Chapter 12
The phone in Derek’s pocket rang at exactly eight forty-eight.
I saw the moment it happened in my mind’s eye.
He would be sitting on the couch in the lake house, Lily beside him, the gun on his lap, watching me on the big-screen TV. He would be smiling. Winning. And then his phone would buzz.
Sloane’s name on the caller ID.
He would frown.
He would stand up.
He would walk toward the kitchen to take the call in private.
And that was when they would move.
Back on the stage, I kept talking.
“I know I don’t deserve forgiveness,” I said, my voice breaking perfectly. “What I did was unforgivable. I hurt the man I love. I used my own daughter as a pawn. I—”
The side door of the ballroom burst open.
Mr. Hale walked in.
He gave me one tiny, almost imperceptible nod.
It was over.
I stopped reading.
I let the piece of paper fall from my hand.
I looked directly into the camera again.
“And that,” I said, my voice suddenly clear and strong, “is the last lie Derek Callahan will ever make me tell.”
The room went dead silent.
“Derek Callahan kidnapped my daughter last night,” I said. “He held her hostage at gunpoint. He told me if I didn’t say those words, he would kill her. So I said them. To buy time. While the men who love and protect my daughter moved in to rescue her.”
I raised my chin.
“And as of thirty seconds ago… my daughter is safe. And Derek Callahan is in custody.”
The room exploded.
Reporters shouted. Cameras flashed. People stood on their chairs.
I didn’t stay for the questions.
I walked off the stage and straight into my father’s arms.
“Is she really okay?” I whispered into his shoulder.
“She’s perfect,” he said. “Scared. But perfect. They’re bringing her here now. Derek is in the back of a police car. He’ll be in a jail cell by lunchtime. No bail. Not for kidnapping.”
I closed my eyes.
It was over.
Really over.
Or so I thought.
Lily arrived ten minutes later, wrapped in a pink blanket, her hair messy, her eyes red from crying. The moment she saw me, she ran.
“Mommy!”
I caught her and held her so tight I was afraid I would break her.
“I’m here, baby,” I cried into her hair. “I’m here. You’re safe now. Mommy’s got you.”
“Daddy said you didn’t love me anymore,” she sobbed. “He said you were going to send him away forever. He said we were going to go live on an island where no one could find us.”
I rocked her back and forth.
“Daddy was wrong, baby. Mommy loves you more than anything in the whole world. And Daddy… Daddy is very sick. He needs help.”
I looked up.
Standing in the doorway was Sloane.
She held up her phone.
“He kept me on the phone for forty-seven seconds,” she said. “Long enough?”
I nodded.
“Long enough. Thank you, Sloane. You didn’t have to do that.”
She smiled sadly.
“Maybe not. But I owed you. For everything.”
She turned to leave.
“Sloane?”
She looked back.
“What are you going to do now?”
She shrugged.
“Go back to Boston, I guess. Start over. Try to forget any of this ever happened.” She paused. “If you ever need anything… anything at all… you have my number.”
She walked out.
I never saw her again.
The next few weeks were a blur.
Derek was arraigned on charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault, embezzlement, and child endangerment. The judge denied bail. He was locked up in the city jail, awaiting trial. Without Vane, he was assigned a public defender who was already overworked and underpaid.
The divorce was finalized in record time.
The judge gave me full legal and physical custody of Lily. Derek was allowed supervised visits only—two hours a week, in a room with a one-way mirror, with a social worker present. He never showed up for a single one.
The company thrived under my leadership.
We landed three new major contracts. The union negotiations went better than expected. The employees voted me “Best CEO in Company History” in the internal survey. My picture was on the cover of Virginia Business Magazine.
May you like
Everything was perfect.
And then… the letter arrived.
