Chapter 4 - The Woman in the Black SUV
"That's impossible."
I snatched the paper from Victor's hand.
"My divorce was finalized two years ago."
"Do you have a certified decree?" Victor asked.
"I had one."
"Had?"
"My documents were stolen."
Victor's expression barely changed.
"Convenient."
Daniel stepped forward.
"Careful."
Victor spread his hands.
"I'm only pointing out what opposing counsel will argue."
I looked at the document again.
The county seal seemed real.
The date seemed real.
Everything seemed real.
Except the life I remembered living.
Caleb had sent me a photograph of the decree.
He said the judge had signed it.
He told me we were finished.
I had believed him.
Again.
My throat tightened.
"What kind of man lets his children starve and then files to take them away?"
Victor said nothing.
Daniel answered.
"The kind who's being paid."
Everyone went quiet.
Victor's eyes moved toward Daniel.
"That's a serious accusation."
"So is threatening custody to gain access to a trust."
Victor straightened his tie.
"If you'll excuse me, I have an early meeting."
He left.
The door clicked shut.
I looked at Daniel.
"Do you trust him?"
Daniel hesitated.
"Victor worked for my father for twenty years."
"That wasn't my question."
"No."
"Do you trust him?"
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"Not anymore."
A sound came from the hallway.
We both turned.
Mrs. Alvarez stood in the doorway, her face pale.
"Mr. Hayes, there's someone at the front gate."
Daniel checked the security monitor.
A black SUV.
The same vehicle I had barely noticed on the ridge near the highway.
A woman stood beside it.
She wore dark jeans, a dusty leather jacket, and sunglasses pushed into her hair.
She appeared to be in her late thirties.
"She's asking for Sarah," Mrs. Alvarez said.
"Don't let her in," I whispered.
Daniel picked up his phone.
"Robert, keep the gate closed."
Then the woman raised both hands toward the security camera.
She held a photograph.
My children.
The same photograph sent to my phone.
Daniel cursed.
I felt the room tilt.
"She found us."
"Stay here."
"No."
"Sarah—"
"If she knows my children, I'm going to find out why."
Daniel studied me.
Then he nodded.
"We speak through the gate."
We drove down the long estate driveway in a security vehicle.
Two guards stood nearby.
The woman watched us approach.
When she saw me, her expression changed.
Not triumph.
Relief.
"Sarah Reed Mitchell?"
"Who are you?"
"My name is Nora Bell."
"Why are you following my children?"
She swallowed.
"Because someone hired me to find them."
Daniel moved closer.
"Who?"
Nora glanced at the guards.
"I need to speak privately."
"You lost that privilege when you photographed children without their mother's permission," Daniel said.
Nora flinched.
"Fair."
She removed an envelope from her jacket.
"I was supposed to deliver their location to Richard Hayes."
My blood ran cold.
"Supposed to?"
"I didn't."
"Why?"
Nora looked at me.
"Because when I found you, you had no money, no food, and nowhere to go."
Her voice shook slightly.
"And the man who hired me said those children were dangerous."
I stared at her.
"Ethan and Ava?"
"Yes."
"They're children."
"I know."
She slid the envelope through the narrow opening beneath the gate.
Daniel picked it up.
Inside were photographs of my former apartment.
My father's old house.
Ethan's elementary school.
Ava's pediatric clinic.
And a picture of Caleb standing beside Richard Hayes outside a private office building.
The date was printed in one corner.
Three days ago.
I nearly dropped the photograph.
"They know each other?"
Nora nodded.
"They've been meeting for months."
Daniel examined another picture.
"Did Richard tell you why he wanted the children?"
"No."
"Then why are you here?"
Nora's expression changed.
"Because I overheard a conversation this afternoon."
"What conversation?"
She glanced toward the darkness beyond the road.
"Richard is planning to have Caleb take the children before the trust hearing."
Daniel moved toward his phone.
Nora caught his arm through the gate.
"Listen to me."
Her voice sharpened.
"He doesn't want custody."
I stopped breathing.
"What does he want?"
"Control."
"Of what?"
"Whatever your father left behind."
I gripped the bars.
"Where is Caleb?"
Nora hesitated.
Then she said the one thing that made every old wound open at once.
"He's been watching you since you left Phoenix."
I thought of the strange truck that had followed us on the highway.
The unfamiliar woman at my apartment.
The missing records.
The bus route that had been suspended.
"Did he know we were stranded?"
Nora nodded.
"Richard had people tracking you."
I stepped back.
Someone had known.
Someone had watched my children stand hungry beside a highway.
And done nothing.
Daniel's voice became dangerously quiet.
"Do you have evidence?"
"Some."
"Then give it to me."
Nora shook her head.
"Not here."
"Why?"
She looked past my shoulder.
At the house.
At the upstairs windows.
Then she whispered.
"Because Richard isn't the only one who knows where the children are."
I felt sick.
"What do you mean?"
Nora's eyes widened.
"Someone inside your house is sending him updates."
Ava's bedroom light suddenly came on in the distance.
A dark figure moved across the window.
Then the light went out.
May you like
I screamed my daughter's name.
And ran.
