Chapter 3 - The Missing Messages
Nathan ran downstairs two steps at a time.
The front door stood open.
A black SUV tore away from the circular drive.
“Dad!” Ava shouted behind him.
He stopped himself from chasing the car. His daughters were standing barefoot at the top of the staircase. Chloe was crying now. Emma had one arm around her.
Nathan shut the front door.
“Everybody stays inside.”
He called his head of security.
No answer.
He called again.
Straight to voicemail.
“Where’s Martin?” Nathan asked.
Emma stared at him. “Victoria dismissed him three weeks ago.”
Nathan turned. “She what?”
“She said you approved it.”
“I didn’t.”
A terrible pattern began forming.
Nathan walked into his study and opened his laptop. His corporate email looked normal. His private inbox looked normal too.
Then Emma gave him the exact subject line she had used.
He searched.
Nothing.
He checked deleted mail.
Nothing.
He checked blocked senders.
Emma Reed’s address was there.
So was Ava’s school counselor.
So was his sister Rachel.
And his late wife’s attorney.
Nathan stared at the list.
“Who had access to this account?” Emma asked.
“My executive assistant.”
“Anyone else?”
Nathan thought about the laptop he sometimes left in the mansion office.
Victoria knew the password.
He changed it three months ago after a security update.
Or at least he thought he had.
He opened account settings.
A recovery phone number had been added.
It belonged to Victoria.
His stomach dropped.
Ava stood in the doorway.
“Dad?”
Nathan forced his face to relax. “Yeah?”
“Are we in trouble?”
“No.”
“Is Emma?”
He looked at the woman who had been protecting his children while he flew across the country closing acquisitions.
“No.”
Emma seemed almost surprised.
Nathan opened a drawer and took out an old spare phone. “I’m calling the attorney.”
Before he could, the house phone rang.
Everyone froze.
Nathan answered.
A woman’s voice said, “Mr. Cole, this is Helen Ward from Hawthorne Academy. I’m sorry to call at home, but we received the withdrawal paperwork for Ava, Lily, and Chloe.”
Nathan stood slowly.
“What withdrawal paperwork?”
There was a pause.
“The boarding-school transfer forms signed by you and Ms. Hale.”
“I didn’t sign anything.”
Another pause, longer this time.
Then Helen lowered her voice.
“Mr. Cole… your signature is notarized.”
Nathan looked toward the hallway where his daughters stood listening.
“When are they supposed to leave?”
“Friday morning.”
It was Wednesday.
May you like
And Helen added one more sentence.
“The tuition has already been paid from the girls’ family trust.”
