Chapter 3 - The Threat at the Gate
By midnight, Mark had moved Ava and me to his gated residence on the edge of town. His house was built like a fortress, equipped with commercial-grade security systems that gave me my first feeling of safety in hours.
Ava fell asleep in the guest room, exhausted from crying, holding a plush teddy bear Mark had bought for her. Downstairs in the study, Mark sat across from me with a glass of dark amber whiskey he hadn't touched.
“Daniel knew about them, didn't he?” I asked quietly, staring at the warm fire crackling in the fireplace.
Mark sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Daniel was an auditor, Sarah. Before he died, he was investigating a supply chain fraud scheme tied to a local logistics firm. He didn't tell you because he wanted to keep you and Ava safe. But he kept a paper log of everything he found.”
“The gray envelope,” I realized, my blood running cold. “The envelope Nicole took from the office safe.”
“Exactly,” Mark said. “Nicole didn't just stumble onto that safe. She was told what to look for. Someone inside that network knew Daniel had the evidence, and they used your sister’s financial desperation to get her inside your house.”
My phone vibrated on the coffee table. It was a text from my mother: “Sarah! What have you done?! Nicole is in a county holding cell! The police won't let us see her! Call off your lawyer friends right now! She’s your sister!”
A second text arrived right after, this time from my father: “You are destroying this family over a stupid jar of coins. If Nicole gets a record, you are dead to us.”
I stared at the messages, feeling a cold, hard shield lock into place over my heart. They didn't care that my daughter’s room was ransacked. They didn't care that a man had threatened my child’s life over the phone. All they cared about was protecting their golden child, even if she was wrapped up in criminal chaos.
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I didn't reply. Instead, I forwarded both text messages directly to Detective Vance.
“Let them dig their own graves,” Mark said quietly. “Tomorrow morning, we go on the offensive.”
