Chapter 2 - The Letter and the Missing PageLuke’s storm-gray eyes swept over the handwritten pages, his fingers tightening around the paper until the margins creaked.
Luke, our daughter and I are safe. Don't send your men after us.
Yes, I investigated your family. Yes, I lied about my surname when I moved to Houston. But I never lied when I told you I loved you.
Before you condemn me, ask Claire what she removed from that folder.
Luke’s chest heaved. He remembered sitting across from Claire in her Galleria suite seventeen hours earlier while she slid a Manila folder across the glass table. She had smiled that venomous, triumphant smile of hers, pointing to my father’s corporate records and my old Texas nursing license under the name Paige Barrett.
"She married you for revenge, Luke," Claire had purred, leaning close to him, her fingers brushing his wrist. "She thinks your father ruined Thomas Barrett. She’s been gathering evidence on the Delaney Foundation from the day you met her."
Luke had let his rage consume him. He had believed Claire’s words because his pride couldn't stomach the thought of being manipulated by the woman he cherished above all else. He had stayed in that hotel room to spite me, to assert his dominant, unyielding control over a marriage he thought was his to rule.
He looked back at my letter, his heart hammering wildly against his ribs as he read the final page.
And Luke, there's something you need to know about the night my father died.
Your family wasn't the only one involved.
Ask Claire where she was that night, and why she received a three-million-dollar wire transfer from the Delaney Foundation offshore account forty-eight hours after my father’s heart stopped.
Luke froze. The air in the nursery seemed to drop below freezing.
He dropped the letter, frantically pulling out his encrypted satellite phone, dialing his chief intelligence director, Marcus Vance.
"Boss?" Marcus answered on the first ring.
"Marcus," Luke growled, his voice a raw, terrifying rumble that shook through the receiver. "Pull the complete, unredacted financial logs from the Delaney Foundation for October 2011. Specifically, look for a wire transfer to a shell account registered under Claire Barrett."
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"On it, Don Luke," Marcus replied.
"And Marcus," Luke added, his dark eyes fixed on my platinum ring resting in his palm. "Find my wife. If a single hair on her head is touched... I will tear Houston apart with my bare hands."
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