Chapter 4
Marco stopped denying involvement first.
Not because he confessed.
Because he became angry at Victor.
“You said the pendant was empty.”
Victor’s head snapped toward him.
The barn went silent.
There.
One sentence.
Enough.
I looked at Marco.
“How would he know?”
Marco realized.
Too late.
Victor stared at his brother with pure contempt.
That was useful.
I stood.
Slowly.
“Who put the pendant with Grace?”
No answer.
I moved closer.
“Marco.”
He looked at Victor.
Wrong instinct.
I repeated his name.
“Victor told me to.”
Emma pulled the babies closer.
My bodyguards shifted.
I raised one hand.
Nobody moved.
“Why?”
Marco swallowed.
“He said it belonged with Claire’s children.”
That sounded almost sentimental.
Which meant it was probably a lie.
“Try again.”
His jaw tightened.
Victor interrupted.
“Daniel, you’re letting a frightened security man invent—”
I looked at him.
Silence.
Marco finally said:
“Victor wanted to know whether Claire had hidden anything inside it.”
My chest went cold.
“How long?”
“Since she disappeared.”
There.
Victor had known the pendant might contain something.
The whole time.
Yet he never mentioned it.
“Why put it with Grace?”
Marco exhaled.
“Because the pendant disappeared from storage three days ago.”
“Who took it?”
“We didn’t know.”
Then Emma spoke.
“Claire did.”
Everyone turned.
She nodded.
“The last time I saw her, she had it.”
That meant Claire had entered Whitmore-controlled territory within the last week.
Past guards.
Past cameras.
Past Victor’s ranch network.
Then somehow the pendant ended up with Grace on the exact morning my daughters vanished.
Claire had not simply warned me.
She had moved a piece onto the board herself.
I looked at Emma.
“What did Claire tell you to do if you saw the pendant again?”
Emma’s face changed.
“She said if it came back to the children, I was supposed to keep them away from the main house.”
Victor’s expression collapsed.
May you like
Not because Emma knew Claire.
Because Claire had planned for this.
