Thomas Holloway survived the attack with a fractured cheekbone and a concussion.
Jonah Reed was taken into custody by local police while Nina’s team tried to understand why one of their own investigators had crossed a bus terminal and struck a cooperating witness.
Daniel disappeared again.
The cash inside the duffel totaled two hundred thousand dollars.
Exactly the amount Daniel had admitted receiving from Julian.
Nina called me from outside the emergency department where Holloway was being treated.
“Somebody wanted that money found.”
“Daniel.”
“Likely.”
“To prove what?”
“Maybe that he’s returning it. Maybe that he’s tying himself to Julian on his own terms.”
“What about Jonah?”
“He’s talking.”
“And?”
“He says he attacked Holloway because Holloway lied about his daughter being threatened.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It gets worse.”
“Of course.”
Nina lowered her voice.
“Jonah claims Holloway wasn’t forced to help Julian initially.”
Clara looked at me.
“What does he mean initially?”
“He says Holloway helped build the vendor structure.”
My stomach tightened.
“Then switched sides?”
“Possibly.”
“Evidence?”
“Jonah says he had some.”
“Had?”
“He claims Holloway took it.”
“That sounds convenient.”
“Yes.”
“Why would Jonah care?”
“Because Jonah’s brother lost a pension in a company Mercer acquired six years ago.”
I stared at the phone.
“What?”
“He never disclosed the connection.”
“Then why was he on your team?”
“Because our background search did not catch a surname change in the family.”
Clara asked, “Is he working for Julian?”
Nina heard her.
“He denies it.”
“Do you believe him?”
“No.”
“Do you believe Holloway?”
“No.”
“Daniel?”
“No.”
Clara looked at me.
“She really doesn’t trust anyone.”
“I told you I liked her.”
Nina ignored us.
“I am removing Jonah from every aspect of the investigation. We will verify everything independently.”
“What about the note?”
“Holloway is conscious. I’m waiting to speak with him.”
“Ask him about the key.”
“I intend to.”
The call ended.
For nearly an hour, nothing happened.
That was worse than bad news.
Bad news gave you somewhere to direct fear.
Silence let it multiply.
I spent the time with Leo.
Clara was too exhausted to come again, so I sat beside the incubator and watched his chest move.
I kept thinking about systems.
Companies were systems.
Marriages were systems too, though I had never treated mine that way.
Not mechanical.
Interdependent.
Small failures spreading invisibly.
One person stopped speaking because they felt unheard.
The other stopped asking because silence seemed like an answer.
Someone else learned where the gaps were.
Then used them.
Leo moved his hand.
I placed my finger against his palm.
“You picked a complicated family.”
His fingers curled faintly.
I smiled despite myself.
“Sorry about that.”
When I returned to Clara’s room, she was reading old messages on her phone.
“Looking for something?”
“Everything.”
“That sounds manageable.”
She ignored me.
“I’m checking who knew I was at Maya’s.”
“And?”
“A lot of people eventually.”
“Who knew immediately?”
“Maya. You, maybe.”
“Not the address.”
“Right.”
She scrolled.
“Rebecca knew later through divorce documents.”
“She wasn’t involved then.”
“Julian.”
“Yes.”
“My old friend Elise.”
I frowned.
“Elise Carter?”
“Yes.”
“You haven’t mentioned her in years.”
“We stopped talking.”
“When?”
Clara’s thumb stopped.
“After the divorce.”
“Why?”
“She kept defending you.”
“That seems unusual considering what you thought I’d done.”
“I thought so too.”
“What did she say?”
“That there had to be another explanation.”
My attention sharpened.
“Did she know Julian?”
“Everyone around us knew Julian.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Clara looked up.
“They worked together briefly.”
“Where?”
“Mercer.”
“What?”
“She consulted on executive wellness and benefits during the insurance redesign.”
I stared at her.
The blue medical folder.
Company insurance.
Pregnancy suspicion.
“How long?”
“Maybe six months.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“Did she have access to benefits data?”
Clara frowned.
“Possibly.”
“Would Julian?”
“Not directly.”
“But Elise could.”
Her expression changed.
“No.”
“I’m asking.”
“Elise was my friend.”
“So was Julian mine.”
That silenced her.
I immediately regretted the bluntness.
But not the question.
“Did she know we were trying for a baby?”
Clara looked away.
“Yes.”
I felt something cold settle in my stomach.
“You told her.”
“She was my closest friend.”
“Did you tell anyone else?”
