Chapter 7 - BRIANNA DISAPPEARS
Three days later, Brianna vanished.
Not in a dramatic way.
No broken window. No cinematic abduction.
She simply did not answer her phone after 4:17 p.m., and by 6:00, the safe apartment was empty except for her coat.
Alyssa arrived first.
Mara arrived second.
Alyssa’s panic came back so fast she tasted metal.
“She wouldn’t just leave.”
Mara was already moving through the apartment.
“Maybe not. Maybe someone persuaded her.”
On the kitchen counter lay Brianna’s phone.
That was worse.
People who leave voluntarily take the one device that connects them to the world.
Alyssa found a note near the sink.
It was written in Brianna’s uneven hand.
I’m sorry. Naomi said she’d release Daniel’s personal effects if I met her alone. If this goes wrong, the lake house.
Alyssa looked up.
“The lake house.”
Mara was already calling security contacts.
The Herndon lake property sat ninety minutes north. The same place where Daniel had died.
Alyssa did not ask permission.
She drove.
Mara cursed and got in the passenger seat.
By the time they reached the property, night had fallen over black water and pine trees.
The main house glowed dimly.
Two cars outside.
One belonged to Naomi.
The other to Gavin.
Alyssa’s hands tightened on the wheel.
“Call the police,” Mara said.
“On what?”
“Potential coercion, unlawful restraint, anything that gets someone moving.”
Alyssa called.
Then she went inside anyway.
The front room was empty.
Voices came from the back office.
Alyssa moved toward them.
Naomi’s voice.
“Sign it.”
Brianna, crying.
“I can’t.”
Gavin, colder than Alyssa had ever heard him.
“Then stop pretending you’re the victim here.”
Alyssa pushed the door open.
Brianna sat at the desk, pale and shaking, with papers in front of her.
Naomi stood behind her shoulder.
Gavin turned.
For a second, no one spoke.
Then Alyssa said, “Get away from her.”
Naomi recovered first.
“This is none of your business.”
Alyssa laughed.
“You tried to steal my company. You threatened a widow for her dead husband’s assets. At this point everything you do is my business.”
Gavin stepped forward.
“Leave.”
“No.”
His voice sharpened. “Alyssa—”
She raised her phone.
“I’m recording now.”
That changed the room.
Naomi’s face tightened.
Gavin’s eyes flicked to the papers.
Alyssa saw a line at the top of the page.
Transfer of Voting Interest.
Daniel’s trust.
Exactly what they wanted.
Brianna looked at Alyssa with a terror so naked it almost knocked the air out of her.
“Don’t let them make me sign.”
Alyssa crossed the room and stood beside her.
“You’re not signing anything.”
Sirens sounded faintly in the distance.
Gavin heard them too.
And for the first time, Alyssa saw something close to hatred in his face.
May you like
Not because she had stopped loving him.
Because she had stopped being useful.
