He Thought His Daughter Was Living a Perfect Life—Until She Whispered the Truth

Chapter 26: The Turn of the Screws

They didn't leave fast enough.

Before the Suburban could reverse down the gravel road, two white-and-blue state trooper cruisers tore into the driveway, their red and blue lights flashing against the apple trees like a sudden, violent carnival.

A state trooper with a wide-brimmed hat stepped out, his hand resting on his holster. "Nobody move! State Police! Drop the weapons!"

Henderson dropped the megaphone immediately, raising his hands. The other fixer followed suit, pressing his face against the hood of the Suburban.

But Nathan didn't move. He stood in the middle of the driveway, the red and blue lights reflecting off his leather jacket, staring up at Sophia on the porch.

"This isn't over," he whispered, loud enough for Henry to hear as he stepped out behind his daughter, the Winchester lowered but ready. "You can't stay in this cornfield forever, Sophia. The lawyers will find a loophole. My mother will buy the appeal. You’ll have to come back to New York eventually."

Sophia lowered the recorder. She looked at the state trooper who was now cuffing Henderson, then back at Nathan.

"I’m not going back to New York, Nathan," she said. "And neither are you."

Mara Voss walked out of the house, holding a manila folder she had pulled from the cardboard box Elise had left.

"Nathaniel Whitmore," Mara said, her voice carrying the old authority that didn't need a badge. "The Ohio State Police are here to assist in an interstate arrest warrant issued by the Governor of New York. Not for domestic assault. For corporate fraud and tax evasion connected to the 1994 logistics manifests. Your mother just turned herself in at the Manhattan field office twenty minutes ago. She gave them the encryption keys, Nathan. She traded you to keep herself out of a maximum-security cell."

Nathan went completely still. The greasy gray color returned to his face, deeper this time, permanent.