Chapter 4 - The Woman Isabella Erased
Elena Vargas answered Marcus’s call at six the next morning.
She refused to speak on the phone.
She agreed to meet only after Laura explained that Isabella was no longer inside the house.
Even then, Elena chose the hospital cafeteria.
Public.
Bright.
Surrounded by security cameras.
That choice told me how frightened she still was.
Elena arrived wearing a gray sweater and carrying an old leather handbag.
She stopped when she saw me.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then she slapped me.
The sound cracked across the nearly empty cafeteria.
Marcus moved instantly.
I lifted a hand.
“Don’t.”
Elena’s eyes filled with tears.
“You believed her.”
I touched my cheek.
“Yes.”
“She told you I stole from your wife.”
“Yes.”
“And you believed her.”
I could not defend myself.
“Yes.”
Elena sat down.
Her hands shook.
“I tried to tell you.”
“I know.”
“No.”
She looked directly at me.
“You don’t know.”
She opened her bag and removed a folded envelope.
Inside were printed emails.
Dozens of them.
All addressed to me.
None had ever reached my inbox.
“I sent these after she fired me.”
Laura studied the headers.
“Your emails were blocked at the domain level.”
I stared at Marcus.
He frowned.
“That would require administrative access.”
My company managed the household network through the same private security system used by executives.
Only three people had administrative authority.
Me.
Marcus.
And my chief technology officer, Daniel Mercer.
Daniel was also the business partner sitting beside me when Maya called.
The man who had said the sellers would leave in twenty minutes.
My oldest friend.
I felt the room tilt.
Elena pushed another page toward me.
“I kept notes.”
The page listed dates.
Times.
Incidents.
Maya locked outside her bedroom.
Maya forced to clean while sick.
Maya carrying Noah during Isabella’s spa appointments.
Maya denied dinner for breaking a vase.
Maya threatened with boarding school.
Laura read silently.
“Why didn’t you report this?”
“I did.”
Elena wiped her eyes.
“I called child services anonymously.”
My head snapped up.
“What happened?”
“They visited.”
I remembered.
Six months earlier.
Isabella told me it was a routine follow-up triggered by a malicious former employee.
I had been in Singapore.
Isabella sent photographs of Maya smiling beside her.
The report was closed.
Elena looked sick.
“She made Maya lie.”
I whispered.
“How?”
“She told Maya that if anyone took her away, she would never see you again.”
My chest tightened.
Elena continued.
“And she told Maya Noah would be sent to strangers.”
Laura closed her eyes.
“Elena, did Isabella ever mention someone named Daniel?”
Elena’s entire expression changed.
She looked at me.
“Daniel Mercer?”
“Yes.”
Elena leaned back.
“He came to the house when you were traveling.”
“How often?”
“Four or five times.”
I felt cold.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
She hesitated.
“But once I heard them arguing in your office.”
“What were they saying?”
Elena looked at Laura.
Then back at me.
“Isabella said she wouldn’t touch Maya’s trust until Daniel guaranteed her twenty percent.”
The cafeteria disappeared around me.
Twenty percent.
Not of the trust.
The trust was not large enough to explain the shell companies.
“What else?”
Elena lowered her voice.
“Daniel said something about the acquisition.”
Laura immediately leaned forward.
“What exactly?”
Elena closed her eyes, searching her memory.
Then she repeated the sentence.
“He said, ‘Once Nathan signs, he won’t know what he owns until it’s too late.’”
My phone vibrated.
May you like
Daniel Mercer’s name appeared on the screen.
For the first time in twenty years, I let his call go unanswered.
