Chapter 2 - Unraveling the Lies
I didn’t go home.
Elena’s warning rang in my ears with terrifying clarity. Instead, I drove thirty miles out of town to a small, obscure motel off Interstate 95. The room smelled of bleach and old carpet, but it had a deadbolt and no windows facing the main road.
I sat Maya on the edge of the bed and knelt in front of her. Up close, under the harsh fluorescent lighting of the motel room, the severity of her condition was devastating. Her wrist was bruised where Julian had evidently dragged her, and her lip was chapped to the point of bleeding.
I handed her a bottle of water and a sandwich I had bought at a drive-thru. She ate with a desperate, ravenous speed that made my chest ache.
“Slow down, sweetie,” I said softly, gently stroking her hair. “Take a breath. You’re safe now. I promise you, no one is ever going to hurt you again.”
Maya stopped chewing. Her dark eyes, so much like her mother’s used to be before the world broke her, turned toward me. “He locked me out there because I saw what was in his study, Dad.”
I froze. “What did you see, Maya?”
“He has a red notebook,” she whispered, looking toward the locked door as if expecting Julian to burst through it. “He was shouting at Mom about money. He said she was going to ruin everything. When he went to the bathroom, I looked at his desk. There were pictures of other houses. Pictures of people. And... and papers with Mom’s signature on them, but Mom didn't sign them. I saw him using a blue pen to trace her name.”
Forgery. Financial fraud. But that didn't explain the black bags in the pool.
“What about the pool, Maya?” I asked gently, trying not to scare her. “What were those bags?”
Maya squeezed her eyes shut, a single tear cutting a clean path through the dirt on her cheek. “The night before he locked me in the cage, I heard a loud thump in the living room. It was late. I came down the stairs. Julian was dragging big black bags out to the patio. One of them hit the doorframe... and it was heavy, Dad. It smelled like bleach, but under the bleach, it smelled bad. Like meat that’s been left out in the sun.”
A sickening knot tightened in my stomach. The black bags Mrs. Harris saw him throw into the murky green pool.
My phone vibrated violently on the nightstand.
I picked it up. The caller ID displayed an unknown number. I hesitated, then pressed answer, putting it on speaker so I could record if necessary.
“David,” Julian’s voice came through the receiver. It was smooth, devoid of anger, almost conversational. “I see you’ve taken our little girl.”
“If you come anywhere near us, Julian, I will kill you with my bare hands,” I snarled, my grip on the phone so tight the plastic groaned.
A soft chuckle came from the other end. “Always so dramatic, David. That’s why Elena left you, isn’t it? Passion without intellect. Let’s talk rationally. You took something that belongs in my household. More importantly, you trespassed on my property.”
“You kept my daughter in a cage!” I shouted. “I’m calling the police right now! They’re going to drain that pool, Julian! I know what’s in those bags!”
There was a brief pause on the line. When Julian spoke again, his tone had lost its warmth. It turned ice-cold and razor-sharp.
“Go ahead, David. Call Chief Reynolds. Ask him to send a forensics team to my pool. But before you do that, you might want to check the public land records for your own home. Or perhaps check the corporate registration for your small architecture firm. You see, Elena signed over her remaining stakes in your business to my holding company last month. And as her legal husband, I’ve taken the liberty of securing a few... collateral loans in your name.”
“You’re bluffing,” I said, though cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck.
May you like
“Call the cops, David,” Julian whispered. “And by tomorrow morning, you won't be seen as a heroic father saving his daughter. You’ll be framed for the embezzlement of two million dollars from your own clients. And as for Elena? Well... she’s right here. She’d love to tell the police that you were the one who attacked her today.”
The line went dead.
