Chapter 4 - The Woman I Loved Was Never Alone
We discovered the sender within twenty minutes.
The phone number belonged to a prepaid device.
But the device had connected to one tower.
A private club on the north side.
The club was registered to my business lawyer.
Gregory Sloan.
My oldest professional adviser.
The man who had helped me build my legal empire.
The man who had been at my wedding.
The man who had held my daughter after her mother died.
The man who had told me he would protect my family.
I stared at the location.
“Marcus.”
“I know.”
“Check every account Gregory has.”
He did.
The results were disturbing.
Millions moved through shell companies.
Payments to Patricia.
Payments to Daniel Crane.
Payments to a private security firm.
And one recurring transfer.
Marked:
PHOENIX TRUST.
I remembered the trust.
My father had created it.
But someone had altered it years later.
Gregory had legal access.
He could change beneficiaries.
He could create records.
He could make Patricia appear legitimate.
My father hadn't created the trap.
Gregory had built one around the original trust.
I went to the club.
Patricia came with us under guard.
She refused to speak.
Inside, Gregory was waiting.
He stood beside a fireplace with a glass of whiskey.
“You finally found me.”
I raised my weapon.
“Where are my daughters?”
He smiled.
“Safe.”
“Everybody keeps saying that.”
“They are.”
“What do you want?”
“The trust.”
“I don't care about the money.”
“I know.”
He shook his head.
“That's why you're difficult.”
I looked at Patricia.
She wouldn't meet my eyes.
Gregory laughed.
“She wasn't supposed to love you.”
My chest tightened.
“But she did.”
Patricia looked at him.
“Don't.”
Gregory smiled.
“You were supposed to manipulate him.”
Patricia whispered, “I tried.”
“You failed.”
I stared at her.
“Did you love me?”
She looked at me.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then tears appeared.
“Yes.”
I felt nothing.
Not relief.
Not sadness.
Just emptiness.
“Then why?”
“Because I thought I could fix it.”
“Fix what?”
“My father.”
Gregory's face changed.
I looked at Patricia.
“Your father?”
She nodded.
“Gregory is my father.”
Silence.
That explained everything.
She hadn't entered my life because she wanted money.
She had entered because Gregory wanted control.
“He told me you were dangerous,” Patricia whispered.
“He told me your family destroyed mine.”
I looked at Gregory.
“You used your daughter.”
“Yes.”
“You used my wife.”
“She discovered too much.”
“And you killed her.”
Gregory took a sip of whiskey.
“I did not intend for her to die.”
I moved toward him.
“What happened?”
“She found the trust.”
“She threatened you.”
“She threatened everything.”
He admitted arranging the car crash.
My wife survived the initial impact.
She was taken to the chapel.
She died there after being forced to sign documents.
I felt sick.
“Where are my daughters?”
Gregory smiled.
“They are in the same place.”
I almost shot him.
Patricia grabbed my arm.
“Andrew, don't.”
I looked at her.
She was crying.
“Please.”
For the first time, I realized she was terrified of her father too.
She had been both accomplice and victim.
That didn't excuse her.
But it explained her hesitation.
Gregory continued.
“You have forty-eight hours to sign away control of the trust.”
“No.”
“Then the girls disappear.”
“You've already lost.”
He laughed.
“Have I?”
Marcus stepped forward.
“Federal agents have been notified.”
Gregory looked at him.
Then smiled.
“You think I don't have friends in law enforcement?”
He was right.
Half the agents assigned to the case suddenly stopped responding.
We left.
On the drive back, Patricia sat silently.
I turned to her.
“Where are they?”
She shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“You've been working with him.”
“Yes.”
“You must know something.”
“I knew the plan.”
“What plan?”
She looked out the window.
“They wanted to make you look unstable.”
“Why?”
“To get you declared unfit.”
“And then?”
“I would control the trust.”
“Then Gregory would control you.”
She nodded.
I stared ahead.
“You were going to take my daughters.”
“I couldn't.”
“But you were willing.”
She started crying.
“I thought I could protect them from him.”
“You were part of it.”
“I know.”
When we arrived at the estate, Rosa was waiting.
She looked at Patricia.
Then at me.
“Did you find them?”
“No.”
Rosa closed her eyes.
“We need to go to the chapel.”
We went.
The old chapel stood forty miles outside the city.
Abandoned.
Cold.
Its windows were boarded.
Its stone walls were cracked.
Rosa opened the door.
Inside, there was a room beneath the altar.
We found a mattress.
A bloodstained scarf.
My wife's scarf.
And an old camera.
Rosa picked it up.
“This was hers.”
I pressed the power button.
A single video remained.
My wife appeared on the screen.
She looked tired.
Terrified.
But alive.
“If Andrew ever sees this, Rosa was right.”
I looked at Rosa.
The recording continued.
“Patricia is working with someone.”
My wife took a breath.
“I don't know who.”
She stared into the camera.
“But I think Gregory knows.”
The video ended.
Patricia began crying.
She whispered:
“I didn't know.”
I looked at her.
“You knew enough.”
She nodded.
Then Rosa saw something on the floor.
A child's bracelet.
Martina's.
There was a tag attached.
A number.
I recognized it.
A storage facility.
We rushed there.
Inside locker 317, we found the girls.
They were frightened.
Alive.
I ran to them.
Martina threw herself into my arms.
“Dad!”
Daniela hugged me.
I held both of them.
“I've got you.”
Martina cried against my chest.
“She kept saying you didn't want us.”
I looked toward Patricia.
She was standing at the doorway.
Daniela pointed.
“Her.”
Patricia closed her eyes.
Then she whispered:
“I'm sorry.”
I almost couldn't hear her.
The girls were safe.
But the war wasn't over.
Because in the locker, beneath an old blanket, we found a second document.
A transfer agreement.
Signed by Gregory.
And someone else.
My father's signature.
I stared at it.
The date was the day before he died.
That meant my father had signed something.
What?
And why?
Gregory looked at the document when we returned.
His expression changed.
“Where did you get that?”
I smiled.
“You're afraid of it.”
He said nothing.
Then Patricia whispered:
“That wasn't supposed to exist.”
“What is it?”
She looked at Gregory.
“Tell him.”
Gregory refused.
I turned to her.
“Tell me.”
She took a breath.
“The original trust was never designed to protect your children.”
I stared.
“It was designed to protect you.”
“How?”
“By keeping the money away from the people trying to control your family.”
“Who?”
She looked at Gregory.
“People my father worked for.”
Gregory's face hardened.
Patricia continued.
“They aren't finished.”
I looked at her.
“Who are they?”
She whispered:
“The people who killed your wife.”
And somewhere outside, a car door slammed.
May you like
We were no longer hunting one traitor.
We were facing an entire network.
Related Stories
