PART 2 — He Hadn’t Told Me Everything
I stared at the photograph for what felt like an eternity.
It showed Lucas standing outside the Palm Springs condo.
But he wasn’t alone.
Melanie was beside him.
And in her arms was a newborn baby.
My heart pounded.
The message had said he hadn’t told me everything.
But the baby wasn’t what frightened me.
It was the man standing behind them.
A man I recognized immediately.
My husband’s father.
He had been dead for nine years.
At least, that’s what Lucas had told me.
My fingers went numb.
I zoomed in on the photograph.
There was no mistake.
It was him.
Standing alive.
And holding an envelope.
I immediately called the unknown number.
It rang once.
Twice.
Then went to voicemail.
I tried again.
Nothing.
A second message appeared.
“Don’t transfer the money yet.”
My eyes widened.
“How does this person know about the money?”
Then another message arrived.
“Lucas isn’t leaving you for Melanie.”
I almost laughed.
“What?”
I typed back.
“Who are you?”
Three dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
Then appeared again.
Finally, the answer came.
“Someone who has been watching him for six months.”
My stomach tightened.
I sat down for the first time since coming home.
Six months.
What had Lucas been doing for six months?
The next message contained a video.
I hesitated before opening it.
Then I pressed play.
The footage showed Lucas entering the Palm Springs condo.
Melanie followed him.
They hugged.
Then something happened that made my blood run cold.
Lucas handed Melanie a thick folder.
She opened it.
Inside were photographs.
Photographs of me.
My house.
My car.
My workplace.
Even pictures taken outside my mother’s home.
I covered my mouth.
Why was he monitoring everyone connected to me?
Then the video showed something else.
Lucas sitting across from a lawyer.
The lawyer placed several documents on the table.
Lucas signed them.
I paused the video.
My eyes went straight to the date.
It was six months earlier.
Six months before Lucas ever told me about Zurich.
I replayed it.
Then I noticed something written across the top of one document.
“Beneficiary Transfer Agreement.”
My heart dropped.
Lucas wasn’t simply trying to steal our money.
He was trying to change who would receive everything if something happened to me.
I immediately opened my personal records.
My life insurance.
My investments.
Our property documents.
Everything.
And then I found it.
A beneficiary change request.
My name had been removed.
Melanie Harper had been added.
But there was something even stranger.
The request had never been approved.
Someone had stopped it.
I searched the records.
There was a signature at the bottom.
Not mine.
Not Lucas’s.
A federal investigator’s.
I stared at the screen.
Why would a federal investigator be involved in my husband’s finances?
My phone rang.
Unknown number again.
This time, I answered.
“Who are you?”
A man’s voice responded.
“Your husband isn’t having an affair.”
I froze.
“What?”
“He wants you to believe that.”
“Then why is he living with Melanie?”
“Because Melanie is helping him.”
“Helping him do what?”
There was a long pause.
Then he said:
“Disappear.”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“Disappear from who?”
“From the people he’s been working for.”
I couldn’t speak.
“What people?”
The man’s voice became quieter.
“The people who murdered his father.”
I looked at the photograph again.
Lucas’s father wasn’t dead.
So who had actually been buried nine years ago?
I suddenly remembered something Lucas had said at his father’s funeral.
He had stood beside me, holding my hand, and whispered:
“Some things are better left buried.”
At the time, I thought he meant grief.
Now I realized he meant a secret.
“Where is Lucas going?” I asked.
“Palm Springs.”
“I know.”
“No,” the man replied.
“You don’t.”
My pulse quickened.
“Then where?”
“Lucas isn’t going to stay in Palm Springs.”
“Where is he going?”
The line went silent.
Then the man said:
“Follow the money.”
The call ended.
I immediately opened the bank account again.
The $720,000 was still there.
But when I refreshed the screen, a new transaction appeared.
$50,000 — Pending Withdrawal.
My heart stopped.
Lucas had somehow accessed the account from the plane.
He hadn’t waited until he reached Palm Springs.
He had already started moving the money.
I grabbed my keys.
But before I could leave, another notification appeared.
This time, it wasn’t from the bank.
It was from the unknown number.
One final photograph.
Lucas was standing inside a small private airport.
Beside him was Melanie.
And behind them was the same man I had believed was dead.
Lucas’s father.
But this time, he wasn’t holding an envelope.
He was holding a passport.
I zoomed in.
My blood froze.
The passport wasn’t his.
It belonged to me.
Someone had been planning to make me disappear.
And suddenly, I understood why Lucas had needed me to believe he was leaving for Zurich.
He didn’t want me to follow him.
He wanted everyone to believe I had no reason to look for him.
I grabbed my coat.
This wasn’t about an affair anymore.
It wasn’t even about the money.
Someone had been planning something far more dangerous.
And for the first time, I realized the person I thought was betraying me…
might actually have been trying to warn me.
Then my phone rang again.
The same unknown number.
I answered.
The man’s first words made my entire body go cold.
“Don’t go to Palm Springs.”
I swallowed.
“Why?”
His voice dropped to a whisper.
“Because Lucas already knows you’re coming.”
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