Chapter 4: Everything He Told Me Was a Lie
Nobody moved for a long moment.
Then one of Daniel's cousins — a heavyset man named Robert who had laughed the loudest at dinner — walked to the front door and opened it himself.
He didn't look at Daniel when he did it.
Two officers came in.
A third stayed on the porch.
Daniel straightened.
The calculating look came back, the one I had mistaken for confidence for five years.
"Officers, I'm glad you're here.
There's been a break-in.
This woman entered without permission and I'd like her removed."
"Mr.
Hargrove." The lead officer, a woman in her forties, held up one hand.
"We're not here about a break-in."
"Then what—"
"We have a warrant." She held it out.
Daniel didn't take it.
"For financial fraud, forgery of trust documents, and wire transfer violations totaling approximately four point three million dollars."
Patricia stood up from the wall.
"That is absolutely—"
"Ma'am, please stay where you are."
I watched Daniel's face move through three expressions in four seconds.
Then he turned to me.
Not to the officers.
To me.
"Emily." His voice dropped.
The charm came back, softer than I'd heard it in months.
"You don't understand what's been happening.
There are things I haven't been able to tell you.
Things that would explain all of this.
Just give me ten minutes before they—"
"You h*t me tonight," I said.
He stopped.
"In front of fourteen people.
You h*t me and told me to get out of my own house." I kept my voice level.
"I don't need ten minutes, Daniel."
He looked at me for a long moment.
Then something behind his eyes closed.
He turned to the officer.
"I want my attorney."
"You can call from the station." She nodded to her colleague.
Victoria had stepped back against the wall to give them room.
I found myself standing beside her without having planned to.
We watched together as the officers moved Daniel toward the door.
Patricia followed, demanding to know where they were taking him, what the charges were, whether she needed to call someone.
Nobody answered her.
At the door, Daniel stopped.
The officer gave him a moment.
He looked back at me across the foyer.
"This isn't over," he said.
"I know," I said.
"There's still a great deal left to sort out." I glanced at the manila envelope on the table.
"Starting with that."
He looked at the envelope.
Then at Victoria.
Then he walked out.
The door closed.
Patricia turned to Victoria, her voice dropping to something vicious.
"You did this.
You came back after everything and you destroyed this family."
"Patricia." Victoria's tone was almost gentle.
"Your son destroyed this family.
I just kept the receipts."
Patricia's mouth opened.
Then she looked at me, and whatever she saw there made her close it again.
She picked up her handbag from the dining room doorway, walked to the front door, and left without another word.
The cousins followed.
The other guests.
One by one, the hallway emptied until only Victoria and I remained.
I looked at the envelope on the table.
"How long?" I asked.
"How long were we married, or how long have I known what he was doing to you?"
"Both."
Victoria was quiet for a moment.
"We were married for two years before I found out what he was.
I left.
He told everyone I d*ed because it was easier than explaining." She paused.
"I found out about you eighteen months ago.
I started gathering everything I could."
"Why didn't you warn me?"
She looked at me directly.
"I tried," she said.
"Twice.
Both times, the messages were intercepted.
I found out later that Daniel had access to your email."
My stomach turned over.
I thought about the arguments.
The times Daniel had known things I hadn't told him.
The times I'd felt certain I'd sent a message that the other person claimed never arrived.
"There's something else," Victoria said.
"Something that isn't in the police file."
I looked at her.
"The message you saw on his laptop tonight.
'Emily becomes the problem.'" She held my gaze.
"That wasn't the first time he wrote that.
The first time was fourteen months ago.
After that message, I started watching very carefully." She reached into her bag and set a second envelope on the table.
Smaller.
Sealed.
"I think you should read this before you speak to Marcus tomorrow."
I picked it up.
My name was written on the front in handwriting I didn't recognize.
"Whose writing is this?"
Victoria looked at the envelope, then back at me.
"Your father's," she said quietly.
"He sent it to me six months before he d*ed.
He knew, Emily.
He knew what Daniel was, and he was trying to protect you."
May you like
The sirens outside faded into the distance.
I stood in my grandfather's foyer holding a letter from my father, written to a woman I had believed was d*ad, and understood that the night was nowhere near over.