“Maya.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes.”
I sat.
“Then Daniel saying Julian knew we were trying has only a few possible explanations.”
“Insurance data.”
“Or Elise.”
Clara shook her head.
“She wouldn’t.”
“You said that about Julian once.”
“I never trusted Julian the way you did.”
“Fine. I did.”
She looked at me.
“And I trusted Elise.”
We understood each other then.
Trust was no longer evidence.
My phone rang.
Nina.
“Holloway is talking.”
“Put him on.”
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because I want you to hear this without reacting at him.”
“That sounds promising.”
“It isn’t.”
I waited.
Nina continued.
“The key was added by someone Holloway knew.”
“Who?”
“He says a woman contacted him after he mailed the warning to Maya.”
Clara’s face tightened.
“What woman?”
“He knew her through Mercer benefits administration.”
I looked at Clara.
“Elise?”
Nina paused.
“Yes.”
Clara’s face went white.
“No.”
“Holloway says Elise Carter told him his warning never reached you.”
“How would she know?”
“She said she had been checking on Clara after the separation.”
Clara covered her mouth.
Nina continued carefully.
“Holloway says Elise asked for a way to connect the warning to physical records. He told her about Room 417.”
“The old office.”
“Yes.”
“The key?”
“He says she later told him she’d found something important and hidden a key with the letter.”
“Hidden where?”
“In the envelope.”
“But Maya never received it.”
“Holloway believes Elise retrieved the envelope after delivery and placed it in the cabinet.”
Clara shook her head repeatedly.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“I agree.”
She looked at the phone.
“Why would Elise break into Maya’s house?”
“Holloway did not say she did.”
“Then how did she get inside?”
Nina paused.
“Did Elise ever have access to Maya’s home?”
Clara looked sick.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“She stayed with us for a weekend after I moved there.”
I stared at her.
“After the separation?”
“Yes.”
“You never mentioned that.”
“Because it didn’t matter.”
“It matters now.”
Her voice rose.
“I didn’t know someone was building a map of every person who entered the house.”
I stopped.
She was right.
Nina said, “Clara, I need you to think carefully. During that weekend, did Elise ever handle your mail?”
Clara closed her eyes.
“She brought it in once.”
“Anything from Holloway?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she go through the downstairs cabinet?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she know about the Southshore records?”
Clara hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
“You told her,” I said.
Clara nodded slowly.
“Not everything.”
“How much?”
“That I thought money was being moved strangely and that Julian had threatened me.”
Nina asked, “What was Elise’s response?”
“She told me to stop.”
The room went still.
“Why?”
“She said I was pregnant, alone, and exhausted. She said I should focus on the baby instead of Mercer.”
I felt anger rise.
“What else?”
“She said Liam had made his choice.”
My jaw clenched.
“Did she know you were trying to contact me?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I told her.”
“Did she ever offer to help?”
“No.”
Clara’s eyes filled with something that looked less like sadness than humiliation.
“She told me I needed to accept that silence was an answer.”
I stood.
“That exact phrase?”
“Yes.”
It mirrored what Julian had engineered.
Maybe because it was common advice.
Maybe because it had come from the same source.
“Where is Elise now?”
Nina asked.
Clara looked at her phone.
“New York, I think.”
“Last contact?”
“Four months ago.”
“What happened?”
“I stopped answering.”
“Why?”
“She kept asking whether I still had the Southshore copies.”
Every muscle in my body tightened.
Nina’s tone changed.
“How often?”
“Three or four times.”
“Did that seem strange?”
“Yes.”
“But?”
“I thought she was worried.”
We all understood how often that excuse had been used.
Julian had claimed protection.
Elise had claimed concern.
Clara had received control from both and mistaken it for care.
Nina said, “Do not contact Elise.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to know what she does when she thinks we haven’t found her.”
Clara looked devastated.
“Is she working with Julian?”
“We don’t know.”
“Holloway thinks so?”
“He says he distrusted her after one conversation.”
“What conversation?”
“He told her the vendor structures implicated Julian. Elise asked whether Liam could be implicated too.”
I felt my stomach drop.
“Why would she ask that?”
“Holloway didn’t know.”
Clara looked at me.
Neither did I.
“Anything else?” I asked.
“Yes.”
Nina hesitated.
“Holloway says Elise showed him a photograph.”
“What photograph?”
“You and Clara.”
“Where?”
“Outside your home.”
“The same one in the warning envelope?”
“No.”
