Chapter 6 - Daniel Was Not Where Robert Expected Him To Be
Daniel returned from San Francisco that evening.
He found Robert sitting in the estate library with Noah asleep on the sofa beside him.
Vanessa was gone.
Robert’s aides had escorted her to a hotel after Daniel’s attorney advised temporary separation from the child while the incident was documented.
Daniel entered furious.
“What did you do?”
Robert stood slowly.
“What did I do?”
“You hit my wife.”
“I did.”
Daniel blinked.
Robert did not pretend the slap was self-defense.
By the time he struck Vanessa, Noah was already behind him and no longer in immediate danger.
“I should not have hit her,” Robert said. “I lost my temper.”
Daniel looked thrown by the admission.
Then Robert continued.
“But if that’s the part of today you want to start with, we have a much bigger problem.”
He placed the filthy rag on the table.
Daniel stared at it.
“Your wife had my grandson on his knees washing her car while she called his dead mother trash.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“She said he damaged the paint.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Robert heard it.
Daniel heard himself.
Silence.
Then Robert placed copies of Elena’s photographs beside the rag.
Daniel saw Vanessa’s name.
The old transfers.
The messages.
And finally the line:
She suspects us.
He sat down.
Robert watched his face carefully.
There was shock there.
But not complete surprise.
That was when Robert realized Daniel had been hiding more than he admitted.
“Tell me what Laura knew,” Robert said.
Daniel looked at Noah sleeping across the room.
Then down at the papers.
And for the first time in three years, he said:
May you like
“She knew about Vanessa.”
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