Chapter 3 - Elena’s Unfinished Warning
The police took Vivienne to the hospital for evaluation before questioning her further.
Damian was treated for his injuries and interviewed separately.
Cassandro was also interviewed.
He did not hide the fact that he had struck Damian.
“I saw a woman kick my daughter into a swimming pool.”
The detective studying him said quietly, “I understand why you reacted. That doesn’t mean we ignore what happened afterward.”
Cassandro nodded.
“Then don’t ignore any of it.”
Especially Elena.
By midnight, Audrey was asleep in Cassandro’s bedroom with Marcus stationed outside.
Cassandro sat beside her until her breathing became slow and even.
The little girl had spent seven weeks asking for her mother.
Cassandro had invented softer answers every day.
Mommy is away.
Mommy loves you.
Daddy is looking for her.
He had never once said Mommy left us.
Because something inside him refused to believe it.
Marcus entered quietly.
“We found Mrs. Vale’s tablet.”
Cassandro looked up.
“Where?”
“Her office.”
“It was searched.”
“Inside the false bottom of a document drawer.”
Elena had designed that desk herself.
Cassandro unlocked the tablet using the passcode he remembered from years earlier.
Most of the files were ordinary.
Family photographs.
Recipes.
Company reports.
Then he found a draft email dated the night she disappeared.
It had never been sent.
Cassandro,
If I’m wrong, I’ll apologize tomorrow.
If I’m right, do not trust the invoices marked WBR.
Do not confront anyone until you understand who approved them.
And if anything happens to me—
The message ended there.
Cassandro read it three times.
WBR.
He searched her recent documents.
Nothing.
Then he remembered something from the morning before she vanished.
Elena had been sitting at breakfast with a stack of Vale Resorts invoices.
Audrey had spilled orange juice on one.
Elena laughed, wiped it off, and told Cassandro:
“Your daughter may have just improved the accounting.”
He had barely looked up from his phone.
Now he wanted to go back and shake the man he had been.
Detective Lena Brooks arrived twenty minutes later.
Cassandro showed her the draft.
“You think WBR is a company?”
“I don’t know.”
Brooks studied him.
“Who handled outside vendor approvals?”
“My executive office signs major contracts.”
“That means you?”
“Me. Finance. Sometimes project consultants.”
“Vivienne?”
Cassandro said nothing.
Vivienne had worked with Vale Resorts for almost nine years.
She had negotiated design and redevelopment contracts worth tens of millions.
Brooks noticed his expression.
“What aren’t you saying?”
Cassandro looked toward the sleeping child.
“My wife warned me about Vivienne.”
“When?”
“Three days before she disappeared.”
“And you ignored her?”
The question landed exactly where it should have.
“Yes.”
Marcus appeared at the doorway.
“Mr. Vale?”
He was holding a damp stuffed rabbit.
Audrey’s favorite toy.
“She woke up asking for this.”
Cassandro took it.
Audrey opened her eyes when he returned.
“Bunny heard Mommy.”
Cassandro stopped.
“What did you say?”
May you like
Audrey touched one of the rabbit’s ears.
“Bunny heard Mommy cry.”
