For several seconds after Brynn admitted Mallory had been upstairs, nobody moved.
The refrigerator hummed.
A car passed outside.
Somewhere in the neighborhood, a dog barked once and stopped.
Ordinary sounds.
They felt wrong.
“Why didn't you tell me?” I asked.
Brynn looked miserable.
“She told me not to.”
“Why?”
“She said you'd be angry.”
“I am angry.”
“At me?”
“No.”
She nodded.
“I thought you would think I helped her.”
I sat beside her.
“You didn't.”
“But I did.”
“You didn't know what she was doing.”
“I should have.”
“You're sixteen.”
She wiped her cheeks.
“I thought she was looking for something harmless.”
“What did she ask you?”
“If you kept things in your bedroom.”
“What things?”
“I don't know.”
Colin stood.
“I need to check the office.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because that's where the other records are.”
“Which records?”
“The business records.”
“You said the missing folder could cause trouble.”
“It could.”
“For whom?”
He hesitated.
“For me.”
That answer didn't make me feel better.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing illegal.”
“That's not what I asked.”
He looked away.
“Years ago, before the divorce, I discovered that someone had been moving money through one of my company's accounts.”
I stared at him.
“You never told me.”
“I was investigating it.”
“For how long?”
“Long enough.”
“Was it Mallory?”
“I don't know.”
“But she had access.”
“Yes.”
“And she married you.”
He nodded.
I felt sick.
“How long have you suspected her?”
“Not from the beginning.”
“When?”
“After I found the first photograph.”
I looked at him.
“What photograph?”
“The one of you.”
I froze.
“You found another?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“In my office.”
“When?”
“About a month ago.”
“You knew someone was photographing me a month ago?”
“I didn't know what it meant.”
“You should have told me.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That whoever was behind it would realize I knew.”
His answer was so quiet that I believed him.
That frightened me more.
Brynn stood.
“Dad?”
He looked at her.
“Did Mallory do something bad?”
“I don't know.”
“She gave me the money.”
“I know.”
“She said she was helping.”
“I know.”
Brynn's eyes filled.
“Then why does everyone look scared?”
Neither of us answered.
She went upstairs.
I waited until I heard her bedroom door close.
Then I faced Colin.
“Tell me everything.”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“I can't prove Mallory is involved.”
“But you suspect her.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the photographs started after she began asking questions about my company.”
“What questions?”
“Ownership.”
“Why would she care?”
“I don't know.”
“Who else knew about the business records?”
“My former partner.”
“Name?”
“Ethan.”
“Where is he?”
“Out of state.”
“Could he be behind this?”
“I don't know.”
I stared at him.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I don't know.”
“Then let's start finding out.”
He looked surprised.
“You're coming?”
“Yes.”
“Brynn needs you.”
“She'll stay with me.”
He shook his head.
“No. Not while someone is watching the house.”
That stopped me.
“What are you saying?”
“I'm saying we don't know whether the person behind this is nearby.”
I looked toward the windows.
Every curtain suddenly seemed too thin.
“You think someone could be watching right now?”
“I don't know.”
Again.
That phrase.
But this time it carried weight.
Colin walked to the window and moved the curtain only an inch.
Nothing.
Just the street.
A parked truck.
A mailbox.
A woman walking a dog.
Normal.
He let the curtain fall.
“We go to my office.”
“And then?”
“We check what is missing.”
I grabbed my coat.
Before we left, I went upstairs.
Brynn was sitting on the edge of her bed.
She had changed into an oversized sweatshirt.
Her swollen lips made her look younger than sixteen.
“Where are you going?”
“With your father.”
“Why?”
“To find out what happened.”
She nodded.
“Are you mad at me?”
I sat beside her.
“No.”
“Even about the money?”
“I wish you'd told me.”
“I know.”
“And I wish you understood that you never need to change your face to earn kindness.”
She looked at me.
“I know that now.”
“Do you?”
She hesitated.
“I think so.”
I kissed her forehead.
“We're going to work through this.”
She caught my wrist.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Don't let Dad blame himself.”
I looked at her.
“Why would you say that?”
“Because he tried.”
The words surprised me.
“He wasn't good at it,” she continued. “But he tried.”
I nodded.
“I know.”
When I returned downstairs, Colin was waiting.
He looked at me.
“She's protecting me.”
“She loves you.”
“She shouldn't have to.”
“No.”
We drove separately.
I followed him to his office.
It was a brick building on the edge of downtown, surrounded by small warehouses and auto shops.
The parking lot was nearly empty.
Colin parked near the side entrance.
He unlocked the door.
The alarm didn't sound.
He stopped.
“What?”
“The system should have armed automatically.”
I looked at him.
“Maybe you forgot.”
“I don't forget.”
He checked the keypad.
The last entry had been recorded at 9:17 that morning.
“Were you here?”
“No.”
“Mallory?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
He stared at the screen.
“I don't know.”
Inside, the office smelled faintly of dust and printer toner.
Everything looked normal.
Desks.
Computers.
Filing cabinets.
Nothing appeared disturbed.
Colin walked straight to his private office.
He opened the door.
Then stopped.
“What?”
His eyes moved slowly across the room.
“What is it?”
“My desk.”
“What about it?”
He pointed.
A drawer was open by less than an inch.
I remembered the photograph.
My bedroom drawer.
The same detail.
Someone had a habit of leaving evidence almost visible.
Colin opened it.
Empty.
He checked another.
Nothing.
Then he pulled open the bottom drawer.
There was an envelope inside.
His name was written across it.
He didn't touch it.
“Call the police,” I said.
He nodded.
Before he could reach for his phone, mine vibrated.
Unknown number.
Another photograph.
This time it was Colin's office.
Taken from inside the room.
I looked at him.
“You just received that?”
He nodded.
My stomach turned.
The photograph had been taken moments earlier.
Someone had been here.
Recently.
Maybe still here.
Colin locked the office door.
“Stay behind me.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“We don't know who's here.”
“Exactly.”
I pulled out my phone and called emergency services.
Colin listened.
Then the lights went out.
The room dropped into darkness.
Brynn's face flashed through my mind.
My first thought wasn't about Mallory.
It wasn't about the missing documents.
It was my daughter alone in the house.
Then Colin whispered from across the room.
“Don't move.”
Something scraped against the hallway wall outside.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Then footsteps stopped outside our door.
A shadow appeared beneath it.
I held my breath.
The doorknob moved once.
Twice.
Then stopped.
A folded piece of paper slid underneath.
Colin picked it up.
I turned on my phone flashlight.
He unfolded it.
Three words.
You should have listened.
I stared at him.
“Who said that to you before?”
He didn't answer.
Then I remembered the message.
You should have waited.
And suddenly I understood that the person behind this wasn't improvising.
They had been talking to Colin long before they started talking to me.
Click here to continue reading: PART 4: The Person Behind the Messages Knew Our Private History, and Colin Finally Admitted Why Mallory Had Never Really Been His Wife
My Daughter Came Home Hiding Her Face, and One Sentence About Her Father’s New Wife Changed Everything I Thought I Knew
Part 3 of 20
