CHAPTER 4 THE SECRET GIDEON SAW
I hated hospitals.
They had a way of making time feel unnatural.
Every hallway looked the same.
Every machine beeped at the same rhythm.
Every door seemed to hide another family's nightmare.
But behind one of those doors was my daughter.
My little girl.
The woman I had carried on my shoulders when she was five.
The teenager who used to fall asleep in the passenger seat while I drove her home from school.
The woman who had called me at 1:12 in the morning because she believed her husband was going to kill her.
I stood outside her room for a moment before going in.
Arianne was awake.
Barely.
Her face was pale.
There was a bruise near her cheek.
An IV ran into her arm.
She looked smaller than I remembered.
When she saw me, her eyes filled with tears.
"Dad."
I sat beside her.
"I'm here."
She looked at me for several seconds.
Then she whispered,
"I'm sorry."
I shook my head.
"No."
"But—"
"No."
I took her hand.
"You don't apologize to me."
She began crying.
I leaned closer.
"You survived."
She closed her eyes.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then I asked,
"What happened?"
Her fingers tightened around mine.
"I tried to leave."
"I know."
"Derek found out."
I said nothing.
"He locked the bedroom door."
Her breathing became uneven.
"Then his mother came in."
"Bertha?"
Arianne nodded.
"She told Derek he couldn't let me leave."
"Why?"
Arianne looked toward the window.
"Because of Gideon."
I felt my jaw tighten.
"What about him?"
She swallowed.
"They threatened to take him."
"They can't just take your son."
"They could if they made me look unstable."
My blood went cold.
Arianne looked at me.
"They had a doctor."
"What?"
"A private doctor."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
She began shaking.
"He gave me something."
I immediately stood.
"Did Derek drug you?"
"I don't know."
The door opened.
The detective stepped inside.
"We'll deal with that," he said gently.
I sat again.
Arianne looked at him.
"Did you find the tablet?"
"Yes."
She closed her eyes.
"Gideon recorded everything."
I looked at her.
"How?"
"He has a little tablet."
She swallowed.
"I gave it to him last Christmas."
A faint smile crossed her face.
"He used it to record himself playing games."
Then the smile disappeared.
"The night Derek attacked me, Gideon hid it under his bed."
The detective nodded.
"And there's more."
Arianne looked frightened.
"What?"
"We recovered an audio file from your phone."
She stared at him.
"What audio file?"
"You recorded a conversation."
Her face went pale.
"I don't remember."
The detective played it.
A man's voice came through.
Roger.
"You need to understand, Arianne. Your father will never give you the shares voluntarily."
Arianne's recorded voice answered.
"I don't want his shares."
Roger said,
"That's not your decision."
Then Bertha spoke.
"She doesn't have to want them."
A pause.
"She just needs to sign."
The recording ended.
Arianne covered her mouth.
I looked at her.
"What shares?"
She shook her head.
"I don't know."
The detective turned to me.
"Your wife left something."
I frowned.
"What?"
"A trust."
My heart skipped.
"What trust?"
He placed a document on the table.
"Your wife's estate was never fully settled."
I stared at the paper.
"That's impossible."
"We checked."
He looked at me.
"There is a dormant trust containing assets worth hundreds of millions."
Arianne's eyes widened.
"What?"
The detective continued.
"And the Vances have been trying to gain control of it."
I stood.
Suddenly, every piece of the puzzle looked different.
Derek hadn't married my daughter because he loved her.
Bertha hadn't humiliated me because she thought I was weak.
They had known something.
Something I didn't.
Then Arianne grabbed my wrist.
"Dad."
I turned.
Her eyes were filled with terror.
"There is one more thing."
"What?"
She whispered,
"Gideon saw someone else that night."
"Who?"
She shook her head.
"I don't know."
"Then what did he say?"
Arianne looked toward the door.
"He said the person wasn't a Vance."
My blood ran cold.
"Who was it?"
May you like
She whispered:
"He called him Uncle."
