Chapter 6 - HIS VERSION OF THE TRUTH
Matthew laughed softly.
“You called your father.”
“Yes.”
“Of course you did.”
His contempt returned instantly.
“You couldn't survive one night without running back to Daddy.”
I almost answered emotionally.
Then Detective Ellis pointed toward the recording device.
I understood.
Let him talk.
“You mean the night you fractured my wrist?”
Silence.
“You fell.”
There it was.
The first lie.
“You struck me twenty times.”
“Stop exaggerating.”
The second lie.
“The police have the cane.”
Another pause.
When Matthew spoke again, his voice lowered.
“Clare, listen to me.”
“I am listening.”
“You were hysterical.”
“I was?”
“You had been drinking.”
I almost smiled.
I had consumed half a glass of wine with dinner at seven.
The hospital had already drawn blood.
He did not know that.
“You were throwing things.”
“The vase?”
“Yes.”
I looked at Detective Ellis.
She wrote something.
“The vase fell when you hit me into the table.”
“That's not what happened.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
He paused too long.
“Come home.”
My skin went cold.
“No.”
“We can fix this.”
“You told me to clean my blood off your floor.”
His breathing changed.
“Don't do this.”
“Do what?”
“Destroy everything.”
For the first time, I heard it clearly.
He was not afraid of losing me.
He was afraid of losing NexusCore.
“The court froze the Cascade transaction.”
Silence.
Absolute silence.
I pictured his face.
The way his left eye twitched whenever something surprised him.
When he finally spoke, the calmness was gone.
“You had no right.”
I felt something inside me settle.
“There you are.”
“What?”
“The real reason you called.”
“Clare—”
“You didn't call to ask whether I'm alive.”
“You called because someone told you the deal was frozen.”
He said nothing.
Detective Ellis's expression hardened.
Then Matthew made another mistake.
“Lauren had nothing to do with that signature.”
Nobody had mentioned Lauren.
I looked at the detective.
She immediately wrote three words.
HE KNOWS DEVICE.
I lowered my voice.
“What signature?”
Matthew realized it.
Too late.
The line went dead.
Detective Ellis saved the recording.
“That was helpful.”
My father stood beside the window.
“He'll run.”
Ellis looked at him.
“Possibly.”
“No.”
My father turned.
“He will.”
“Matthew has always confused retreat with humiliation.”
“He would rather burn a building than be seen walking out of it.”
Detective Ellis's phone buzzed.
She checked the message.
“Interesting timing.”
“What?”
“Officers just located Mr. Hayes's car.”
My pulse quickened.
“Where?”
“JFK.”
My father and I looked at each other.
“Was he there?”
“No.”
“The car was abandoned near Terminal One.”
Arthur frowned.
“A diversion.”
Detective Ellis nodded.
“That's my assumption.”
My phone buzzed again.
This time it was not Matthew.
It was a text from an unknown number.
I opened it.
There were only nine words.
YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HE DID WITH YOUR SHARES.
Beneath the message was a photograph.
A NexusCore capitalization table.
My name appeared in red.
Next to it were three words.
PLEDGED AS COLLATERAL.
I looked at Arthur.
“Can he do that?”
Arthur took the phone.
His face changed.
“No.”
My father stared at the photograph.
“Who sent it?”
I looked at the unknown number.
“I don't know.”
May you like
Then a second message arrived.
ASK BENJAMIN CROSS ABOUT PROJECT LIGHTHOUSE.
