Chapter 4 - DANIEL LEARNS WHAT LOSING HER FEELS LIKE
Daniel had spent his adult life solving problems faster than other people could identify them.
A delayed shipment in Rotterdam?
He rerouted through Antwerp.
A union threat in Texas?
He flew overnight and negotiated before breakfast.
A competitor tried to steal a contract?
Daniel bought the competitor.
He believed almost anything could be fixed with enough speed, information, money, or force of will.
Then Amy left.
And Daniel discovered the one problem he could not solve without making it worse.
For three days, he slept in the guest room.
He could not sleep in their bed.
Her pillow still smelled faintly like lavender.
Her slippers remained beneath the chair.
A half-read novel sat on her nightstand.
Every ordinary object accused him.
On Wednesday morning, Lucas entered Daniel’s office carrying a tablet.
“We traced the travel profile access.”
Daniel looked up.
“Who?”
“The login came through the Harrison Foundation network.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Vanessa?”
“We can’t prove she personally entered the system. But the user credentials belonged to her assistant.”
“Did the assistant have authorization?”
“No.”
Daniel stood.
“Where is Vanessa?”
“Foundation office.”
Daniel was already reaching for his coat.
Margaret blocked the elevator when he arrived downstairs.
“I know that face.”
“Move.”
“What happened?”
“Someone in Vanessa’s office accessed Amy’s travel information.”
Margaret became still.
“Did they find her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Daniel.”
“I don’t know.”
He entered the elevator.
Margaret followed.
The Harrison Foundation occupied four floors of a restored building near Bryant Park.
When Daniel entered Vanessa’s office, she looked up from a meeting.
“Everyone out.”
Six employees froze.
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“Daniel—”
“Out.”
They left.
He shut the door.
“Did you access Amy’s travel profile?”
Vanessa leaned back.
“No.”
“Your assistant’s credentials did.”
“I have twelve employees.”
“Your assistant.”
“She books travel.”
“Not Amy’s.”
Vanessa stood.
“This is ridiculous.”
“Then give Lucas your phone and laptop.”
Her eyes changed.
There.
Small.
But Daniel saw it.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t own me.”
“No. But if someone used foundation systems to obtain private information about my wife, I’m going to know how.”
Vanessa crossed her arms.
“She left you.”
“She is still my wife.”
“She humiliated you publicly.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“Amy handed my mother a ring and walked away without raising her voice.”
“Exactly.”
“No. Humiliation would have been telling three hundred donors why.”
Vanessa’s expression sharpened.
“Why what?”
“Why she stopped trusting me.”
Silence.
Daniel continued.
“I told my mother about Chicago.”
Vanessa stared.
“Why would you do that?”
“Because it happened.”
“It was a kiss.”
“Yes.”
“One kiss.”
“Yes.”
“You ended it.”
“I shouldn’t have started it.”
Vanessa stepped closer.
“You didn’t start it.”
“I kissed you back.”
“And you wanted to.”
Daniel did not answer.
Because that was the truth he could no longer hide behind technicalities.
For those few seconds in Chicago, he had wanted to.
Not because he loved Vanessa.
Because she admired him.
Because she never asked him to come home.
Because around her, his work obsession looked powerful instead of selfish.
Amy asked questions that required him to examine himself.
Vanessa praised the version of him that never had to.
Daniel finally understood why the temptation had felt easy.
It asked nothing of him.
“I failed my wife,” he said.
Vanessa stared at him.
Then laughed quietly.
“You really think confessing makes you noble?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“I think it makes me late.”
Vanessa’s face changed.
Daniel placed his phone on her desk.
“Lucas will contact you. Preserve every device and every foundation account.”
“Are you accusing me of something?”
“I’m asking you to cooperate.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I suspend you pending investigation.”
Vanessa went pale.
“You can’t do that.”
“I’m chairman.”
“This foundation is your mother’s.”
“And she already approved it.”
That was not technically true.
Not yet.
But Daniel knew Margaret would.
