Chapter 4 - THE SUITCASE FOR MAYA
Lena told me not to return to the townhouse alone.
I went anyway.
Maya’s passport, medication, and school records were still there. I convinced myself a ten-minute visit would not become a confrontation.
The alarm accepted my code.
My closet had been emptied.
A suitcase waited on Maya’s bed, already packed with clothes, her favorite books, and a flight itinerary to Switzerland.
Departure date: the morning after the dinner.
Passenger: Maya Vance.
Accompanying adult: Victoria Vance.
My hands turned cold.
Julian had prepared to send our daughter out of the country before any custody order existed.
I photographed everything.
Then the bedroom door closed behind me.
Genevieve stood in the hall.
Her cheek was unmarked. Her confidence had returned.
“You should have stayed with your bodyguards.”
I held my phone toward her.
“Why was Maya being sent away?”
“To protect her from you.”
“The ticket was purchased before dinner.”
She smiled.
“You always were slow when frightened.”
I stepped toward the stairs.
She blocked me.
“Where is the device?”
“Not here.”
“Julian said you would hide behind your father.”
“You know nothing about him.”
“I know what happened the last time the red thread broke.”
The words stopped me.
Only three people outside my family knew about that night seven years earlier.
One was dead.
One was Harrison.
The third had never been identified.
Genevieve moved close enough to whisper.
“You survived because someone changed the route.”
A car door slammed outside.
She stepped away before Harrison entered with police.
Genevieve claimed she had come for clothing and accidentally frightened me.
I had violated Lena’s advice and weakened my own credibility.
But the suitcase remained.
May you like
So did the flight record.
And Genevieve had just revealed that the Vances knew about a secret I had never told Julian.
