Chapter 4 - THE VOICE OF THEIR FATHER
Claire tapped the screen. Alex's own voice filled the schoolroom. "Emma, Lily, I need you to listen to Claire while I'm away. She is in charge. If Maria causes trouble, stay away from her and do exactly what Claire says."
Alex stared at the monitor in disbelief. The voice sounded like him. Not similar. Him. Emma lowered her eyes. Lily clutched the rabbit against her chest. Claire paused the recording and smiled. "You heard your father."
Daniel moved to the computer and copied the audio feed. "Synthetic voice," he said. "Or an edited sample." Alex felt physically sick. Claire continued. "Maria has been taking things from this house. Your father knows. He's going to send her away."
Lily made a small sound. Emma stepped closer to her sister. "No," Emma said. Claire's expression changed. "Excuse me?" "Daddy wouldn't say it like that." The certainty in her voice startled everyone watching. Claire leaned over the desk. "You just heard him."
Emma looked at the tablet. "He calls Lily 'Lilypad' when he's serious and doesn't want her scared." Alex covered his mouth. He had forgotten that. His daughter had not. Claire's face tightened for half a second before she recovered. "People speak differently when they're angry."
Emma shook her head. Claire reached for the stuffed rabbit again. This time Lily pulled it away. "Don't." Claire's hand stopped in midair. The silence that followed felt explosive. Maria turned toward Alex. "You cannot wait anymore."
Alex nodded. Daniel stopped him again, but only long enough to point at the hallway feed. Grant Whitmore had entered through the side door. He was not supposed to be there. A camera showed him carrying a black backpack. He glanced around the foyer, then moved quickly toward the library.
Thomas leaned toward the screen. "That's our trust problem." Daniel activated the house lockdown protocol quietly. Exterior gates closed. Side exits remained functional from inside for fire safety, but every opening was now logged and filmed.
"Grant doesn't know he's contained," Daniel said. "We can give law enforcement a cleaner chain of evidence if we see what he's doing." Alex looked at Maria. She understood his conflict. "You go to the girls," she said. "I'll stay here."
"No." Her eyebrows rose. Alex faced her fully. "I've already left too much of this to you." It was not an apology. Not yet. But it was the beginning of one. He turned to Daniel. "Call the police. Quietly.
Send them the footage from this morning and the archive of Claire planting the bracelet. Tell them Grant is on the property and may be tampering with financial records."
Daniel nodded. Alex left the security room. He crossed the service corridor and climbed the stairs without trying to hide anymore. Each step seemed to strip away another layer of denial.
By the time he reached the second floor, he was no longer thinking about the wedding, the engagement announcement, the guests, or the scandal.
He was thinking about two little girls who had learned to protect each other from an adult in their own home. Claire's voice came from the schoolroom. "Put the rabbit down." "No." "Do you want your father to come home and hear you've been disobedient?"
Alex opened the door. Lily saw him first. Her face changed so completely that he almost broke. "Daddy?" Claire turned. For perhaps the first time since Alex had known her, she had no expression ready. Emma stared at him.
Then at the tablet. Then back at him. Alex stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. "I'm home." Claire recovered quickly. "Alex, what are you doing here?" He looked at his daughters. "I'm sorry I lied about Toronto."
Emma's eyes filled with tears. Lily ran to him. Alex knelt and caught her with both arms. She buried her face against his neck and held on with desperate strength.
Emma stayed where she was, trying to remain composed, but when Alex opened one arm toward her, she crossed the room and collapsed against him too.
He held both girls. For once, he did not check the time. Claire stood behind them. "This is insane," she said. "If you're testing me—" Alex looked over his daughters' heads. "I was." Claire went still.
"I watched the cameras." A flicker of calculation moved across her face. Then indignation. "You spied on me?" "I watched you grab Lily." "She was throwing a tantrum." "I watched you plant your bracelet in Maria's cabinet."
Claire's face lost color. "I watched you place cash and your perfume in Maria's bag." "That's not what happened." "I heard your call to Grant." Her eyes moved toward the hallway. Too late. Alex noticed. "So you know he's here."
"I don't know what you're talking about." From downstairs came the faint sound of a door closing. Then another. Daniel's voice spoke through the discreet house intercom. "Alex, officers are at the east entrance." Claire's composure cracked.
"You called the police?" "I showed them the footage." "You showed strangers private recordings of me in my own home?" Alex stood slowly, keeping Lily behind him. "This is not your home." The words landed harder than shouting.
Claire stared at him. Then she laughed. It was a strange laugh, sharp and breathless. "After everything I've done for you?" "What did you do for me?" "I put your life back together." "No. You found a family that was grieving."
Her eyes flashed. Alex continued. "And you mistook grief for weakness." Claire stepped toward him. Emma immediately pulled Lily behind her. Alex saw it. So did Claire. For one second, shame seemed possible. Then it disappeared.
"You have no idea what Maria has done," Claire said. "You think she's some saint? Ask her why she had a private investigator following me." Alex's expression did not change. "I already did." That was the moment Claire understood how much he knew.
Her eyes shifted again, this time toward the window. Then the hallway. Then the tablet on the desk. She grabbed it. Alex did not move toward her. He simply said, "Daniel." The door opened behind Claire.
May you like
Daniel stood there with two uniformed officers. Claire looked from them to Alex. Downstairs, another officer shouted for someone to stop. A crash followed from the library. Grant had made his move.
And whatever he had come to steal was important enough that he was willing to run for it.
