Chapter 1 - The Night Everything Broke
I moved before I had time to think.
“Put the hanger down, Natalie.”
My voice sounded strange even to me.
Low.
Cold.
Nothing like the voice of the man who had kissed his wife goodbye that morning.
Natalie froze in the middle of our living room.
My six-year-old daughter, Ellie, was pressed against the wall with tears running down her cheeks.
My nine-year-old son, Owen, was curled beneath the coffee table.
There were dark marks around his upper arms.
Natalie slowly lowered the wooden hanger.
“Daniel, this isn’t what it looks like.”
I stepped between her and the children.
“Ellie, come to me.”
She ran so quickly that she nearly tripped.
I caught her against my chest.
Owen crawled out more slowly.
He kept staring at Natalie.
Not like a child looking at his stepmother.
Like a child looking at someone dangerous.
Natalie’s face hardened.
“They broke into your office.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“They tore up the floor.”
Her breathing was fast now.
“They found something they weren’t supposed to find.”
Ellie tightened her arms around my waist.
Then she whispered the words that shattered what remained of my normal life.
“Daddy, she said Mommy didn’t die in an accident.”
Natalie’s face went white.
I stared at her.
“What did you say?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Yes, you did!” Ellie cried.
Natalie took one step forward.
I raised my hand.
“Don’t come closer.”
She stopped.
For the first time since I had known her, I saw real fear in her eyes.
Not guilt.
Fear.
Owen grabbed my sleeve.
“We found a box.”
Natalie snapped toward him.
“Owen.”
He flinched.
That single movement told me more than anything she could have said.
I guided both children behind me.
“Where is the box?”
Owen pointed toward the hallway.
“Under your office floor.”
Natalie suddenly moved.
Not toward the front door.
Toward my office.
I caught her wrist before she reached the hallway.
She struggled once.
Then stopped.
“Daniel, listen to me.”
“No.”
“If you open that box, you’re going to destroy this family.”
I looked at my terrified children.
Then I looked at the woman I had married three years after Laura died.
“My family is already standing behind me.”
I released her wrist.
“Whatever is in that box is going to tell me who destroyed it.”
For several seconds, Natalie said nothing.
May you like
Then she whispered something that made my blood run cold.
“Laura should have burned it when she had the chance.”
