the message twice.
His jaw tightened.
“You’re not staying here tonight.”
“I’m not running.”
“This isn’t running.”
“It feels like it.”
Jonathan lowered his voice.
“Someone threatened your child.”
That ended the argument.
He arranged a hotel suite under another name.
Lily woke during the move and stared sleepily at Jonathan.
“Are you Mom’s boss?”
Jonathan nodded.
“You’re taller than she said.”
Emily nearly choked.
“I never discussed his height.”
Lily shrugged.
Jonathan hid a smile.
The next morning, Hartwell security reviewed camera footage from Emily’s apartment building.
The person who delivered the envelope had hidden his face.
But the car outside was visible.
Emily recognized it.
A silver sedan.
She had seen that car years ago.
Her ex-husband drove one exactly like it.
“No.”
Jonathan looked at her.
“What?”
Emily enlarged the image.
“My ex-husband.”
His name was Ryan Carter.
The man who had disappeared 5 years earlier.
Hartwell investigators located him within hours.
He had returned to the city 6 weeks ago.
Worse, he worked for Marcus Vale.
Emily felt physically sick.
Jonathan wanted police involved immediately.
Emily agreed.
But Ryan contacted her first.
A message appeared from an unknown number.
Emily. I need to explain.
She stared at it.
Another arrived.
I never threatened Lily. Marcus is using me.
Then:
Please. 10 minutes. Public place. You choose.
Emily showed Jonathan.
“No.”
“It might tell us what’s happening.”
“It might be a trap.”
“So we involve police.”
Jonathan stared at her.
“You’re seriously considering meeting him?”
“Not alone.”
There was something unexpectedly personal in his reaction.
Emily noticed.
“So why are you angry?”
“I’m not.”
“You’re doing the jaw thing.”
“What jaw thing?”
“That.”
Despite the situation, she almost smiled.
Jonathan looked away.
The meeting happened inside a busy café with two plainclothes officers nearby.
Ryan arrived 10 minutes late.
Emily barely recognized him.
He looked older.
Thinner.
His confidence was gone.
“Emily.”
“Sit.”
Ryan obeyed.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Finally Emily asked the question that had lived inside her for 5 years.
“Why?”
Ryan looked down.
“I owed money.”
“To Marcus?”
He nodded.
“I was gambling.”
Emily felt disgust rather than surprise.
“I borrowed from him. Then I borrowed more. When I couldn’t repay him, he offered me work.”
“You abandoned your daughter because of gambling debt?”
“I thought leaving would protect you.”
“No.”
Emily’s voice remained quiet.
“You left because leaving was easier.”
Ryan’s eyes filled.
She felt nothing.
“Why are you back?”
“Marcus needed access to Hartwell.”
Emily froze.
“He knew you had applied.”
“How?”
Ryan hesitated.
“Because I gave him your résumé.”
Emily stared.
“I had been watching from a distance.”
Her skin crawled.
Ryan hurried on.
“Not like that. I checked social media. I wanted to know Lily was okay.”
“You wanted to know she was okay without actually being her father.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Ryan leaned forward.
“Marcus arranged for your application to reach the final round.”
Emily’s heart stopped.
“What?”
“He wanted someone inside Hartwell who could eventually be manipulated.”
“But I discovered Briar.”
“He didn’t expect that.”
Emily understood.
The job she believed she had earned might have begun as someone else’s scheme.
“What does Vanessa Cole have to do with this?”
Ryan’s face went pale.
That was answer enough.
“Ryan.”
“She’s not working for Marcus.”
“Then what?”
Ryan looked toward the window.
“Marcus works for her.”
Emily stopped breathing.
Across the café, one of the officers touched his earpiece.
Ryan suddenly grabbed Emily’s hand.
“Listen to me. The money isn’t the real reason they’re doing this.”
“Then what is?”
“Hartwell is about to acquire Northstar Bank. If the deal closes, Jonathan controls a financial network worth billions.”
Emily pulled her hand away.
“What does that have to do with me?”
Ryan swallowed.
“Nothing.”
He looked terrified.
“That’s what scares me.”
A crash sounded outside.
Ryan flinched.
Then he pushed a flash drive across the table.
“If something happens to me, give this to Jonathan.”
Emily stared at it.
“What’s on it?”
Ryan stood.
“The reason your old company really went bankrupt.”
He walked away.
Emily watched him leave.
She never saw him alive again.
Six hours later, police found Ryan’s silver sedan abandoned beside the river.
There was blood on the driver’s seat.
No body.
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And on the flash drive was a folder bearing a name Emily never expected.
HARTWELL, JONATHAN — INTERNAL.
