Chapter 5 - SOMEONE WAS STILL WATCHING SOPHIE
I removed Sophie from preschool that afternoon.
Not permanently.
But until police understood the threat.
Lena arranged patrols.
I changed apartments.
Harold helped create a private mailing address.
For two weeks, Sophie thought we were having an adventure.
She built forts from moving boxes.
Madison stayed with us.
Neither of us told her why I checked the hallway camera every ten minutes.
Police traced the photograph paper.
Nothing.
Security footage showed a man wearing a cap near the preschool.
Face obscured.
Then Chase called Madison from county detention.
He asked to speak to me.
“I know who sent the picture.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
“Graham?”
“No.”
I frowned.
“You just said your father.”
“I mean he ordered it.”
“Why?”
“Because he thinks Ethan gave you the master ledger.”
“What master ledger?”
Silence.
“Natalie, the fraud wasn’t four million.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Try.”
“Maybe fifty.”
My stomach dropped.
Fifty million dollars.
Holloway Development had allegedly skimmed funds for over a decade.
Insurance fraud.
Fake vendors.
Employee benefit accounts.
Public development subsidies.
Ethan discovered one section.
My father helped launder another.
But somewhere existed a master ledger identifying everyone.
Politicians.
Contractors.
Bankers.
Consultants.
The kind of evidence that could destroy careers and send powerful people to prison.
“Did Ethan have it?”
“Dad thought he did.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why threaten Sophie?”
“Because he thinks Ethan hid it in something belonging to her.”
I almost laughed.
“She wasn’t born.”
“He knew you were pregnant.”
Of course.
I searched everything Ethan left.
Baby books.
Letters.
Storage boxes.
Photographs.
Nothing.
Then Sophie walked into the room carrying her yellow spoon.
“Mommy.”
I looked at it.
That stupid yellow plastic spoon.
She had owned it since infancy.
Except—
No.
Ethan had bought a set of baby utensils before he died.
I remembered teasing him.
“You know she won’t eat solids for months.”
“I’m prepared.”
The yellow spoon was from that set.
I took it gently.
Examined the handle.
There was a tiny seam near the end.
I had assumed it was molding.
Harold brought a small tool.
The handle opened.
Inside was a micro-SD card.
For two years, my daughter had carried Ethan’s evidence everywhere.
Bathtub.
Bed.
Restaurants.
My parents’ house.
The dumpster.
She had held the master ledger in her fist while my family tried to steal the money it could expose.
The card contained encrypted files.
Federal technicians opened them.
Chase underestimated the amount.
The fraud totaled more than $86 million.
But another number mattered more.
$4.8 million.
Transferred into an account identified only as:
S.P. BENEFICIAL RESERVE.
Sophie Parker.
Money had been placed in my unborn daughter’s name before Ethan died.
Not by Ethan.
Not by me.
Someone had used Sophie as a financial hiding place before she was even born.
And the authorization signature belonged to Graham Holloway.
Now we understood why he was afraid.
If the account was discovered, investigators could make it look as though Ethan had been stealing too.
Unless the ledger proved otherwise.
The ledger did.
Ethan had documented the transfer and written:
GRAHAM IS USING MY CHILD AS A FUTURE SCAPEGOAT.
My anger became almost calm.
That was when I became dangerous to them.
Not because I had power.
Because I finally understood the entire game.
They had counted on emotion.
So I stopped giving them uncontrolled emotion.
We gave Graham false information.
Through Chase, investigators allowed him to hear that the SD card was damaged.
That the ledger could not be recovered.
Graham relaxed.
Then he made a mistake.
He contacted my father.
The call was recorded under warrant.
Graham said:
“The Parker girl has nothing.”
Dad answered:
“Then why is Natalie still asking about the reserve?”
Silence.
Graham:
“Who told her?”
Dad:
“Maybe Lauren.”
Graham:
“Then Lauren becomes a problem.”
My blood froze.
My sister had betrayed me.
But I was not going to let someone kill her.
Lena moved Lauren into protective custody.
For the first time, Lauren understood what Ethan had felt.
She called me that night.
“I’m sorry.”
I said nothing.
“I know that doesn’t fix it.”
“No.”
“I kept choosing them.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I almost ended the call.
Then she answered herself.
“Because every time I chose Mom and Dad, they rewarded me.”
That was the first truly honest thing she had said.
“And every time you didn’t,” she continued, “they punished you.”
“Yes.”
“I thought that meant I was better.”
Her voice broke.
“It just meant I was useful.”
I looked at Sophie sleeping beside me.
“That’s something you’re going to have to live with.”
“I know.”
“And Madison?”
“I lost her.”
“Maybe.”
Lauren cried.
“Can you tell her I love her?”
“No.”
Silence.
“You can tell her yourself when she wants to hear it.”
That was the boundary.
Not cruelty.
Not revenge.
A boundary.
I ended the call.
Across the room, Madison stood quietly.
She had heard everything.
“Do you think she means it?” she asked.
“I think she means it tonight.”
“Is that enough?”
“No.”
Madison nodded.
Neither of us knew whether Lauren would change.
May you like
But for once, nobody was asking us to pretend she already had.
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