Chapter 10 - WHEN CHLOE DISAPPEARED
At 10:03 PM, Chloe’s phone went offline.
By 10:20, police were searching for her.
Nobody knew whether she had run because she feared arrest or because Daniel had threatened her.
Nathan insisted the second possibility was real.
“She was shaking.”
He stood in my father’s suite with his tuxedo shirt open at the collar.
Less than twenty-four hours earlier, he had been a groom.
Now he looked like a man emerging from a car wreck.
“She kept saying she never agreed to hurt the baby.”
Dominic looked at him.
“What did she agree to?”
Nathan rubbed both hands over his face.
“I don’t know.”
“Ask yourself.”
“I did.”
“No.”
Dominic’s voice hardened.
“Ask yourself what kind of person you married.”
Nathan looked at him.
“So should you.”
The words landed.
Dominic went silent.
Nathan immediately regretted it.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
Dominic shook his head.
“You’re right.”
I watched him absorb the blow without defensiveness.
Again, a small change.
Not enough to rebuild us.
But real.
Mara entered.
“We traced Chloe’s last known vehicle.”
“Where?”
“Queensboro parking garage.”
“Was she there?”
“No.”
“Her car?”
“Yes.”
Security footage showed Chloe leaving on foot.
Black coat.
Baseball cap.
One suitcase.
Then she entered a taxi.
Police traced the cab.
She had been dropped at Penn Station.
From there, nothing.
My father frowned.
“She’s running.”
Rebecca said, “Or she wants Daniel to think she is.”
At eleven fifteen, my phone rang.
Blocked number.
Everyone went quiet.
I answered on speaker.
“Hello?”
Breathing.
Then Chloe whispered.
“Vivienne.”
My father immediately signaled Mara.
Trace it.
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Are you safe?”
“No.”
That answer surprised me.
Chloe began crying.
Not the controlled tears from her video.
These were ugly.
Breathless.
Real.
“I didn’t know what he was planning.”
“You knew enough.”
“I know.”
“You tried to frame me.”
“I know.”
“You helped your mother prepare to take my daughter.”
“I thought it was just leverage.”
I closed my eyes.
“Just leverage?”
“I was angry.”
“That doesn’t excuse anything.”
“I know!”
She sobbed.
For three years, I had watched Chloe perform emotions for rooms.
This wasn’t a performance.
“What do you want from me?”
“Protection.”
Dominic laughed in disbelief.
“Chloe?”
She heard him.
“Dom?”
“Where are you?”
“I can’t say.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel has people watching Mom.”
My father frowned.
“What people?”
Chloe froze.
“Is Gabriel there?”
“Yes.”
She whispered a curse.
My father leaned toward the phone.
“Chloe, if Daniel threatened you, tell us exactly what happened.”
Silence.
Then she spoke.
“Three months ago I told him I wanted out.”
“Out of what?”
“The plan.”
“Why?”
“Because I realized Vivienne was pregnant.”
I looked at Dominic.
Chloe continued.
“Mom said it didn’t change anything. Daniel said it made things easier because pregnancy could make Vivienne look unstable.”
My stomach turned.
“I agreed to embarrass her.”
Chloe’s voice cracked.
“I agreed to make Dominic leave her. I agreed to the ring.”
“Why?”
“Money.”
There it was.
No excuse.
Just truth.
“Daniel paid off my credit cards. He paid part of the wedding. Mom told me once the riverfront deal closed, we would never worry about money again.”
Nathan turned away.
Chloe continued.
“But then Daniel started asking questions about the baby.”
“What questions?”
“Hospital. Due date. Whether you had complications.”
My father’s hand tightened on the table.
“I told him I didn’t know.”
“What did he say?”
“That I should find out.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
I wanted to believe her.
I didn’t know whether I did.
She whispered, “Then last week I heard him talking to someone.”
“About what?”
“A car.”
My pulse accelerated.
“What car?”
“Yours.”
Dominic stood.
“What?”
“He asked whether the brake recall had been completed.”
My blood froze.
Six weeks earlier, my Volvo had been recalled.
I had taken it in.
The issue had been fixed.
But Daniel knew.
“How did he know about my car?”
“I don’t know.”
My father was already messaging someone.
Chloe continued.
“That’s when I got scared.”
“Did he threaten you directly?”
“Tonight he did.”
“What did he say?”
“He said Amanda talked too much.”
“Then?”
“He said people who panic create accidents.”
