Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN WHO STOLE MY FUTURE
For a long moment, nobody spoke.
The only sound in the hotel office was the distant hum of the air-conditioning system.
I stared at Brooklyn.
"Someone gave Christian my name?"
She nodded.
"That's what he told Frank."
My father moved closer.
"Who gave it to him?"
Brooklyn shook her head.
"I don't know. Christian said the arrangement started before we met."
I had met Christian three years earlier at a charity technology conference in La Jolla.
He had approached me while I was struggling to carry several boxes of donated supplies.
He offered to help.
Later, he brought me coffee.
A week afterward, he invited me to dinner.
I had always considered our meeting a lovely accident.
Now I wondered whether he had known exactly who I was from the beginning.
But that created another question.
If Christian had been told to approach me, why did he still believe I was penniless?
Detective Ortiz noticed my expression.
"Charlotte?"
"Christian doesn't know about my family."
Brooklyn looked confused.
"What family?"
"My father's investments. The trust. None of it."
Brooklyn shook her head.
"He always said your parents were retired office workers."
"They aren't."
She stared at William.
Then she looked at the expensive watch on his wrist, the immaculate suit, and the calm authority with which police officers had been speaking to him.
Her eyes widened.
"Wait."
My father answered quietly.
"Charlotte is the beneficiary of the trust that controls Nexus Tech."
Brooklyn sank into a chair.
For the first time, I saw her truly understand how much Christian had misunderstood.
But I didn't feel triumphant.
There was a missing young man somewhere in San Diego, and a little girl named Iris might also be in danger.
I turned back toward Brooklyn.
"Tell us everything you know."
She looked at Detective Ortiz.
"Am I going to be arrested?"
"That depends on your actions and the evidence," Ortiz replied. "I'm not offering you immunity."
Brooklyn swallowed.
Then she began talking.
She had met Christian eighteen months earlier after joining Nexus Tech as his personal assistant. Their affair began during a business trip to San Francisco.
At first, she believed he would leave me.
Then she became pregnant.
Christian promised marriage, financial security, and a future for their child.
But her brother Evan was suffering from advanced kidney disease. He received regular medical treatment and was being evaluated for a legitimate transplant.
Christian claimed he knew people who could speed things along.
"He said private clinics handled complicated cases," Brooklyn whispered.
"Did you believe him?" I asked.
"At first."
"And later?"
She looked away.
"Later, I knew something was wrong."
I waited.
"He told me you had volunteered to help. Then I saw the documents."
"The documents that forced me to become responsible for eight million dollars?"
Brooklyn didn't answer.
"The documents that gave criminals permission to hurt me?"
Her face tightened.
"Yes."
My mother stood near the window, arms folded tightly across her chest.
"And you went along with it?"
Brooklyn began trembling.
"Christian said Frank would hurt Evan if I refused."
I wanted to feel nothing but anger toward her.
Part of me did.
But another part remembered that fear could make people rationalize choices they would once have considered unthinkable.
That didn't excuse what Brooklyn had done.
It only made the situation more complicated.
"Your brother being sick didn't give you the right to sacrifice me," I said.
She nodded, tears slipping down her cheeks.
"I know."
Before she could say more, Detective Ortiz's phone rang.
She listened briefly.
Then her expression changed.
"We've located Natalie Brooks."
My heart began pounding.
"Where?"
"She's in a meeting room on the second floor. She's asking for you."
My father immediately objected.
"Absolutely not."
Ortiz raised a hand.
"She'll speak with me first."
Twenty minutes later, I watched through an interior window as Natalie sat at a conference table, clutching a paper cup of water.
She wore the pale blue dress we had chosen together for the wedding.
Her hair was pinned back.
Her mascara had smudged beneath her eyes.
I had never seen her look so defeated.
Detective Ortiz had spoken with her privately. Now, with an officer present and Natalie's agreement, I was permitted a brief conversation.
When I entered, Natalie stood so quickly that her chair scraped against the floor.
"Charlotte."
I stopped several feet away.
"Did you sign those documents?"
Her face crumpled.
"Yes."
"Did you give Christian access to my medical information?"
She nodded.
"Yes."
I had imagined screaming at her.
Instead, my voice came out painfully calm.
"Why?"
Natalie covered her mouth.
"I thought I could fix it before anything happened."
"Fix what?"
She lowered her hands.
"It started with money."
I stared at her.
"Money?"
"My husband left me with debts I couldn't pay. Iris needed dental surgery, and I was behind on rent. A man approached me and offered money for patient information."
"Frank?"
She nodded.
"I didn't know what he was doing with it."
"How much?"
Natalie's eyes filled.
"Twenty thousand dollars."
The number struck me like a slap.
For three years, I had helped her whenever she struggled.
I had paid for Iris's summer camp.
I had watched her daughter while she worked double shifts.
I had offered Natalie an interest-free loan when her car broke down.
And she had sold access to my private information for twenty thousand dollars.
"Why didn't you ask me?" I whispered.
Her voice broke.
"Because I was ashamed."
I shook my head.
"You were ashamed to ask me for help, but not ashamed to betray me?"
She began crying harder.
"I know how terrible that sounds."
"It sounds exactly like what you did."
Natalie looked down.
"After I gave them the information, they wanted more. They made me sign documents. They sent photographs of Iris walking home from school."
"When did that begin?"
"Six weeks ago."
My stomach tightened.
The same time my father had started investigating Christian's financial irregularities.
Natalie continued.
"They knew where Iris slept. They knew her teacher's name. They told me if I went to the police, my daughter would disappear."
Detective Ortiz leaned forward.
"Did they physically take Iris?"
Natalie shook her head.
"Not until today."
She took out her phone.
At 7:12 that morning, someone had sent her a photograph.
Iris was sitting inside a vehicle, holding her pink backpack.
Beside her was a man whose face wasn't visible.
The message beneath the photograph read:
Keep the bride calm. Do not contact the police.
I felt sick.
"Why didn't you tell me immediately?" I asked.
Natalie looked at me with unbearable desperation.
"Because they said they'd kill her if you escaped."
For a moment, the room seemed to tilt.
I thought about Iris helping me make Christmas cookies, her small hands covered in flour.
I remembered her announcing that she wanted to become a veterinarian because animals deserved doctors who loved them.
A nine-year-old child was being used as leverage in a scheme created by adults who valued money more than human life.
Detective Ortiz stood.
"We're contacting the school and locating the vehicle. Natalie, I need every detail you can remember."
Natalie reached toward me.
"Charlotte, please. I know I don't deserve your forgiveness."
I looked at her hand.
"No," I said quietly. "You don't."
She lowered it.
"But Iris deserves to come home."
I turned toward the detective.
"Whatever you need from me, I'll cooperate."
Ortiz nodded.
"We're going to find her."
At that moment, an officer entered the room.
He handed the detective a phone.
She listened.
Her face became grave.
When she ended the call, she looked at Natalie.
"We contacted Iris's school."
Natalie stood.
"Is she there?"
Ortiz hesitated.
"She never arrived this morning."
Natalie's knees nearly buckled.
The officer continued speaking quietly to the detective.
Then Ortiz turned toward me.
"We also found something else."
"What?"
"The vehicle in that photograph was recorded leaving a parking lot near your apartment."
I felt a cold sensation travel down my spine.
The detective looked toward my father.
"It left approximately twelve minutes before Charlotte escaped."
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Then she said something that made every person in the room go silent.
"According to the camera footage, Iris wasn't the only child inside that vehicle."
