Chapter 2 - Emma Had Put It There
Nathan did not open the document in front of Emma.
He took both black bags himself and brought his daughter inside through the side entrance, keeping her away from Victoria.
Victoria tried to follow.
Nathan turned.
“Not now.”
“Nathan—”
“Not now.”
Something in his voice stopped her.
Emma’s bedroom had been stripped almost completely.
Not professionally packed.
Emptied.
Books.
Clothes.
Stuffed animals.
School shoes.
Everything shoved into black landscaping bags.
Nathan found empty hangers swinging inside the closet.
He turned toward Emma.
“Did Victoria pack these?”
Emma nodded.
“Did she hurt you?”
Emma touched the scratches on her cheek.
“She grabbed my bag.”
“What bag?”
“My backpack.”
Emma had apparently tried to stop Victoria from emptying her drawers.
They struggled over the backpack.
Emma stumbled against a hedge outside while carrying her belongings.
That explained the scratches.
Victoria had not struck her.
Still unacceptable.
Nathan checked Emma carefully.
No other injury.
Then:
“What happened before she told you to leave?”
Emma looked toward the hallway.
“Is she coming?”
“No.”
Nathan sat beside her.
“What happened?”
Emma swallowed.
“I found something.”
Nathan felt his pulse change.
“What?”
“In her room.”
“What were you doing in Victoria’s room?”
“I wasn’t.”
Emma explained.
Victoria had left a blue folder on the upstairs hall table.
Emma recognized Nathan’s name written on a luggage tag attached to a black travel bag beside it.
She thought the bag was his.
It was the same one now sitting in his SUV.
Emma picked it up because Nathan had told her they might drive into San Francisco after he returned from the winery office.
She thought he had forgotten it.
Victoria caught her carrying:
it.
“She yelled at me.”
“Why?”
“She said I was snooping.”
“Were you?”
Emma looked ashamed.
“After she yelled, yes.”
Nathan almost smiled despite himself.
Honest.
Victoria took the bag.
Later, Emma saw it again near the garage.
Partly open.
A blue-and-white document inside had Victoria’s photograph on it.
Emma recognized:
a passport.
Victoria was upstairs on the phone.
Emma took the passport.
“Why?”
“She said you weren’t supposed to know.”
Nathan went still.
“You heard her say that?”
“She was talking to someone.”
“What exactly?”
Emma concentrated.
“She said, ‘Nathan thinks I’m staying through harvest. He doesn’t know I moved the date.’”
Nathan’s stomach tightened.
Then Emma said:
“I thought you should know.”
So she slipped the passport into Nathan’s black travel bag.
Then pushed the bag into the SUV because the rear door had been unlocked while estate staff unloaded wine cases earlier.
Victoria discovered the passport missing.
She confronted Emma.
Emma admitted taking:
it.
Then everything escalated.
Victoria told her:
“You’ve ruined enough.”
Ordered her upstairs.
Made her pack.
When Emma refused, Victoria began emptying drawers herself.
Nathan listened without interrupting.
Finally:
“Did she tell you why she wanted you gone?”
Emma nodded.
“She said after today there wasn’t going to be room for me here anymore.”
Nathan stared.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
Neither did Nathan.
Yet.
Then he went back to the SUV.
Opened the bag fully.
The passport was Victoria’s.
But it was not alone.
Beneath it was a printed itinerary.
One-way.
For the following morning.
May you like
And Victoria was not the only passenger listed.
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