Chapter 2: KEEP HIM THERE
Lisa was still on the floor when Ryan finally moved.
Not to help her.
To stand between her and the door.
"You're not calling anyone," he said.
"Not tonight."
She looked up at him — this man she had supported for six years — and felt nothing except cold clarity.
Evelyn hadn't moved either.
She was still holding the baton, watching Lisa the way someone watches a problem they've already solved.
"You should have just written the check," Evelyn said quietly.
Lisa pressed her hand to the floor and stood up on her own.
She didn't speak.
She walked to the bedroom, locked the door, and opened her laptop.
The files were already uploading.
Then her phone lit up.
A message from her closest friend, Dana.
*"He's already in your office.
I tried to stop it.
Lisa — they knew about your brother before you did."*
Lisa read it twice.
Her brother had been missing for eleven months.
The investigators had told her it was a personal disappearance.
No crjme.
No foul play.
But Dana's next message stopped her cold.
*"The charity accounts — one of them is in his name.
And it was opened three weeks after your wedding."*
Downstairs, she heard Ryan on the phone.
May you like
"She doesn't know yet," he said.
"Keep him there."
