Chapter 5 - The Man Who Came Through the Garden.
Daniel Cross was found in the conservatory seven minutes later.
He was not hiding.
That bothered Marcus more than if he had been.
Daniel stood beside a stone planter with his hands in the pockets of his dark overcoat, calmly studying the rain clouds gathering beyond the glass roof.
Owen escorted him to the library.
Marcus waited behind Abigail's old desk.
Nathan stood near the fireplace.
Eleanor and Grant were not invited.
Maria remained upstairs with Leo.
Daniel entered as though he had an appointment.
"Marcus."
"Daniel."
"You have an impressive security system."
Marcus leaned back in the chair.
"You tested it."
Daniel smiled faintly.
"I entered through a door opened by an authorized resident."
"Who?"
"Attorney-client privilege does not require me to answer that."
Nathan spoke from the fireplace.
"Privilege does not turn trespassing into a legal consultation."
Daniel glanced at him.
"Hello, Nathan."
"You always did enjoy making simple things theatrical."
Nathan's expression stayed flat.
"And you always enjoyed getting paid by people who think chaos is leverage."
Daniel took a chair without being offered one.
"I assume this is about Eleanor."
Marcus placed the custody petition on the desk.
"It's about this."
Daniel looked down.
"Draft work product."
"Yours?"
"My firm's."
"Did you prepare it?"
"I reviewed it."
"Based on what facts?"
Daniel crossed one leg over the other.
"Statements from my client."
"Which statements?"
"You know I cannot answer that."
Marcus nodded.
"Then answer something you can."
He placed the private flight itinerary beside the petition.
"Did you arrange this?"
Daniel looked at it longer.
"No."
Marcus believed him.
Nathan apparently did too.
"Did you know about it?" Nathan asked.
"Not until now."
Daniel's gaze sharpened.
"Where did you find these?"
Marcus ignored the question.
"Why did Eleanor hire a corporate restructuring lawyer to review a custody petition?"
Daniel smiled without humor.
"Because family law is not the only battlefield in your marriage."
"That sounded rehearsed."
"It sounded accurate."
Marcus folded his hands.
"Explain."
Daniel leaned forward.
"Your wife believes you have used money, corporate influence, and family governance structures to make her dependent on you."
"She believes the prenuptial agreement leaves her exposed."
"She believes the family trust was designed to exclude her."
"And she believes that if this marriage ends, your attorneys will make sure she walks away with a fraction of the life she helped build."
Marcus stared at him.
"She helped build Vance Global?"
Daniel did not react.
"I said the life."
"Not the company."
Nathan stepped forward.
"And your solution was to study the guardian clause."
"My job is to study every structure that affects a client's position."
"Including a six-month-old child's trust rights."
Daniel's expression turned colder.
"Especially those."
Marcus felt anger rise, but he kept it under control.
"Did you advise her to provoke a confrontation?"
"No."
"Did you advise her to create evidence that I was unstable?"
"No."
"Did you advise her to leave the country?"
"No."
"Did you advise Grant Brennan to delete security logs?"
Daniel's eyes shifted.
It was the first crack.
Marcus noticed.
Nathan noticed.
Daniel recovered quickly.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"That's an interesting answer."
Marcus leaned forward.
"I didn't ask whether you knew logs were deleted."
Daniel went still.
Marcus continued.
"I asked whether you advised Grant to delete them."
"You could have said you had never spoken to Grant about security."
"You didn't."
Daniel uncrossed his legs.
"Be careful with implications, Marcus."
"I have nothing to be careful about in my own library."
"Everybody has something to be careful about."
Daniel glanced around the room.
"Your mother knew that."
Marcus's face changed.
"You knew my mother?"
Daniel smiled slightly.
"Better than you knew."
Nathan stepped forward.
"Daniel."
The warning in his voice was unmistakable.
Marcus looked between them.
"What does that mean?"
Daniel turned toward Nathan.
"You never told him?"
Nathan's jaw tightened.
Marcus stood.
"Told me what?"
Daniel looked almost pleased.
"Abigail hired me first."
The words landed hard.
Marcus stared at him.
"For what?"
"To investigate Eleanor."
Nathan closed his eyes briefly.
Marcus turned to him.
"You knew."
Nathan nodded.
"Yes."
Marcus felt betrayal from too many directions at once.
"Everyone in this room knew more about my relationship than I did."
Nathan took the anger without flinching.
"Your mother asked Daniel to conduct a background investigation after her first meeting with Eleanor."
"Why Daniel?"
Daniel answered.
"Because I was very good at finding financial connections people prefer not to advertise."
Marcus looked at him.
"What did you find?"
Daniel's expression shifted.
