Chapter 5 - The Boardroom TrapAt nine the following morning, every senior executive of Bennett Holdings gathered inside the thirty-sixth-floor boardroom.
Lucas discovered it when Aaron sent him a screenshot.
BILLIONAIRE CEO ABANDONS BRIDE AT ALTAR AFTER VIOLENT BACKSTAGE MELTDOWN
Lucas stared at the headline.
Another article claimed Vanessa Sinclair had been “verbally intimidated” after Lucas became enraged over a disagreement involving his daughter.
A gossip account said Vanessa had locked herself in a hotel room after suffering “an emotionally traumatic confrontation.”
Not one mentioned Emma being locked in the bathroom.
Not one mentioned the legal papers hidden inside the wedding dress.
Not one mentioned the marks on Emma’s wrist.
“She moved fast,” Melissa said.
Lucas tossed the tablet onto the table.
“She planned for this.”
“Probably.”
Detective Sarah Coleman arrived shortly afterward.
Lucas expected suspicion.
Instead, she entered his study carrying a notebook and asked one question.
“Where is your daughter?”
“At my mother’s.”
“Good.”
Lucas frowned.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want her hearing this conversation.”
That told him immediately Sarah wasn’t there merely because Vanessa had complained.
The detective sat across from him.
“Ms. Sinclair alleges you grabbed her arm, threatened to destroy her family, and prevented her from leaving a hallway.”
“None of that happened.”
“I know there were witnesses.”
“Aaron Cole. Two hotel employees. My daughter.”
“And security cameras.”
Lucas looked up.
Sarah continued.
“Hawthorne Estate has hallway cameras.”
Lucas’s chest loosened slightly.
“The bathroom?”
“Camera outside. Not inside.”
“Did it record Vanessa locking Emma in?”
Sarah watched him.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
She opened her tablet.
“I saw the footage this morning.”
Lucas stopped breathing.
At 3:41 p.m. the previous afternoon, Vanessa walked down the hallway beside Emma.
The bride was already dressed.
Emma carried her flower basket.
Vanessa opened the bathroom door.
Emma entered.
Vanessa looked in both directions.
Then she pulled the door shut.
Lucas watched her hand turn something near the old exterior latch.
She walked away.
Three minutes later, Emma’s tiny hand appeared beneath the door.
Lucas’s jaw clenched.
The video continued.
Vanessa returned six minutes later.
She crouched beside the door and spoke through it.
No audio.
Then she walked away again.
“What did she say?” Sarah asked.
Lucas swallowed.
“My daughter says Vanessa told her she wouldn’t be part of the family anymore.”
Sarah wrote something down.
Lucas watched the screen.
“Can I have this?”
“It’s evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
“Potential unlawful confinement.”
Lucas looked at her.
Sarah closed the tablet.
“Emma is eight. It was brief. Prosecutors will decide how seriously to treat it. But the footage directly contradicts Ms. Sinclair’s statement that Emma locked herself in.”
Lucas leaned back.
“Then why are you asking me about Vanessa’s complaint?”
“Because I investigate all allegations.”
“Fair.”
Sarah studied him.
“Ms. Sinclair also alleged you stole personal documents from her gown.”
Lucas almost laughed.
“Documents involving my child.”
“She says they belonged to her.”
“They were proposals concerning my daughter’s custody.”
Sarah nodded.
“Your attorney sent copies.”
Melissa spoke.
“We also believe the documents may be connected to an attempted financial conspiracy.”
The detective’s expression changed.
“What kind?”
Melissa explained the trust.
The board shares.
Gregory Pike.
Judith Sinclair.
Sarah stopped writing for nearly a minute.
“Do you have proof Mr. Pike participated?”
“Not yet.”
“Then don’t accuse him publicly.”
“We won’t.”
Sarah stood.
“There is something else.”
Lucas waited.
“Hawthorne security says someone attempted to access their video server around midnight.”
Lucas looked at Melissa.
“Remotely?”
“Using administrator credentials.”
“Did they get in?”
“Not fully.”
“Who had credentials?”
“The estate manager.”
“Only him?”
Sarah shook her head.
“And the security contractor.”
Lucas knew immediately.
“Who owns the contractor?”
Sarah gave him a careful look.