Mara mouthed: We have trace.
I kept Chloe talking.
“Where are you?”
“I can’t—”
“Chloe.”
My voice softened.
“If you want protection, we have to find you.”
Silence.
Then she whispered.
“Philadelphia.”
Mara shook her head.
False.
The trace indicated somewhere in Manhattan.
Chloe was lying.
“Where in Philadelphia?”
Another pause.
“I’m near the station.”
Mara wrote on paper.
MIDTOWN EAST.
I looked at my father.
He nodded.
Police were already moving.
“Chloe,” I said, “stay on the phone.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“He’s here.”
Every person in the room froze.
“Who?”
She started breathing faster.
“I saw him across the street.”
“Daniel?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“The man who drove him from the airport.”
Mara spoke quietly into her radio.
“Units move now.”
Chloe whispered, “I have to go.”
“Don’t hang up.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Chloe.”
“Vivienne?”
“Yes?”
Her next words surprised me.
“The access card.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“The black card from your purse.”
“What about it?”
“Daniel wanted it.”
My father and I looked at each other.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“He asked you to steal my access card?”
“Yes.”
My pulse climbed.
“Was the ring supposed to distract from that?”
“Yes.”
Everything clicked.
Amanda was supposed to plant the ring.
During the chaos, someone else was supposed to take my corporate credential.
The card gave access to executive spaces.
But not systems without biometric authentication.
Unless Daniel needed somewhere physical.
“What room?” I asked.
“What?”
“What did Daniel need access to?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
Chloe started crying harder.
“He said something about your mother.”
My father froze.
“What?”
“He told Mom the card would get him into a place Gabriel never checks because it hurts too much.”
My father’s face changed.
I knew immediately.
My mother’s old office.
Ashford Meridian headquarters.
Forty-seventh floor.
My father had sealed it after she died.
I still had access.
So did my card.
“Dad.”
He was already moving.
Mara shouted into her radio.
“Dispatch security to Ashford Meridian headquarters now.”
On the phone, Chloe gasped.
Footsteps.
Fast.
“Chloe?”
No answer.
“Chloe!”
A scream.
Then the line went dead.
Dominic rushed toward the door.
“Where are police?”
Mara checked her phone.
“Two blocks away.”
My father looked at me.
“You stay here.”
“No.”
“Vivienne.”
“My mother’s office.”
“Exactly why you stay.”
He was right.
Again.
I hated it.
Dominic looked at me.
“I’m going with him.”
I stared at him.
My father did too.
“You don’t need to,” I said.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I spent years letting other people handle the hard things.”
He picked up his jacket.
“I’m done doing that.”
My father did not object.
They left with Mara and two security officers.
Rebecca stayed with me.
Ten minutes passed.
Then twenty.
At 12:07 AM, police found Chloe.
Alive.
She had locked herself inside the restroom of a twenty-four-hour pharmacy.
The man she believed was following her disappeared before officers arrived.
She surrendered the rest of her evidence.
At 12:19, my father called.
“We’re at headquarters.”
“Is Daniel there?”
“No.”
“Anyone?”
“Security found forced access on forty-seven.”
My chest tightened.
“Mom’s office?”
“Yes.”
“Did they get inside?”
A pause.
“Vivienne.”
“What?”
“Your mother’s office is open.”
I closed my eyes.
Nobody had entered that room in nearly eight years except me and my father.
“What’s missing?”
“We’re checking.”
Another voice came through the phone.
Dominic.
“Gabriel.”
My father moved.
“What?”
Then silence.
“Dad?”
He returned.
“There’s something on Margaret’s desk.”
“What?”
“A photograph.”
“Of what?”
“You.”
My heart shifted.
“When?”
“Taken recently.”
My father sounded different.
“Vivienne, I think Daniel has been inside before.”
My skin went cold.
“How?”
“We don’t know.”
“Turn the photo over.”
“What?”
“Mom always wrote dates on photographs.”
I heard him pick it up.
Silence.
Then my father inhaled sharply.
“What?”
“There’s writing.”
“From Daniel?”
“No.”
“Whose handwriting?”
My father’s voice nearly broke.
“Your mother’s.”
That was impossible.
She had been dead eight years.
“What does it say?”
He read the sentence aloud.
If Vivi is pregnant when you open this room, give her the red ledger.
Rebecca stood.
I whispered, “What red ledger?”
My father said nothing.
May you like
Then Dominic spoke from somewhere nearby.
“I think I found it.”
