Chapter 1 - THE THREE DAYS
My stomach tightened.
“What happens in three days?”
Daniel looked toward the bedroom door.
Then he climbed closer and whispered.
“Daddy said once you leave the house, he and Vanessa have three days before anyone stops them.”
Vanessa.
The name landed harder than girlfriend.
I knew a Vanessa.
Vanessa Cole had been introduced to me seven months earlier as the new financial consultant helping Michael reorganize our estate plan.
She had sat at my kitchen table.
Drunk my coffee.
Complimented my son’s drawings.
And told me how lucky I was to have a husband who cared so much about protecting our family’s future.
My hands became cold.
“What else did Daddy say?”
Daniel swallowed.
“He said after the first transfer, you wouldn’t be able to get it back.”
My heartbeat became painfully loud.
“What transfer?”
“I don’t know.”
He looked ashamed.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
I pulled him against me.
“You did nothing wrong.”
He clung to my shirt.
Then he whispered something that frightened me even more.
“I recorded some of it.”
I slowly pulled back.
“You what?”
Daniel pointed toward the small dinosaur-shaped digital watch on his wrist.
My sister had given it to him for Christmas.
It had a voice-recording feature he mostly used for silly jokes.
“I was under Daddy’s desk.”
“Why?”
“I was looking for my blue Lego man.”
He wiped his nose.
“Then Vanessa came in.”
“So I stayed quiet.”
I stared at the watch.
“Did they see you?”
“No.”
“What did you hear?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I don’t want to say it.”
“That’s okay.”
“You don’t have to.”
He handed me the watch instead.
The recording lasted six minutes and fourteen seconds.
At first, there was only muffled movement.
Then Michael’s voice.
My husband.
The man sleeping one room away.
“She leaves Friday morning.”
Vanessa answered.
“And the bank?”
“Seventy-two hours once the incapacity packet is accepted.”
My breath stopped.
Michael continued.
“By Monday, the Lawson accounts are reorganized.”
Vanessa laughed softly.
“She’ll come home to nothing she can control.”
Then another sentence.
“After that, you file.”
“For divorce?”
“Yes.”
“And custody.”
The room tilted.
Daniel watched my face.
I forced myself not to react.
Then Vanessa asked.
“What about the boy?”
Michael was silent for several seconds.
Finally he said.
“Daniel stays with me.”
My son’s fingers closed around mine.
The recording continued.
Vanessa said.
“And Rachel?”
Michael answered.
“By the time she understands what happened, everyone will already believe she had a breakdown.”
I stopped the recording.
I could not hear more.
Not yet.
Daniel looked at me.
“Mommy?”
I pulled him into my arms.
“I need you to listen carefully.”
He nodded.
“You cannot tell Daddy you spoke to me.”
His eyes widened.
“Are you mad?”
“No.”
“But we have to be smart.”
I looked at the clock.
3:06 a.m.
Michael thought he had until Friday.
May you like
Three days after that to take my money.
He had no idea his seven-year-old son had just started my clock first.