“Pike Strategic Services.”
Lucas felt the room change.
Gregory Pike’s brother operated one of the region’s largest private security companies.
Lucas had never connected it to Hawthorne Estate.
Vanessa had recommended the venue.
Vanessa had insisted on using their preferred security vendor.
Lucas stared at the detective.
“They were trying to erase the hallway footage.”
“That is currently only a possibility.”
But they both knew what it looked like.
Later that afternoon, Lucas picked Emma up from Diane’s house.
She had spent the day baking cookies with her grandmother.
The moment she saw him, she ran outside.
“Daddy!”
Lucas lifted her.
“Hey, bug.”
“Grandma let me make chocolate ones.”
“I heard.”
Diane followed them onto the porch.
Her expression was serious.
“Lucas.”
“What?”
“She told me something.”
Emma suddenly looked nervous.
Lucas crouched.
“What is it?”
Diane answered.
“Vanessa took Emma somewhere two weeks ago without telling you.”
Lucas stared at his daughter.
“Where?”
Emma looked down.
“A doctor.”
Lucas’s heartbeat changed.
“What doctor?”
“I don’t know.”
“What happened there?”
“A lady asked me questions.”
“What questions?”
Emma shrugged.
“Whether I get angry.”
Lucas looked at Diane.
“Whether Daddy scares me.”
His stomach dropped.
“Did Vanessa stay in the room?”
“Sometimes.”
“What else?”
Emma thought carefully.
“The lady asked if I wanted to live somewhere with other kids.”
Lucas felt cold.
“Like a school?”
Emma nodded.
“And Vanessa told her I have nightmares.”
“Do you?”
“Sometimes.”
“That’s okay.”
Emma looked guilty.
“Vanessa told me to say I break things.”
Lucas nearly stopped breathing.
“Do you break things?”
“No.”
“Did you tell the doctor you did?”
Emma’s eyes filled.
“Vanessa said you might not marry her if I embarrassed her.”
Lucas hugged his daughter.
“It’s okay.”
But it wasn’t.
That evening Melissa found the clinic.
Brightwell Child Behavioral Center.
The evaluation had been arranged under Vanessa’s name.
She had identified herself as Emma’s future stepmother and emergency caregiver.
The report described Emma as “potentially oppositional, emotionally dysregulated, and fixated on her deceased biological mother.”
Lucas’s hands shook while reading it.
The report recommended further residential assessment.
“They were building a record,” Melissa said.
“For custody.”
“Yes.”
Lucas turned the page.
At the bottom was the physician’s signature.
Dr. Martin Vale.
The name meant nothing to Lucas.
But Melissa’s expression changed.
“You know him?”
“No.”
She pulled out her phone.
Thirty seconds later she looked up.
“Martin Vale sits on the advisory board of Sinclair Family Foundation.”
Vanessa’s family foundation.
Lucas walked to the window.
Outside, Emma was playing with Diane’s dog.
Laughing.
Running.
Being eight years old.
And for months, adults had quietly been constructing a paper trail portraying her as unstable.
Lucas felt something inside him harden.
His phone rang again.
This time it was Gregory Pike.
Lucas looked at Melissa.
She nodded.
“Answer.”
Lucas put the call on speaker.
“Gregory.”
“Lucas, thank God.”
Gregory sounded concerned.
“I just heard about what happened.”
Lucas said nothing.
“I’m sorry. Truly.”
“You’re sorry?”
“Vanessa obviously made terrible choices.”
Lucas stared at Melissa.
Gregory continued.
“But there are reporters outside headquarters. We need to protect the company.”
“Of course.”
“I think you should take a short leave.”
Lucas almost smiled.
“A leave.”
“Just until things calm down.”
“And who runs Bennett Holdings?”
Another pause.
“I can handle operations.”
There it was.
Exactly according to plan.
Lucas replied calmly.
“That sounds reasonable.”
Melissa’s eyes widened slightly.
Gregory relaxed.
“Good.”
“I’ll come into the office tomorrow morning.”
“No need.”
“I insist.”
Lucas looked through the window at his daughter.
“Gregory?”
“Yes?”
“Make sure the entire executive committee is there.”
“Why?”
May you like
Lucas smiled without warmth.
“Because I have an announcement.”
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