Chapter 3: My Daughter's Secret
“Daddy!””
Ava's voice echoed through the passage.
I rushed toward the ladder.
“Ava? What are you doing down here?””
She appeared beside Daniel, wearing her little pink dress. Her cheeks were wet, and she was clutching the teddy bear Vanessa had brought downstairs.
“Daddy, I want Mommy!””
I reached for her.
Daniel immediately stepped in front of me.
“Stay back, sir.””
I stared at him.
“Move.””
“I'm sorry.””
“YOU LET THEM BRING MY DAUGHTER DOWN HERE?””
Daniel lowered his eyes.
“Mr. Cole, I didn't have a choice.””
Vanessa walked down the remaining steps.
Her champagne-colored dress was still perfectly arranged. Her diamond earrings caught the light.
She looked like a woman arriving at a private dinner.
Not someone who had just been exposed for imprisoning another woman's wife beneath a swimming pool.
“Hello, Marcus.””
I stepped toward her.
“Let Ava go.””
Vanessa glanced at the little girl.
“She's perfectly safe.””
“Then give her to me.””
“Not until we finish talking.””
Ava began crying.
“Daddy, I'm sorry.””
I looked at her.
“Sweetheart, you haven't done anything wrong.””
Vanessa smiled faintly.
“Actually, she has.””
I turned toward her.
“What are you talking about?””
Vanessa reached into her purse and pulled out a small silver key.
“Your daughter has been coming down here for weeks.””
I felt my stomach tighten.
“That's impossible.””
“Is it?””
She crouched beside Ava.
“Tell your father what you did, sweetheart.””
Ava shook her head.
“No.””
Vanessa held up the pink teddy bear.
“Do you remember what I told you would happen if you kept secrets?””
“Please don't,” Ava whispered.
I moved forward.
“Don't you dare threaten her.””
Vanessa stood.
“Then perhaps you should hear the truth.””
She opened the teddy bear's back.
A small rectangular object was sewn inside.
A recording device.
My eyes widened.
Vanessa removed it and pressed a button.
Ava's voice filled the passage.
“Mommy? Can you hear me?””
Then came Elena's voice.
“Yes, baby. Mommy is here.””
I turned toward the steel door.
Elena was crying.
The recording continued.
“Vanessa says Daddy doesn't want you anymore,” Ava whispered.
There was a pause.
Then Elena answered.
“That's not true, sweetheart. Your daddy loves you very much.””
I looked at Ava.
She was trembling.
“Did Vanessa tell you to say that?””
Ava nodded slowly.
“She said if I told anyone about Mommy, you would go away too.””
My chest hurt.
Vanessa had used my six-year-old daughter to monitor her own mother.
Every time Ava had come near the pool, Vanessa had known.
Every time she had asked me whether Mommy was coming home, Vanessa had watched my reaction.
I had mistaken her fear for childish confusion.
I had no idea she had been living with a monster.
I knelt in front of Ava.
“Sweetheart, look at Daddy.””
She raised her eyes.
“You are not in trouble. Do you understand?””
“But I lied.””
“Who told you to lie?””
“Vanessa.””
I looked at the woman standing behind her.
“Why?””
Vanessa shrugged.
“Because children are easy to manage when you give them something to fear.””
I felt something inside me break.
“You used my daughter.””
“I kept her quiet.””
“You imprisoned her mother!””
Vanessa's expression hardened.
“And I kept your family together.””
I laughed bitterly.
“You think this is a family?””
She looked at me for a long moment.
Then she walked toward the steel door.
“Elena, you really should have stayed quiet.””
I stepped between them.
“Don't come any closer.””
Vanessa sighed.
“You always were sentimental, Marcus.””
“Tell me why.””
She looked almost amused.
“Why what?””
“Why did you do this?””
She glanced at Daniel.
He nodded.
Vanessa reached into her purse again and removed a folded document.
She held it out.
“Because you were never supposed to own everything.””
I took the paper.
It was a copy of a corporate ownership agreement.
My name appeared at the top.
Below it was a list of beneficiaries and controlling shareholders.
I scanned the figures.
Then I noticed something.
A transfer of controlling interest had been authorized six months before Elena disappeared.
The signature was mine.
But I hadn't signed it.
“What is this?””
Vanessa smiled.
“Your company.””
I stared at her.
“You forged my signature.””
“Not exactly.””
“What does that mean?””
She pointed to a paragraph near the bottom.
“Your father established a succession clause. If you were declared legally incapacitated or presumed deceased, certain shares would transfer to the designated beneficiary.””
I read the paragraph again.
My father had died eight years earlier.
He had created the trust to protect our family business.
But someone had changed the beneficiary.
I looked at the name.
Vanessa Cole.
My vision blurred.
“You planned to marry me so you could take control of my company.””
“Partly.””
“Partly?””
She leaned closer.
“You really should read the entire document.””
I flipped the page.
There was another clause.
