I didn’t ask Lily another question.

Not while Sarah was ten feet away.

I kissed my daughter’s forehead and stood.

—Daddy has to catch his flight.

Lily’s eyes filled with fear.

I squeezed her hand.

—Remember our secret handshake?

She nodded.

I completed it slowly.

It had always meant the same thing between us.

I promise.

Then I walked into the kitchen.

Sarah was beside the counter, holding Lily’s juice.

She smiled.

—You’re going to miss your flight.

—Probably.

I kissed her cheek and walked out.

The taxi took me three blocks.

Then I told the driver to stop.

I canceled Chicago.

Called my attorney.

Then I called Evelyn, Lily’s maternal grandmother.

Twenty minutes later, she picked me up.

—What’s happened?

—Lily told me Sarah has been putting something in her drinks.

Evelyn’s face changed.

I added:

—And she mentioned Hannah’s beach house.

Evelyn went completely still.

—Marcus… Sarah knows about that house?

—Apparently.

—She shouldn’t.

I stared at her.

—Why?

Evelyn hesitated.

—Because the house doesn’t belong to you.

A cold feeling moved through me.

—Then who owns it?

—Lily.

Hannah had placed the property into a trust before she died.

I had known there was a trust.

I hadn’t known the beach house was part of it.

And according to Evelyn, when Lily turned eighteen, she would receive full control.

—What’s it worth?

Evelyn looked away.

—The land alone was appraised last year at nearly six million dollars.

Suddenly Julian didn’t sound like a random visitor anymore.

I returned home after Sarah left with Lily for an afternoon activity.

Evelyn collected Lily instead.

I went straight to my office.

Months earlier, after several burglaries in our neighborhood, I’d installed security cameras.

Sarah knew about them.

What she didn’t know was that the system created an encrypted backup whenever someone manually deleted footage.

I opened the archive.

Most days were ordinary.

Then I searched dates from my previous business trips.

There.

Sarah entering my office.

Julian beside her.

I couldn’t hear everything, but one sentence was clear.

—Once Marcus believes Lily is unstable, getting him to agree will be easy.

My hands tightened.

Another recording showed Sarah placing a small bottle beside Lily’s cup.

I stopped watching.

I saved everything and sent copies to my attorney so professionals could handle it properly.

Then I found the footage that changed the entire situation.

Julian was alone in my office.

He opened my filing cabinet.

Sarah entered seconds later.

—Why are you looking there?

—Because Vance still hasn’t signed the authorization.

—He will.

—And if he doesn’t?

Sarah lowered her voice.

—Then we use the videos.

Julian laughed.

—You’re thinking too small.

He pulled out a document.

I recognized my signature.

Except I had never signed it.

I enlarged the image.

It was a proposed amendment to Hannah’s trust.

My name appeared as approving guardian.

Sarah’s name appeared beneath mine.

Successor trustee.

I felt sick.

They weren’t simply trying to make Lily look difficult.

They were building a record they hoped could be used to convince me that my own daughter needed to be placed somewhere else while Sarah gained influence over her assets.

But then Julian said something stranger.

—The beach property isn’t the real prize anyway.

Sarah immediately looked toward the camera.

The recording ended.

I searched the backup.

A second angle had survived.

Sarah and Julian moved into the hallway.

Their voices were faint.

Then I heard my name.

—What about Marcus?

Sarah asked.

Julian answered:

—His daughter was only the leverage.

I stopped breathing.

—Hannah left him something too. He just doesn’t know it.

Sarah stared at him.

—How much?

Julian smiled.

—Enough that you shouldn’t divorce him until we have his signature.

My phone rang.

Evelyn.

I answered immediately.

—Marcus, I found something in Hannah’s old files.

—What?

Her voice trembled.

—A letter addressed to you. She told me to give it to you only if anyone ever asked questions about Lily’s trust.

I looked back at the frozen image of Julian.

—What does it say?

There was a pause.

Then Evelyn read the first line.

“Marcus, if you’re reading this, someone has finally discovered what my father left behind.”

I closed my eyes.

Hannah’s father had supposedly died bankrupt.

Then Evelyn whispered:

—Marcus… there’s another name in the letter.

—Whose?

—Julian’s.

My eyes opened.

And suddenly I understood why a stranger had been entering my house whenever I traveled.

Julian hadn’t found Sarah by accident.

He had been connected to my first wife’s family long before Sarah ever met me.