Chapter 3 - THE MAN WITH THE BOTTLE
The police didn't let me see him.
At least, not directly.
Instead, Daniel arranged for an officer to sit beside my hospital bed while they played the interview recording.
The attacker's voice came through the speaker.
Low.
Shaky.
Terrified.
“My name is Carter Bell.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Keep listening.”
Carter continued.
“I didn't know who she was.”
My fingers tightened around the blanket.
“I was told she was dangerous.”
“Who told you?” the detective asked.
Silence.
Then Carter whispered:
“Logan Vance.”
My heart sank.
The detective asked how much Logan had paid him.
“Twenty thousand.”
A pause.
“Plus another thirty if she didn't survive.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
But then Carter said something neither of us expected.
“He didn't tell me to kill her.”
The room went silent.
“He told me to make her ugly.”
My stomach turned.
“He said she needed to become someone nobody would want.”
I closed my eyes.
Logan's voice returned to me.
Who would ever want her?
The detective asked:
“Why?”
Carter hesitated.
“Because Logan said if she became dependent on him, she'd sign anything.”
Daniel slowly looked toward me.
The detective continued.
“What exactly did Logan say?”
Carter answered:
“He said Maya's father left her something.”
My blood went cold.
“What did he leave her?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why was Logan so interested?”
Another silence.
Then Carter whispered:
“Because he said her father hid billions behind her name.”
Daniel froze.
I felt the room tilt.
Billions?
My father had died when I was seventeen.
I'd always been told his company had been sold after his death.
I'd never questioned it.
Why would I?
My mother had handled everything.
Logan knew that.
Apparently, he knew much more.
The detective's voice became sharper.
“What else did Logan tell you?”
Carter took a breath.
“He said there was a trust.”
“What trust?”
“I don't know.”
“You must have heard something.”
“I heard him talking to a woman.”
“What woman?”
Carter hesitated.
Then:
“Rachel.”
My chest tightened.
Rachel.
The woman Logan had secretly married three weeks earlier.
“What were they discussing?”
Carter's voice dropped.
“They were arguing about what would happen if Maya found out the truth.”
Daniel leaned toward the speaker.
“What truth?”
Carter answered:
“They said Maya wasn't supposed to inherit anything.”
I stared at the ceiling.
May you like
Then came the sentence that made my entire body go cold.
“They said her father never died.”