Clara whispered, “Then there were more.”
“Apparently.”
“Taken by the investigator Daniel mentioned?”
“Likely.”
“What did it show?”
Nina paused.
“You arguing.”
Clara looked away.
I remembered dozens of possible evenings.
“What was significant about it?”
“Elise asked Holloway whether you often fought about children.”
I went cold.
Clara’s eyes widened.
“What?”
“She asked if he knew whether pregnancy would make Liam harder to influence.”
The sentence sat in the room like a physical object.
Elise knew.
Not only that we were trying.
She knew someone was thinking strategically about what a child would do to me.
“Did Holloway ask why?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She said Julian was worried Clara would use pregnancy to pull Liam away from Southshore.”
Clara made a sound of disbelief.
I felt anger so sharp I had to lower my voice.
“Julian said that?”
“Holloway says Elise attributed it to him.”
“Do you believe Holloway?”
“Not automatically.”
“But.”
“But the detail matches other evidence.”
I turned toward the window.
“Find Elise.”
“My team already is.”
“How long?”
“She landed in Chicago this morning.”
I turned back.
“What?”
“Flight records show she arrived at O’Hare at 8:14.”
“Today?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“No idea.”
“Who met her?”
“We’re checking.”
Clara whispered, “She knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That I had the baby.”
“How?”
“I didn’t tell her.”
The implication became immediate.
Someone had.
Julian.
Hospital records.
Or whoever was still feeding information.
Nina continued.
“Elise rented a car.”
“Where is she now?”
“Unknown.”
“Phone?”
“Off.”
“Credit card?”
“No activity after the rental.”
“Could she be going to Daniel?”
“Possible.”
“Holloway?”
“Possible.”
“Maya?”
Nina went quiet.
My chest tightened.
“Call local police.”
“I already did.”
I called Maya directly.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Clara sat upright.
“Maya always answers.”
“Maybe she’s with police.”
“Call again.”
I did.
Voicemail.
Then a text arrived from Maya’s phone.
Can’t talk. Police asked me to come identify property.
I showed Clara.
She relaxed slightly.
I did not.
“What property?”
I typed.
No answer.
I called Officer Mills, who was not involved in Maya’s case but had contacts locally.
He checked.
No officer had requested Maya to identify property.
My blood went cold.
I called Maya again.
This time someone answered.
No one spoke.
“Maya?”
Breathing.
Then a woman’s voice.
Familiar enough that Clara recognized it before I did.
“Liam.”
Clara whispered, “Elise.”
The woman on the phone sighed.
“I was hoping Clara wouldn’t be in the room.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“Where is Maya?”
“She’s fine.”
“I want to hear her.”
“You will.”
“Now.”
Elise’s tone remained calm.
“You’re still exactly as impatient as I remember.”
“Where is she?”
“She’s with me.”
“Why?”
“Because all of you are getting very close to something you don’t understand.”
Clara stood despite the pain.
“Put my sister on the phone.”
Elise was silent for a second.
Then her voice softened.
“Clara.”
“You lied to me.”
“That is not the important part.”
“It is to me.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
Clara went still.
“What?”
Elise continued.
“You think Julian is the center of this.”
“Isn’t he?”
“No.”
I felt something shift.
“Then who is?”
Elise laughed once, bitterly.
“That is why I took Maya.”
Clara’s face hardened.
“You didn’t take her to protect me.”
“No.”
“What do you want?”
“The blue folder.”
I looked at Clara.
“Why?”
Elise’s voice changed.
“Because what’s inside it can destroy more than Julian.”
I thought of Daniel’s message.
Julian found out she might be pregnant before she did.
The medical records.
The fertility tests.
The private investigator.
“What’s in that folder?” I asked.
Elise answered quietly.
“Proof that your son was never the first pregnancy Julian knew about.”
Clara stopped breathing.
I looked at her.
She stared at the phone.
“What did you say?”
Elise did not repeat herself.
Instead she said, “Ask Clara what happened three years ago.”
The line went dead.
I looked at Clara.
Her face had emptied of all expression.
“Clara?”
She sat down slowly.
I knew then, before she said anything, that there had been something she never told me.
“Three years ago,” she whispered, “I was pregnant.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 11: Clara’s Hidden Pregnancy Explained Years of Silence Between Us, but Elise’s Version of What Happened Made the Truth Far More Dangerous
The Call That Reached Me Minutes Before I Signed the Biggest Deal of My Career
Part 10 of 35
