Chapter 4 - The Bride Opens the Door
Simon canceled the honeymoon before breakfast.
By nine o’clock, every entrance to the estate had armed security.
Abigail hated it.
She hated the guards outside her bedroom.
She hated the black SUV following her when she insisted on visiting Tommy and Rose.
Most of all, she hated realizing that Simon was right.
Someone had been watching her.
At her father’s house, Abigail found her siblings eating cereal while Walter sat silently at the kitchen table.
Rose ran toward her.
“You look like a princess!”
Abigail caught her sister and held her tightly.
Tommy examined Simon, who stood near the doorway.
“Are you really a gangster?”
Abigail nearly choked.
Simon looked at the ten-year-old.
“No.”
Tommy frowned.
“Dad said—”
“Tommy,” Walter interrupted.
Simon’s mouth twitched.
“I own shipping companies.”
“That sounds boring.”
“It frequently is.”
For the first time since the wedding, Abigail laughed.
Simon looked at her.
The sound affected him more than it should have.
Then Marcus entered.
His expression erased the moment.
“We found something.”
Upstairs, hidden behind a loose panel in Walter’s bedroom closet, Marcus had discovered a second phone.
Walter swore it was not his.
Abigail believed him.
Simon didn’t.
Until the phone rang.
Everyone froze.
Marcus answered on speaker.
A distorted male voice spoke.
“Walter?”
Nobody replied.
“Your daughter has done her job. Tell her to open the east service gate tonight at eleven.”
Abigail’s blood turned cold.
Simon gestured for silence.
The voice continued.
“If she refuses, remind her what happens to little sisters who walk home from school alone.”
Rose was sitting downstairs.
Abigail moved toward the phone.
Simon caught her wrist.
She looked at him.
His grip immediately loosened.
The voice spoke again.
“Walter?”
Simon answered.
“Wrong man.”
Silence.
Then the call disconnected.
Walter nearly collapsed.
“Oh God.”
Simon handed the phone to Marcus.
“Trace it.”
Abigail stared at her father.
“You knew they would threaten us.”
“No.”
“You brought them into our lives!”
“I didn’t know!”
Simon stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Abigail glared.
“Don’t tell me enough.”
“I’m telling you anger can wait. Rose cannot.”
That stopped her.
Simon turned to Marcus.
“Move the children.”
“Where?”
“My estate.”
Walter stood.
“I’m their father.”
Simon looked at him.
“And currently their greatest security risk.”
Walter sat again.
Abigail should have objected.
She didn’t.
That evening, Tommy and Rose arrived at the Wexler estate.
Rose immediately discovered Simon’s enormous library.
Tommy discovered the kitchen.
Within two hours, the terrifying Wexler mansion sounded like a family home.
Simon appeared confused by this development.
At dinner, Rose asked him why he looked angry all the time.
“I don’t.”
“You do.”
Abigail hid a smile.
Rose demonstrated Simon’s expression by narrowing her eyes dramatically.
Tommy laughed so hard milk came through his nose.
Even Marcus turned away to hide his reaction.
Simon stared around the table.
“I regret allowing children into this house.”
Rose beamed.
“You like us.”
“I tolerate you.”
“You bought chocolate ice cream.”
“That proves nothing.”
Abigail watched him.
For the first time, she saw the man beneath the reputation.
And that frightened her differently.
At 10:55 p.m., Simon prepared the trap.
The east service gate appeared unguarded.
Abigail stood inside the security room beside him.
“You think they’ll come?”
“They threatened a seven-year-old. Men like that usually believe fear makes people predictable.”
“And does it?”
Simon looked at her.
“Sometimes.”
“What makes you predictable?”
The question surprised him.
He considered lying.
Instead he said, “People I’m responsible for.”
Their eyes held.
Abigail understood the implication.
Before either could speak, Marcus’s voice came through the radio.
“Movement.”
Security cameras showed a maintenance van approaching the east gate.
Two men exited.
Then four.
Then six.
Simon’s expression hardened.
“They expected resistance.”
The men moved through the gate.
Security surrounded them.
The confrontation lasted less than a minute.
Five surrendered.
The sixth ran.
Marcus caught him near the greenhouse.
When Simon and Abigail arrived, the captured man was on his knees.
Simon recognized him.
Gerald Pike.
Edward Wexler’s personal driver.
Pike laughed when he saw Abigail.
“The bride.”
Simon stepped forward.
“What were you here for?”
Pike said nothing.
Marcus searched his jacket.
He found a flash drive.
Simon examined it.
Pike smiled.
“You’re already too late.”
“For what?”
“Ask your wife what her mother gave her before she died.”
Abigail froze.
Simon turned.
“What does he mean?”
She stared at Pike.
Then suddenly remembered.
Her mother’s final week.
A hospital room.
A trembling hand.
A cheap brass key placed in Abigail’s palm.
Her mother had whispered one sentence.
Never give this to your father.
Abigail had hidden the key for three years.
May you like
She had never known what it opened.
Now six armed men had broken into Simon Wexler’s estate looking for it.
