Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN IN THE HALLWAY
Dominic replayed the footage.
Again.
And again.
Paige stood behind the half-open hallway door.
Her face was partially hidden, but there was no mistaking the silver bracelet around her wrist.
Dominic had bought it for her three months earlier.
He remembered the night clearly.
He had told Audrey he was attending a business dinner.
He had actually met Paige at a hotel.
But why had Paige been inside his mother's house?
He called her.
She didn't answer.
He called again.
Straight to voicemail.
Sophia watched him silently.
“You knew she was there,” she said.
Dominic looked up.
“No.”
“Then you have a bigger problem than divorce.”
“What happened on that staircase?”
Sophia closed the laptop.
“We don't know yet.”
“You said the video showed my mother.”
“It did.”
“And Paige.”
“Yes.”
“Where's the rest of the footage?”
“Missing.”
Dominic's stomach dropped.
“Who deleted it?”
“That is what we're investigating.”
He sat down heavily.
For the first time, the pieces of his life no longer seemed separate.
His mother's obsession with controlling Audrey.
The sudden pressure to sell the construction company.
The strange financial transfers he had never questioned.
Paige appearing in places where she shouldn't have been.
And Audrey disappearing without taking anything.
It suddenly occurred to Dominic that Audrey had not left like a woman escaping a bad marriage.
She had left like someone executing a plan.
Sophia handed him another document.
“Your wife knew about the affair.”
Dominic stared at her.
“How long?”
“Almost a year.”
His mouth went dry.
“She knew?”
“She also knew about several unauthorized withdrawals from the company.”
“I didn't authorize those.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Sophia pushed another page across the table.
The transfers had gone to three shell companies.
One was registered in Delaware.
One in Nevada.
The third was registered under a name Dominic recognized.
Hartwell Consulting.
His mother's maiden name.
Dominic stood.
“My mother?”
Sophia nodded.
“And that's not the worst part.”
“What could possibly be worse?”
Sophia looked directly at him.
“The money wasn't being stolen to support your mother.”
“Then where was it going?”
“To someone named Richard Vale.”
Dominic's face changed.
He knew that name.
Richard Vale had been his father's attorney.
He had supposedly died seven years ago.
Dominic whispered, “That's impossible.”
Sophia didn't answer.
Instead, she opened another file.
A photograph appeared.
Richard Vale.
Alive.
Older.
Standing outside a private clinic in Arizona.
Beside him was Victoria.
Dominic felt the room tilt.
“My mother has been meeting with him?”
“For years.”
“Why?”
Sophia's voice lowered.
“Because Richard Vale was the last person who spoke to your father before he died.”
Dominic stared at the photograph.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
No one spoke for several seconds.
Then a man's voice said:
“Your wife was never the target.”
Dominic's blood ran cold.
“Who is this?”
“You were.”
The line went dead.
Dominic immediately called back.
The number didn't exist.
Sophia was already standing.
“We need to find Audrey.”
But Dominic shook his head.
“No.”
“What?”
“If someone is watching me, they'll expect me to look for her.”
He stared at the photograph.
“I'm going to find out what my mother did first.”
Then another notification appeared.
This one was from the hospital.
A message from Dr. Reed.
Audrey's medical records have been accessed by someone outside the hospital.
Dominic looked at Sophia.
May you like
Someone was still hunting for Audrey.
And whoever it was had just discovered that she survived.
