Chapter 6 - THE MAN BEHIND MY HUSBAND
I didn't move.
The hotel room suddenly felt too small. The curtains were closed, the lights were dim, and Lily was sleeping quietly in the next room, completely unaware that the life I had known for fifteen years had just collapsed around me. I replayed Evelyn's final words in my head again and again.
“Your husband wasn't the one who planned it.”
I looked at the documents spread across the bed.
Scott's signature.
Daniel's signature.
Vanessa's name.
The shell companies.
The hidden accounts.
And then one name appeared again.
Marcus Hale.
It was printed on three different documents.
A private financing agreement.
A corporate acquisition proposal.
And a transfer authorization dated fourteen years ago.
Fourteen years.
That was only one year after Scott and I started the company.
My hands went cold.
Someone had been preparing to control our business long before I ever realized there was a problem.
I called the number Evelyn had left me.
No answer.
I called again.
Still nothing.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered without speaking.
For several seconds, there was only silence.
Then a man's voice came through.
“Mrs. Diane?”
I stood up.
“Who is this?”
“You opened Box 417.”
My heart stopped.
I looked toward the hotel door.
“How do you know?”
The man laughed softly.
“You should have listened to Evelyn.”
“What did you do to her?”
Another pause.
“Nothing yet.”
I gripped the phone tighter.
“Where is she?”
“That's not the question you should be asking.”
“Then what should I ask?”
His voice became colder.
“Why did Evelyn keep you alive for fifteen years?”
The call ended.
I stared at my phone.
Then I heard something.
A faint sound outside the room.
Footsteps.
I immediately turned off the lights.
Lily began to stir in the next room.
I rushed to her crib and lifted her into my arms.
The footsteps stopped outside my door.
Someone tried the handle.
Once.
Twice.
Then silence.
I stood there holding my daughter, barely breathing.
A few seconds later, my phone vibrated.
One message.
“Leave the hotel now.”
I didn't know who had sent it.
But I knew one thing.
May you like
Someone was watching me.
And whoever it was already knew where Lily slept.
