Chapter 12 - The Driver
His name was Frank Deller.
Former police officer.
Former private investigator.
Current head of risk services for a Bennett family contractor.
He disappeared twelve hours before detectives reached his apartment.
By then, Diane’s lawyers had stopped calling the balcony incident a misunderstanding.
They called it a “fabricated narrative created by financially motivated outsiders.”
Emma watched the statement on television and turned it off.
“She threw our child.”
Michael sat beside her. “She’s trying to exhaust us.”
“She’s trying to make everyone doubt what they saw.”
“That’s what she does.”
Lily crawled across the rug toward a stuffed elephant.
Emma watched her and felt anger settle into something harder.
“She doesn’t get to do it again.”
The next morning, Emma agreed to meet prosecutors.
On the way downstairs, the elevator stopped between floors.
The lights flickered.
Her security officer reached for his radio.
Then the emergency phone rang.
Emma answered.
Diane’s voice said, “You should have left the envelope closed.”
Emma’s blood went cold.
“Where are you?”
“Close enough.”
“You tried to kill my daughter.”
“I tried to prevent a disaster.”
“You’re insane.”
“No, Emma. I’m the only person who understands what happens if Bennett Group collapses. Thousands of jobs. Pension funds. Hospitals. Contractors.”
“You stole from it.”
“I moved money where it could survive.”
The elevator jolted.
Emma grabbed the rail.
Diane continued. “Withdraw the trust claim.”
“No.”
“Tell Michael the DNA test was wrong.”
“No.”
“Then you are choosing chaos.”
Emma’s voice shook, but she forced the words out.
“I’m choosing my daughter.”
The line went dead.
The elevator dropped half a floor.
Emma screamed.
The security officer slammed the emergency stop.
Firefighters opened the doors twenty minutes later.
The building engineer found the brake control had been manually overridden.
Someone had used a contractor access code.
Morales called Michael.
“We traced it.”
“To who?”
“Frank Deller.”
Michael closed his eyes.
Morales continued.
“And Deller’s phone just came back online.”
May you like
“Where?”
“At your mother’s lake house.”
