Chapter 13 - SEVENTY-TWO HOURS
Mason claimed he had not intended to take Sophie.
He said Chloe asked him to “check whether Elena had changed schools.”
No one believed him.
Then investigators searched his messages.
Chloe had written:
We need to know the new routine before Monday.
Monday.
Seventy-two hours away.
“What happens Monday?” I asked.
No one knew.
At least not initially.
Then Marcus found airline reservations.
Three tickets.
Mexico City to Panama City.
Monday morning.
Passengers:
Ethan Mercer.
Patricia Mercer.
Sophie Mercer.
My daughter had a ticket.
I did not.
My hands began shaking.
Rebecca took the phone from me before I dropped it.
“They were going to leave the country.”
“Can they?”
“Not legally without the required consent.”
“They forged my signature before.”
She went silent.
We immediately alerted the court and border authorities.
Ethan claimed the reservation was old.
It wasn’t.
Purchased two days earlier.
Patricia claimed it was a family vacation booked automatically.
Sophie’s ticket had been purchased after I filed for divorce.
Chloe claimed she knew nothing.
Mason produced her messages.
Their family alliance finally exploded.
Chloe called Patricia a liar.
Patricia called Chloe stupid.
Ethan accused Mason of inventing everything to avoid charges.
For twenty-four hours, chaos worked in our favor.
Then Ethan disappeared.
His phone went off.
His apartment was empty.
His car remained in the garage.
The court issued an order requiring him to surrender Sophie’s passport if he possessed it.
I checked my documents.
Sophie’s passport was gone.
It had been in the box Patricia tried removing.
Except the recovered inventory showed only her birth certificate.
Not the passport.
I had not noticed.
Because I had been looking at the tablet.
I felt sick.
“We have seventy-two hours,” Rebecca said.
“No.”
I looked at the clock.
“Sixty-one.”
Police searched locations connected to Ethan.
The Acapulco condominium.
Empty.
Northstar’s registered office.
A mailbox.
Patricia’s relatives.
Nothing.
Then Robert called.
“He has a place.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know the address.”
“Robert.”
“He used to talk about a house outside Cuernavaca.”
“Whose?”
“A friend.”
“Name.”
Robert hesitated.
“Adrian Shaw.”
I froze.
I knew that name.
Not from Ethan’s family.
From my company.
Adrian was our former finance director.
He had left eighteen months earlier after disagreements with management.
He knew company systems.
He knew Lauren.
He knew my compensation.
He knew about London before Ethan should have known.
The betrayal suddenly reached deeper.
Adrian had not been a peripheral contact.
He was the architect.
Police located the house.
Empty.
But neighbors had seen Ethan’s car two nights earlier.
Security footage from a nearby toll booth showed him heading south.
With Adrian.
No Sophie.
That was the only good news.
Then Rebecca received an email from Ethan.
Agree to joint custody and withdraw the fraud complaint. I return the passport.
I stared at the screen.
“He’s bargaining with our daughter’s passport.”
“Yes.”
“Can we use this?”
“Yes.”
“Then answer him.”
Rebecca did.
Confirm Sophie’s passport is in your possession.
Ethan replied:
You know it is.
Rebecca looked at me.
“Thank you, Ethan.”
The clock kept moving.
Forty-eight hours.
Thirty-six.
Twenty-four.
The Monday flight remained active.
Then airline security confirmed someone had attempted online check-in.
Ethan.
Patricia.
Sophie.
My daughter was asleep beside me when the notification arrived.
I stared at her for a long time.
Then something strange happened.
I stopped being afraid.
Not because the danger disappeared.
Because Ethan had finally crossed a line no judge, evaluator, attorney, or family member could explain away.
This was no longer a bitter husband fighting for custody.
He was attempting to use our child as leverage in a fraud case.
At 4:18 Sunday morning, police found him.
Not at the airport.
At Adrian’s house.
Sophie’s passport was in his bag.
Along with three forged authorization documents carrying my signature.
And Ethan was arrested.
But Adrian was gone.
So was the laptop containing the financial records investigators believed connected him to the corporate fraud.
I thought Ethan’s arrest would end the danger.
May you like
I was wrong.
Because the next person who betrayed me was someone I never expected.