For the first time, arrogance disappeared.
"Enough that Abigail became worried."
"About what?"
Daniel looked toward Nathan.
Nathan gave a nearly invisible shake of the head.
Marcus slammed his palm onto the desk.
The sound cracked through the room.
"Stop looking at each other."
Daniel's eyes returned to him.
"We found that Eleanor had met Grant Brennan before she ever met you."
Marcus went completely still.
"How long before?"
"Almost a year."
Marcus thought of Eleanor telling him she first encountered Grant at a Vance charity gala after their engagement.
Another lie.
"Where?"
"Chicago."
"At an investor conference."
Daniel continued.
"Grant was still at Halpern Capital then."
"Eleanor was working in luxury brand consulting."
"They attended several of the same private events."
Marcus's mind raced backward.
Grant joined Vance Global two months after Marcus and Eleanor became engaged.
Marcus had hired him personally.
At Eleanor's recommendation.
She had claimed one of her clients knew Grant professionally.
"Did they have a relationship?"
"We could not prove a romantic one."
"Financial?"
Daniel hesitated.
"There were transfers."
Nathan stepped closer.
"Daniel."
Daniel ignored him now.
"A consulting company connected to Eleanor received payments from an investment vehicle that later became a client of Grant's."
"How much?"
"About four hundred thousand dollars over eighteen months."
Marcus stared at him.
"For what services?"
"The invoices said strategic branding."
"Did the company have employees?"
"No."
"Clients?"
"Not many we could verify."
Marcus felt cold spread through him.
"Why didn't my mother show me this?"
Nathan answered.
"Because before she could verify intent, she became much sicker."
"And because you were already engaged."
"She feared you'd think she was trying to destroy your relationship."
Marcus laughed once, bitterly.
"So she waited for my relationship to destroy itself."
Nobody answered.
The library door opened.
Eleanor stood there.
Marcus did not know how long she had been listening.
Her face revealed nothing.
"Daniel," she said.
Daniel rose.
"Eleanor."
"We need to leave."
Marcus moved around the desk.
"You can leave."
He looked at Daniel.
"He can leave."
Then at Eleanor.
"Leo stays."
Her eyes flashed.
"You don't get to decide that."
"Tonight I do."
"Based on what?"
Marcus lifted the custody petition.
"Based on the fact that you planned to take him out of the country without telling me."
"I was protecting myself."
"From what?"
"From this."
Eleanor gestured around the library.
"From your family digging through my life."
"From your lawyers watching me."
"From your mother recording private conversations."
Marcus went still.
Eleanor realized too late what she had said.
Nathan stared at her.
Daniel's face lost color.
Marcus lowered his voice.
"How do you know about the recordings?"
Eleanor did not answer.
The flash drive had been hidden in Abigail's safe until less than two hours ago.
Marcus had told no one outside the security room what was on it.
Not Grant.
Not Daniel.
Certainly not Eleanor.
"How do you know?" Marcus repeated.
Eleanor looked toward Daniel.
Daniel shook his head.
This time the gesture was not strategic.
It was panic.
Marcus understood.
Someone had accessed the safe before him.
Someone had copied Abigail's files.
Maybe months ago.
Maybe years ago.
And Eleanor knew exactly what his mother had left behind.
Marcus took one slow step toward her.
"You weren't surprised by the photograph."
Eleanor said nothing.
"You weren't surprised by the trust clause."
Still nothing.
"You weren't surprised Daniel had worked for my mother."
Marcus stopped several feet away.
"Because you already knew all of it."
Eleanor's expression hardened.
"Knowing your family was investigating me isn't a crime."
"No."
Marcus nodded.
"But it tells me today's plan didn't begin today."
A sudden cry sounded from upstairs.
Leo.
Maria's voice followed.
"Mr. Vance!"
Marcus ran.
He reached the nursery in seconds.
Maria was standing beside the crib holding Leo.
She looked terrified.
"What happened?"
She pointed toward the open window.
The nursery window, which had been locked all afternoon, stood three inches open.
On the floor beneath it lay a small black object.
Owen arrived and bent down.
He did not touch it.
"It's a wireless transmitter."
Marcus stared.
"For what?"
Owen looked at the baby monitor on the dresser.
"Probably to intercept audio."
Maria held Leo tighter.
"Someone has been listening to the nursery?"
Owen nodded grimly.
Marcus looked back toward the hallway where Eleanor, Daniel, Nathan, and Grant had gathered.
For the first time, none of them looked in control.
Because the device created a new possibility.
There might be another player in the house.
May you like
Someone who had been listening to every private conversation around Leo.
Someone Eleanor might not control at all.
