Chapter 8 - THE DAUGHTER JULIAN NEVER KNEWLucy came home from the hospital three days after the crash.
Until that moment, Emma had believed the danger began when Vanessa’s Bentley entered the crosswalk.
Now she understood someone had been watching Lucy long before that afternoon.
Detective Ruiz questioned the photographer for four hours.
His name was Eric Sloan.
Freelance.
Former tabloid photographer.
He eventually admitted he had been paid to follow Emma.
“By whom?” Ruiz asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You accepted money without knowing your employer?”
“Through an agency.”
“What agency?”
“Grayline Investigations.”
Julian’s head snapped up when Ruiz repeated the name later.
Emma noticed.
“You know it?”
Julian’s face had gone pale.
“Yes.”
“Who uses them?”
“My mother did.”
Emma stared.
Seven years earlier.
The investigator who had contacted her employer.
The car that had followed her.
The questions.
“Eleanor.”
Julian immediately called his mother.
She arrived within an hour.
Emma placed one of the photographs on the table.
Eleanor looked at it.
Her expression changed.
“Where did you get this?”
“A man was caught trying to get into Lucy’s hospital room.”
Eleanor gripped the chair.
“What?”
“Did you hire someone to watch us?”
“No.”
Emma stared.
“Grayline Investigations.”
Eleanor stopped breathing.
Julian stepped closer.
“Mother?”
“I used them years ago.”
“When?”
“When Emma disappeared.”
Emma’s face hardened.
“You kept looking for me?”
“For approximately eighteen months.”
“You found me?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
Eleanor looked offended.
“Yes.”
Julian put another photograph down.
“This was taken eight months ago.”
Eleanor stared.
“I didn’t commission this.”
“Who else knew you used Grayline?”
Eleanor thought.
“Your father.”
Julian’s expression changed.
“My father has been dead for five years.”
“I know.”
“Who else?”
Eleanor hesitated.
“Anthony Corvo.”
Emma frowned.
“Why would Anthony know?”
Eleanor looked down.
“Because he recommended the agency.”
The room went silent.
Julian stared.
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
Emma felt ice move through her body.
“You told Anthony Corvo about me?”
“Not directly.”
“What does that mean?”
Eleanor sighed.
“I was upset. I told him Julian was involved with a woman I believed would complicate his future. Anthony recommended a discreet firm.”
Julian’s anger returned.
“You discussed Emma with him?”
“I never gave him details about the pregnancy.”
“Did you give him her name?”
Eleanor hesitated.
“That is not an answer.”
“I may have.”
Emma stood abruptly.
“You may have?”
Eleanor looked ashamed.
“I don’t remember.”
“I remember.”
Emma’s voice trembled.
“I remember changing buses on the way home because I thought someone was following me.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“I remember sleeping with a chair under my apartment doorknob.”
“Emma—”
“I remember being eight months pregnant and terrified that someone would take my baby.”
Julian stepped toward her.
Emma raised a hand.
“No.”
She turned back to Eleanor.
“And now I find out Anthony Corvo knew enough to recommend the people watching me?”
Eleanor looked frightened.
“I never asked him to watch you.”
Julian’s phone rang.
Marcus.
He answered.
“What?”
Marcus spoke quickly.
Julian’s face hardened.
“Send it.”
He ended the call.
“What?” Emma asked.
Julian turned his phone toward them.
Marcus had uncovered records showing Grayline Investigations received regular payments from a Corvo family office.
Not seven years ago.
Now.
Monthly.
For almost two years.
Emma stared at the screen.
“Why would they be paying investigators?”
Julian’s voice was cold.
“We’re going to find out.”
Anthony Corvo arrived voluntarily at police headquarters that evening.
Detective Ruiz placed the photographs in front of him.
His face revealed nothing.
“Do you recognize the agency?”
“Yes.”
“Does your company use it?”
“One of our family offices does.”
“For what?”
“Background checks. Security matters.”
“Did you authorize surveillance of Emma Bennett?”
“No.”
“Did Vanessa?”
“I don’t know.”
Ruiz leaned forward.
“Mr. Corvo, lying to me right now would be a serious mistake.”
Anthony looked at the photographs again.
“I did not authorize surveillance of Ms. Bennett.”
“Then who had access?”
“My chief security officer.”
“Name?”
“David Kern.”
Ruiz wrote it down.
“Anyone else?”
Anthony hesitated.
“My daughter.”
“Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
Ruiz’s eyes sharpened.
“Did Vanessa know Emma before the accident?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
“Did she know Lucy was Julian Ashford’s daughter?”
“No.”
“How can you be certain?”
Anthony looked tired.
“Because if she had known, she would never have spoken to Emma the way she did after the crash.”
Ruiz almost smiled.
“That isn’t as reassuring as you think.”
Across town, Vanessa was destroying documents.
Not because of Emma.
Because of Gavin.
The senator had called six times.
She ignored every call.
Then he arrived at her apartment.
Vanessa opened the door.
“What are you doing here?”
Gavin pushed inside.
“You aren’t answering.”
“My father is suspicious.”
“Your father has bigger problems.”
Vanessa shut the door.
“What did you do?”
Gavin handed her a phone.
An article reported that Ashford investigators had turned financial records over to federal authorities.
North Harbor Development was named.
Vanessa’s face drained.
“How did they find that?”
“Because you hit a billionaire’s secret daughter with a car and then decided to threaten her mother.”
“Don’t blame this on me.”
“I absolutely blame this on you.”
Vanessa stepped closer.
“You were the one who offered to erase the traffic footage.”
“Because your message was on your phone.”
“You were protecting yourself.”
“Yes.”
“At least admit it.”
Gavin lowered his voice.
“Listen to me. Federal investigators are going to start asking questions.”
“Then we say nothing.”
“No.”
Vanessa stared.
Gavin continued.
“We need someone else holding the bag.”
“Who?”
He looked at her.
“Your father.”
Vanessa froze.
“You want to blame my father?”
“He controlled North Harbor.”
“So did you.”
“Not on paper.”
Her face hardened.
“You planned this.”
“I planned to survive.”
Vanessa stepped away.
“You’re disgusting.”
Gavin laughed.
“Coming from you?”
Her expression changed.
He immediately regretted it.
“You think I’m worse than you?” she asked.
“I think you’re unpredictable.”
Vanessa moved toward her desk.
“What are you doing?”
She opened a drawer.
Gavin tensed.
She pulled out a flash drive.
“What’s that?”
Vanessa smiled.
“Insurance.”
He stared at it.
“What’s on it?”
“Every message you sent me about North Harbor.”
Gavin’s face changed.
“Give me that.”
“No.”
He moved toward her.
Vanessa backed away.
“Don’t.”
“Give it to me.”
“Or what?”
Gavin grabbed her wrist.
Vanessa slapped him.
He shoved her against the desk.
“You have no idea what will happen if that gets out.”
Vanessa laughed in his face.
“Now you understand how I feel.”
A knock interrupted them.
Both froze.
“Police!” a voice shouted.
Gavin released her.
Vanessa shoved the drive into her pocket.
The knock came again.
“Ms. Corvo, open the door.”
Vanessa looked at Gavin.
His face was white.
“What do we do?”
She smiled.
“You said you planned to survive.”
Then she opened the door.
Detective Ruiz stood outside with two officers.
“Vanessa Corvo?”
“Yes?”
Ruiz held up a warrant.
“We need to search your residence.”
Vanessa’s confidence almost held.
Almost.
May you like
Then Ruiz added:
“And your phone.”
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