Chapter 6 - The First Time He Raised His Hand
Emily slipped her phone into the lining of a decorative chair.
Then she grabbed a book from the shelf.
Daniel entered.
“What are you doing?”
“I wanted something to read.”
“In my office?”
“It used to be my father’s office.”
His eyes moved toward the safe.
“Did you touch anything?”
“No.”
Lorraine appeared behind him.
“She’s lying.”
Emily held up the book.
“I came for this.”
Daniel crossed the room and took it from her.
The cover was covered in dust.
“You expect me to believe you suddenly wanted a book you’ve never opened?”
Emily tried to walk past him.
He blocked the doorway.
“Move.”
“Answer me.”
“I already did.”
Daniel grabbed her upper arm.
It was the first time he had held her hard enough to cause pain.
Emily looked down at his fingers.
He immediately released her.
For one moment, shame crossed his face.
Then Lorraine spoke.
“Don’t let her manipulate you with that expression.”
Daniel’s guilt disappeared.
He ordered Emily upstairs.
She refused.
His open hand rose.
It stopped inches from her face.
The threat was clear even without contact.
Emily stared at him.
“Are you going to hit me?”
Daniel lowered his arm.
“Don’t be dramatic.”
That night, Emily retrieved her phone from the chair and sent every photograph to Rachel.
Rachel called immediately.
“You need to leave.”
“If I disappear now, he files the guardianship petition and says I’m unstable.”
“We can fight it.”
“Not before he moves the money.”
Rachel admitted the overseas transfer would be difficult to recover once completed.
They needed proof of coercion, fraud, and Daniel’s direct control.
Rachel suggested installing secure cameras in the house.
Carter Technologies produced smoke detectors with encrypted emergency video systems.
Samuel had designed the original model.
Emily knew how to activate its hidden recording function.
Two days later, while Daniel was at work, a trusted technician replaced three devices.
One went into the bedroom.
A tiny blue light would blink whenever footage uploaded to Rachel’s office.
Emily created one additional safeguard.
If she pressed the side button on her wedding ring three times, Rachel would receive a live feed and emergency alert.
Emily hoped she would never need it.
May you like
Then Samuel requested to see her alone.
👉 Emily’s father had discovered Daniel’s fraud years earlier—and he had one final document Daniel did not know existed.
