Chapter 5 - The Secret Policy
I was forced to pack a single suitcase and leave my own home under the watchful eyes of the authorities.
They told me I was not allowed within five hundred feet of my daughter until a judge reviewed the case.
I checked into a cheap motel on the edge of town, my mind racing with a million terrifying thoughts.
I was completely cut off from Lily, and she was trapped in a house with two monsters.
I pulled out my laptop, grateful that I was an accountant by trade.
Daniel might have wiped my cloud drive, but he forgot that I still had access to our joint financial records.
I spent hours digging through our tax returns, bank statements, and credit histories.
I noticed a strange recurring transfer of five hundred dollars every month to a company called Apex Holdings.
I ran a deep web search on the company name and found a hidden offshore registry.
Apex Holdings wasn't an investment firm; it was a shell corporation tied to Margaret's maiden name.
I hacked into Daniel's personal email account using an old password he thought I didn't know.
I found a digital folder buried deep in his archives labeled Contingency.
Inside the folder was a scanned copy of a life insurance document.
Daniel had taken out a massive, multi-million dollar life insurance policy on our six-year-old daughter.
And the sole beneficiary wasn't me, nor was it Daniel.
The beneficiary was Margaret.
They weren't just trying to take custody of Lily to hurt me.
They were planning to kill her for the insurance payout.
I slammed the laptop shut, tears streaming down my face as the full horror washed over me.
I grabbed my coat and headed for the door, knowing I had to get back into that house tonight.
Just as my hand touched the doorknob, my cell phone rang with an unknown number.
May you like
I answered it hesitantly.
"If you want to save your daughter, meet me in the alley behind the diner in ten minutes," a distorted voice whispered.
