I caught my husband sleeping with my brother’s wife, so I quietly swapped the lubricant in his bag for industrial glue.
“He’ll never let us.”
“He doesn’t have to.”
Our attorneys had already obtained authority to secure company property. My father’s home office was technically registered as a corporate executive facility.
For the first time that night, Julian looked relieved.
“You’re finally going after him.”
I turned back.
“Don’t mistake my father’s guilt for your innocence.”
His relief vanished.
“You participated. You forged my signature. You lied to me every day. Whatever Arthur promised you, you chose to accept.”
Julian said nothing.
At the door, Brandon stopped.
“Elena.”
I looked at him.
“If Mom is alive…”
His voice broke.
I reached for his hand.
“Then we find her.”
Outside the hospital, dawn had begun to color the clouds above Denver. The storm was passing, leaving the streets silver with rain.
But as Brandon and I drove toward our father’s estate, a black SUV pulled away from the curb behind us.
It followed us through three turns.
Then my phone lit up with a message from an unknown number.
Do not enter Arthur’s house.
A second message appeared.
Your mother tried once.
A third followed.
That is why she never came home.
PART 4 — THE HOUSE WITH A ROOM THAT DID NOT EXIST
Arthur Vance lived in a stone mansion overlooking the foothills, a place designed to appear timeless and unshakable.
That morning, it looked like a fortress.
Iron gates. Security cameras. Narrow windows reflecting the pale dawn.
The black SUV remained two streets behind us.
“Still there?” Brandon asked.
“Yes.”
“Should we call the police?”
“And tell them what? That an unidentified car is driving on a public road?”
“We have threatening messages.”
“The messages might not be threats.”
Brandon glanced at me.
“You think someone is warning us?”
“I think someone knows what happened to Mom.”
We reached the gate at 5:42 a.m.
I entered the old family code.
The gate opened.
Brandon looked surprised.
“Dad never changed it?”
“Maybe he never imagined we’d use it against him.”
The house was silent when we entered.
