“He had help. Inside help. Someone with access to your financial systems.” Katherine’s voice softened. “Someone you trust.”
My mind raced through the possibilities.
My CFO, James, who’d worked for my father.
My personal assistant, Miranda, who’d been with me for five years.
My head of security before I hired Marcus—
“David,” I whispered.
“Yes.” Katherine’s confirmation was gentle. “David Morrison was on Richard’s payroll. He’s the one who disabled your security systems tonight. He’s also missing.”
David. The man who’d driven me to business meetings. Who’d stood outside my office door. Who’d known my schedule, my routines, my vulnerabilities.
I’d fired him two months ago when I started suspecting Richard.
But I hadn’t suspected him.
“There’s more,” Katherine continued. “Richard took out a life insurance policy on you last year. Fifty million dollars. And he filed paperwork three weeks ago to declare himself the father of record for your baby, giving him legal rights to her inheritance if anything happened to you before she was born.”
The pieces clicked together with nauseating clarity.
Richard hadn’t just wanted me dead.
He’d wanted control of everything.
My company. My fortune. My daughter’s inheritance.
All of it.
“Where is he?” My voice came out flat. Cold.
“We’re looking. But Amelia—” Katherine hesitated. “Richard called someone fifteen minutes after the helicopter landed. We pulled his phone records. The call lasted three minutes.”
“Who did he call?”
“Your mother.”
The world stopped.
“That’s not possible.”
“I know you’re estranged, but—”
“My mother is dead, Katherine. She died six years ago.”
Silence on the other end of the line.
Then: “Amelia, I’m looking at a phone record that shows a three-minute call to a number registered under the name Claire Hayes. Your mother’s name. In Sedona, Arizona.”
My mother’s name.
My mother, who’d abandoned me when I was sixteen.
My mother, who’d shown up at my father’s funeral six years ago, demanding money.
My mother, who I’d paid two million dollars never to contact me again.
“Send me the address,” I said quietly.
“Amelia, this is a matter for law enforcement—”
“Send me the address, Katherine.”
A pause. Then: “I’ll text it to you. But please, let the FBI handle this.”
I hung up.
Dr. Reeves was watching me with concern. “Mrs. Hayes, you need rest—”
“I need a car.”
Marcus stepped forward. “Ma’am, we should coordinate with—”
“I need a car, Marcus. And I need to get to Sedona. Tonight.”
Something in my voice made him stop arguing.
Twenty minutes later, I was in the back of a black SUV, wrapped in dry clothes someone had procured, heading east toward Arizona.
My phone buzzed. The address from Katherine.
And below it, a message: Be careful. We don’t know what we’re walking into.
I stared out the window at the dark highway.
Richard thought I was dead.
But if he’d called my mother—if she was somehow part of this—
Then they were both about to learn exactly how wrong they were.
The drive to Sedona took seven hours.
I didn’t sleep.
I sat in the back of the SUV, one hand on my stomach, going over every conversation I’d had with Richard in the last year. Every decision. Every moment I’d thought he loved me.
