Chapter 3 - THE FIRST LIE
Marcus looked from Daniel to Detective Ellis.
“I tracked the ambulance.”
“That ambulance did not belong to our company,” Daniel said.
Marcus removed his jacket.
“I called emergency dispatch.”
“Why?”
“Because you told me the children were hurt.”
“I told you to secure Lake Briar.”
Marcus lowered his voice.
“I wanted to make sure they were alive.”
Daniel studied him.
Marcus had always been disciplined.
He rarely showed emotion.
Now sweat glistened along his forehead.
Detective Ellis stepped between them.
“Mr. Reed, I need to ask whether you installed or authorized a remote-access transmitter in the Brooks residence.”
Marcus frowned.
“What transmitter?”
“One that allowed someone to erase security footage remotely.”
Marcus looked genuinely surprised.
Daniel could not decide whether that made him feel better or worse.
“No outside device should have been connected to that system,” Marcus said.
“Who had administrator access?” Detective Ellis asked.
“Me.”
“Anyone else?”
“Mr. Brooks.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I never used it.”
Marcus hesitated.
“And Mrs. Brooks.”
Daniel stared at him.
“You gave Serena administrator access?”
“She said you approved it.”
“I never did.”
“She showed me an email.”
“What email?”
Marcus pulled out his phone.
After several searches, he displayed a message sent six months earlier from Daniel’s executive account.
Approve full residential-security permissions for Serena.
D.B.
Daniel read the message carefully.
“I didn’t write this.”
Marcus’s expression tightened.
“It came from your company address.”
“Then someone accessed my account.”
Detective Ellis photographed the screen.
“When did Mrs. Brooks first request access?”
“About eight months ago.”
“Did she ask for anything unusual?”
Marcus looked at Daniel.
“She wanted internal cameras disabled in certain areas.”
“Which areas?”
“The children’s bedrooms, the upstairs hallway, and the laundry wing.”
Daniel turned away.
He could not let the children see what the answer did to him.
“You didn’t question it?”
“She said it was for privacy.”
“She was hiding what she was doing.”
Marcus’s face hardened.
“I did not know.”
Daniel believed part of that statement.
He did not yet know which part.
The following morning, Serena was released pending further investigation.
Daniel learned about it from a news alert.
WIFE OF BILLIONAIRE EXECUTIVE ALLEGES DOMESTIC ATTACK.
A photograph of Serena appeared beneath the headline.
She wore sunglasses and a white coat.
Her attorney, Victor Hale, walked beside her.
Victor was one of the most aggressive family-law attorneys in the state.
He specialized in destroying reputations before cases reached court.
The article quoted an anonymous source claiming Daniel had suffered from rage episodes since Rachel’s death.
It also suggested the children’s injuries might have occurred while Daniel was caring for them.
Daniel read the paragraph twice.
Then he stopped.
The purpose was not to tell the truth.
The purpose was to place doubt beside it.
Ava and Noah slept in the guest room at Lake Briar.
They refused to sleep apart.
Daniel sat outside their door through the night.
At six in the morning, Detective Ellis arrived with a warrant for Serena’s electronic records and permission to search the red room beneath the stairs.
Daniel left the children with Melissa Grant and accompanied police back to the mansion.
The house looked unchanged.
Sunlight crossed the marble foyer.
A vase of white lilies stood on the entry table.
Nothing in the room acknowledged what had happened.
The red door was locked.
Serena’s keys did not include a match.
A forensic technician drilled through the lock.
The room beyond was not a utility space.
It was an office.
A narrow desk faced three computer monitors.
Shelves contained copies of Daniel’s corporate files, psychological evaluations, insurance documents, and custody forms.
Photographs of Ava and Noah covered one wall.
Some had been taken through windows.
Others showed the children at school or playing in the backyard.
Daniel stepped closer.
In several photographs, Serena had marked circles around bruises.
“She documented them,” he said.
Detective Ellis nodded grimly.
“Or planned how to explain them.”
A filing cabinet contained drafts of affidavits.
One document claimed Daniel had become violent after drinking.
Another accused him of threatening to disappear with the children.
A third requested emergency guardianship for Serena if Daniel became medically incapacitated.
Daniel continued reading until he found his own signature.
It appeared at the bottom of a power-of-attorney document.
“That isn’t mine.”
The forensic technician examined it.
“It’s a high-quality reproduction.”
A laptop on the desk required a password.
Noah’s rule sheet had mentioned not opening the door.
That meant Serena believed the children might find something important inside.
Detective Ellis searched the desk drawers.
She found prescriptions issued under Daniel’s name.
Sedatives.
Anti-anxiety medication.
Medication used to treat psychotic episodes.
“I’ve never taken these.”
“The labels say otherwise.”
“The doctor listed here is Stephen Mercer.”
Daniel knew the name.
Dr. Mercer had treated Serena for insomnia shortly after their wedding.
She told Daniel the appointments ended years earlier.
A sound came from behind the wall.
The forensic team removed a wooden panel.
A second space lay beyond it.
Inside stood a metal safe and a compact server rack.
The server was still running.
The technician connected a monitor.
Hundreds of video files appeared.
Daniel stepped forward.
The dates covered almost two years.
One file showed him entering a hotel.
Another showed him arguing with a contractor.
Another captured him drinking at a charity event.
The clips had been edited.
Moments before and after each recording were missing.
It was a library of fragments designed to make him appear unstable.
Then Detective Ellis opened a folder labeled CHILD INCIDENTS.
The first video showed Ava spilling juice at the breakfast table.
Serena grabbed her arm and dragged her out of view.
The second showed Noah crying in the hallway.
Serena slapped the wall beside his face and ordered him to smile before Daniel returned.
The third showed both children sitting in the dark laundry room.
The footage had no sound.
Daniel watched Ava place her arms around Noah to keep him warm.
The timestamp showed they remained there for three hours.
Daniel reached toward the screen.
Detective Ellis stopped him.
“You don’t need to watch all of it.”
“Yes, I do.”
“No.”
Her tone was firm.
“You need to remain useful to your children.”
Daniel stepped back.
The technician opened another directory.
FINANCIAL TRANSFERS.
Dozens of payments had been routed from Brooks Meridian accounts to a company called Vantage Advisory Group.
The initials were V.A.G., but Daniel’s eyes fixed on the name beneath the registration.
Managing Partner: Julian Voss.
The total exceeded forty-eight million dollars.
Daniel looked toward Detective Ellis.
“This was never about disciplining the children.”
“No.”
“She was building a case to remove me.”
“And someone inside your company was financing it.”
The technician opened the most recent document.
It was an unsigned press release scheduled for distribution in three days.
DANIEL BROOKS RESIGNS FOLLOWING MENTAL-HEALTH CRISIS.
Julian Voss would become interim chief executive.
Serena would receive temporary control of Daniel’s voting shares under the forged power of attorney.
Daniel understood the plan at last.
They had not expected him to come home early.
They had expected him to disappear quietly.
His phone rang.
The caller ID displayed Brooks Meridian.
Julian spoke before Daniel could answer.
“The board has called an emergency meeting.”
Daniel looked at the evidence surrounding him.
“When?”
“In one hour.”
“Why?”
Julian’s voice became smooth.
“To discuss whether you are still fit to run the company.”
Daniel stared at the video of his children locked in darkness.
Then he heard a woman’s voice in the background of Julian’s call.
Soft.
May you like
Familiar.
Serena said, “Tell him he should have stayed at the hospital:”