He left.
Back at Harrison Freight, another problem waited.
A financial analyst had flagged unusual foundation-linked transportation invoices.
They were small.
Too small to attract attention individually.
Consulting fees.
Event logistics.
Media services.
Private car contracts.
Over eighteen months, they totaled $612,000.
All routed through vendors approved by the communications department.
Vanessa’s department.
Daniel stared at the figures.
“Why am I seeing this now?”
The CFO looked embarrassed.
“Because they were below individual review thresholds.”
“Who created those thresholds?”
A pause.
“Foundation operations.”
Daniel leaned back.
Something was wrong.
Deeply wrong.
His phone buzzed.
Amy.
For one second, the world disappeared.
He opened the message.
The baby is healthy. I am safe. Please do not look for me.
Daniel read it again.
Then again.
His first instinct was immediate.
Where are you?
Are you alone?
Which doctor are you seeing?
Can I come?
He typed none of those.
Instead:
Thank you for telling me.
He placed the phone down.
His hands were shaking.
His CFO pretended not to notice.
That evening Margaret came to the penthouse.
She carried the wedding ring.
Daniel had asked her to keep it.
“You found something,” she said.
He showed her the invoices.
Margaret sat silently for several minutes.
Then she removed her glasses.
“I hired Vanessa.”
“I know.”
“Her father served on your father’s board.”
“I know.”
“I trusted her.”
“So did I.”
Margaret looked at him carefully.
“More than you should have.”
Daniel accepted the blow.
“Yes.”
His mother studied him.
“You’re not defending yourself anymore.”
“No.”
“That’s new.”
Daniel walked toward the window.
“I keep thinking about all the times Amy asked me to come home.”
Margaret said nothing.
“I thought providing everything meant I was being a good husband.”
“You provided everything except yourself.”
Daniel nodded.
“She once asked me to spend one Sunday with no phone.”
“I remember.”
“I lasted forty minutes.”
Margaret smiled sadly.
“You lasted twenty-three.”
Daniel turned.
“You remember?”
“Amy called me afterward.”
His throat tightened.
“What did she say?”
“That she felt stupid for caring so much.”
Daniel looked away.
Margaret stood.
“She loved you loudly for a long time. Then quietly. Quiet is what should have frightened you.”
Daniel’s phone rang.
Lucas.
He answered.
“What did you find?”
Lucas sounded unusually tense.
“We have a security situation.”
Daniel straightened.
“Amy?”
“We think so.”
His blood went cold.
“Explain.”
“A freelance photographer just uploaded photos to an agency server in Portland.”
Daniel gripped the phone.
“Portland.”
“Yes.”
“Do the photos show Amy?”
“Yes.”
Margaret stood.
Daniel’s heart pounded.
“How?”
“She appears outside a medical clinic.”
“What kind of clinic?”
Lucas hesitated.
Daniel already knew.
“Obstetrics?”
“Yes.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Has anything been published?”
“Not yet.”
“Buy the photos.”
“We’re trying.”
“Buy the agency if you have to.”
“Daniel, there’s more.”
His eyes opened.
“The photographer received an anonymous tip with Amy’s location.”
“From where?”
“We traced the payment for the tip.”
Daniel’s voice lowered.
“Tell me.”
“The payment came from a prepaid corporate card.”
“Whose?”
Lucas paused.
“Harrison Foundation communications.”
Margaret’s face went white.
Daniel did not move.
The room became completely silent.
Then Lucas added:
“And the tip included something the photographer says he did not discover himself.”
“What?”
“That Amy is pregnant with a girl.”
Daniel froze.
He had not known.
Margaret had not known.
The press should not have known.
Someone had information from Amy’s medical appointment.
Daniel’s fear became something colder.
This was no longer gossip.
Someone was tracking his pregnant wife.
Daniel looked at the ring on the table.
“I’m not going after Amy,” he said.
Margaret frowned.
May you like
“What?”
“I’m going after whoever found her.”