A clause stating that if I died without a legally recognized spouse or child able to inherit, the company would pass to the designated beneficiary.
But Ava was my daughter.
She was alive.
She was the primary heir.
Unless…
I looked at Vanessa.
“You wanted Ava out of the way.””
For the first time, her expression changed.
“Don't be dramatic.””
“You wanted my daughter dead.””
Vanessa glanced toward Ava.
“I wanted a clean succession.””
I lunged.
Daniel grabbed me around the chest and pulled me backward.
“Stop!”” he shouted.
I struggled against him.
“LET ME GO!””
Vanessa stepped closer.
“Do you know what the worst part is, Marcus?””
I stopped fighting.
She looked directly into my eyes.
“You had everything. A beautiful wife. A healthy daughter.
A successful company. A house that people would kill to own.””
She gestured toward the ceiling.
“And yet you never noticed what was happening inside your own home.””
I stared at her.
She continued.
“Richard told me you would never see it. He said you trusted everyone who smiled at you.””
“Where is Richard?””
Vanessa smiled.
“Somewhere safe.””
“I'm going to find him.””
“No, Marcus. You aren't.””
She took the ownership document from my hand.
Then she turned toward Daniel.
“Get him upstairs.””
Daniel tightened his grip.
I looked at him.
“Daniel, think about what you're doing. You've known my family for seven years.””
He looked away.
“My daughter was there when your son was born. Elena helped your wife when she was sick. Is this how you repay us?””
His jaw tightened.
For a moment, I thought I had reached him.
Then Vanessa spoke.
“Daniel, your wife is expecting you.””
He immediately stiffened.
Vanessa smiled.
“Remember what happens if you disappoint me.””
I looked at Daniel.
“What has she done to your family?””
He said nothing.
But his eyes told me enough.
Vanessa had something on everyone.
She had built an entire network of frightened people around her.
And I had invited her into my home.
I turned toward the steel door.
“Elena, stay back.””
My wife had moved closer to the opening.
“Marcus…”
“It's okay. I'll get you out.””
She shook her head.
“Listen to me. Vanessa doesn't have the original documents.””
Vanessa stopped walking.
I noticed it immediately.
“What?””
Elena continued.
“The original trust agreement is somewhere else.””
Vanessa slowly turned around.
“Elena, shut your mouth.””
My wife ignored her.
“Marcus, your father gave me a copy before he died. He told me to keep it somewhere nobody would ever think to look.””
I stared at her.
“Where?””
Elena reached beneath the torn mattress inside the room.
She pulled out a small photograph.
It was a picture of my father holding baby Ava in the hospital.
On the back, he had written six words.
The truth is where we began.
I looked at the photograph.
Then at Elena.
“What does that mean?””
She whispered:
“Your father's old house.””
My father had owned a small property outside the city. It had been sold years ago after his death, or so I believed.
Vanessa's face had gone completely white.
“No,” she whispered.
I turned toward her.
“You know what's there?””
She stepped backward.
For the first time that evening, she looked genuinely terrified.
Then Ava suddenly pulled away from Daniel.
She ran toward me, clutching her teddy bear.
“Daddy!””
I caught her in my arms.
She pressed her face against my shoulder.
“I know where the other key is.””
I looked down.
“What key, sweetheart?””
Ava reached into the pocket of her pink dress.
She pulled out a tiny brass key.
Vanessa screamed.
“GIVE THAT TO ME!””
But Ava held it tightly.
“Mommy told me to hide it.””
I stared at the key.
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
“Baby, you kept it?””
Ava nodded.
Then she whispered something that made every hair on my arms stand up.
“Mommy said there's another room.””
I looked toward Elena.
“What other room?””
My wife swallowed.
“The room where Richard kept the other woman.””
Vanessa went completely still.
I stared at her.
“Other woman?””
Elena nodded slowly.
“He wasn't working alone, Marcus.””
Then she looked directly at Vanessa.
“He was using someone else's identity.””
I tightened my hold on Ava.
“Whose?””
Elena's answer came as a whisper.
“Yours.””
And before I could ask another question, a phone began ringing inside Vanessa's purse.
She looked at the screen.
All the color drained from her face.
The caller's name was displayed clearly.
*ELENA COLE.*
I looked toward my wife.
She was standing inside the locked room.
Her face was inches from mine.
And Vanessa was holding a phone that was receiving a call from the same woman.
Elena whispered:
“Marcus…”
Her eyes filled with terror.
“Don't answer it.””
But Vanessa had already pressed the green button.
A woman's voice came through the speaker.
A voice that sounded exactly like Elena.
“Vanessa, is he dead yet?””
I stopped breathing.
Because the woman standing behind that steel door was my wife.
So who had just called Vanessa using Elena's voice?
May you like
And why did she sound as if she had been waiting fourteen months for me to die?
The next chapters can build toward the identity of the second Elena and the secret hidden in Marcus's father's house.
