Chapter 6 - Shadows on the Porch
The arrest at the bank was only the beginning of the storm.
While Richard was led out in handcuffs, screaming obscenities at me and my mother, Daniel was taken in for questioning. He wasn't arrested immediately—Clara advised the police to hold off on formal charges against him to use him as leverage—but his world had completely collapsed.
My mother and I returned to her safe house. The adrenaline that had kept me upright for the last twelve hours finally evaporated, leaving me exhausted, aching, and hollow.
"They'll get bail," I said, staring into a cup of tea my mother had made. "Richard has friends. He’ll be out by tonight."
"Let him," my mother said, sitting across from me. "A man like Richard doesn't know how to lie low. He’s going to go home, and he’s going to start looking for someone to blame. And when he realizes he can't get to you, he’s going to turn on his own family."
"And Barbara?"
"Barbara is the mastermind, Emily," my mother said, her voice grave. "Richard is the muscle, Daniel is the pawn, but Barbara is the one who orchestrates the music. She’s the one who realized your company was worth millions before you even did. I’ve been looking into her family history. Her father was a tax attorney who went to federal prison in the nineties for wire fraud. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
As if on cue, my phone—which was now connected to a new, secure number Clara had provided—vibrated. It was an email notification from my home security system.
Someone was at my house.
I opened the app and looked at the live feed from the front porch. The door frame was still splintered, patched over with a piece of plywood the police had put up after taking evidence.
Barbara was standing there.
She wasn't yelling anymore. She was dressed in a simple, dark coat, her hair slightly disheveled from the rain. She looked directly into the Ring camera, her face pale and drawn.
"Emily," she said, her voice coming through the phone's speaker, sounding eerily calm. "I know you're watching. You think you've won because you got Richard arrested. But you don't know what we have on you. Daniel has files, Emily. Every email, every personal message, every tax document you've signed since you got married. If you don't drop the charges and give us what we are owed, we will release everything. We will ruin your company's reputation, and the buyers will sue you for breach of contract. Think about it."
She turned and walked down the steps, disappearing into the gray afternoon.
May you like
I looked at my mother, fear creeping back into my chest. "Files? What files is she talking about?"
"She's bluffing," my mother said, but her eyes narrowed. "Or Daniel was doing more than just blocking doors while you were working late."
