Chapter 5 - The First Betrayal
The police arrived before noon.
Not local patrol officers.
Detectives.
Financial crimes.
And later, a representative from the district attorney’s office.
Richard spent hours answering questions.
When had he first met Camille?
Four years earlier.
When had they married?
Two years ago.
When did Victor Dane leave Hale Group?
Three years ago.
Did Camille know Victor before marrying Richard?
Richard had always believed the answer was no.
Now he was not sure.
Detective Laura Briggs sat across from him.
“Mr. Hale, how did you meet your wife?”
“At a charity fundraiser.”
“Which organization?”
“The Whitmore Children’s Center.”
“Who introduced you?”
Richard paused.
“Victor.”
Briggs stopped writing.
“Victor Dane introduced you?”
“Yes.”
“At the time, I thought it was coincidence.”
Briggs leaned back.
“Victor was already fired?”
“Eight months earlier.”
“And you attended an event where he happened to introduce you to the woman who became your wife.”
Richard felt sick.
“Yes.”
Nathan stood by the window.
“It was planned from the beginning.”
Briggs did not disagree.
Richard looked toward the family room where Sophie was coloring with Maria.
“Camille targeted me.”
“Possibly.”
“She married me because of Victor.”
“Possibly.”
“And Sophie…”
Briggs followed his gaze.
“Might have complicated their plan.”
Richard remembered Camille’s earliest behavior.
She had been warm with Sophie.
Almost too warm.
She bought gifts.
Read bedtime stories.
Told Richard she had always dreamed of being a mother.
For the first year, Sophie adored her.
Then Richard married Camille.
Then little things changed.
Camille became stricter.
Less patient.
She described Sophie as difficult.
Needy.
Manipulative.
Richard had believed her because Sophie was entering the terrible twos.
He thought tantrums were normal.
He thought Camille was adjusting.
He thought everyone needed time.
He had made excuses.
Those excuses now burned inside him.
The detective’s phone rang.
She stepped outside.
Nathan approached.
“You need food.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“You haven’t eaten since yesterday.”
“My daughter was afraid to eat in her own kitchen.”
Nathan sighed.
“Destroying yourself won’t help her.”
Richard stared through the glass doors.
“I should have known.”
“You were manipulated.”
“I’m her father.”
“Yes.”
“I should have known.”
Nathan did not argue again.
Some guilt could not be talked away.
It had to be lived through.
Twenty minutes later, Briggs returned.
“We found Victor.”
Richard stood.
“Where?”
“Airport.”
“Leaving?”
“Trying to.”
Briggs sat.
“He was booked on a flight to Panama.”
Richard’s expression hardened.
“Camille?”
“Not with him.”
“Then where is she?”
“We don’t know.”
Richard stared.
“You don’t know?”
“She left the hotel her attorney arranged about forty minutes ago.”
His heart stopped.
“Where did she go?”
“Her phone is off.”
“Sophie.”
Briggs immediately lifted a hand.
“We have officers around your property.”
Richard was already walking.
“Double them.”
“Mr. Hale.”
“Double them.”
Briggs stood.
“We will.”
Richard entered the family room.
Sophie looked up.
“Daddy.”
He knelt.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Is Mommy Camille mad?”
The question cut deeper than he expected.
“No.”
Richard took her small hands.
“She’s not going to be here for a while.”
Sophie stared.
“Because I spilled?”
Richard’s throat tightened.
“No.”
Her eyes filled.
“I’m sorry I spilled.”
Richard pulled her into his chest.
“Oh, Sophie.”
She began crying.
“I tried cleaning. I tried being good.”
He held her tighter.
“You did nothing wrong.”
“I don’t want Maria disappear.”
Maria turned away, covering her mouth.
Richard whispered into his daughter’s hair.
“Maria isn’t going anywhere.”
Sophie trembled.
“And Daddy?”
“I’m not going anywhere either.”
She pulled back.
“Promise?”
Richard looked straight into her eyes.
“Promise.”
That afternoon, a pediatric specialist examined Sophie.
The physical injuries were minor.
The emotional ones were harder to measure.
Dr. Naomi Bell spoke privately with Richard afterward.
“She’s displaying signs of chronic fear conditioning.”
Richard stared blankly.
“What does that mean?”
“She has learned to anticipate punishment.”
His jaw tightened.
“For spilling things?”
“For many things.”
Dr. Bell continued.
“She repeatedly asked whether certain answers would make someone angry.”
Richard looked down.
“Can she recover?”
“Yes.”
The answer came without hesitation.
Children were resilient, Dr. Bell explained.
But safety had to become predictable.
No sudden disappearances.
No adult arguments around her.
No asking Sophie to prove what happened over and over.
“She needs to feel like a child again,” the doctor said.
Richard nodded.
He could do that.
He would do anything.
At six that evening, the police called.
Victor Dane had agreed to speak.
Richard was not permitted in the interview.
But Detective Briggs later returned with disturbing information.
“Victor claims Camille was the mastermind.”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“Of course he does.”
“He says she approached him.”
“When?”
“Five years ago.”
Richard went still.
Before the charity event.
Before their relationship.
Before everything.
“He says Camille had been studying wealthy widowers and single fathers.”
Richard’s skin crawled.
“Sophie’s mother died when Sophie was four months old.”
Briggs nodded.
“Camille knew.”
“How?”
“Public obituary. Business profiles. Foundation announcements.”
Richard sat down slowly.
“She found me because my wife died.”
“Yes.”
The cruelty of it was almost impossible to absorb.
Camille had looked at a grieving father and seen an opportunity.
“She chose me because I was vulnerable.”
“And because of Hale Group.”
Richard’s eyes darkened.
“What was Phase Two?”
Briggs hesitated.
“Victor claims Camille planned to build a case that you were mentally and physically deteriorating.”
“The drugging.”
“Yes.”
“Then what?”
“Temporary control of the companies.”
“And eventually?”
Briggs looked at him.
“He says she wanted you dead.”
Richard said nothing.
The words sounded unreal.
“He claims he refused.”
Richard laughed.
“Victor stole thirty million dollars from me.”
“I didn’t say he became ethical.”
“What did he want?”
“Control.”
Briggs closed her notebook.
“He says he wanted you removed from Hale Group. Camille wanted everything.”
Richard looked toward the hallway.
“And Sophie?”
Briggs hesitated again.
That hesitation terrified him.
“What?”
“Victor said Camille considered Sophie the biggest obstacle.”
Richard stood.
“What does that mean?”
“He says she originally planned to gain custody.”
“Why?”
“Because Sophie’s trust gives her significant voting shares when she turns twenty-five.”
Richard’s blood chilled.
Sophie did not just inherit money.
She inherited power.
The Hale family trust made her future controlling shareholder.
Richard had deliberately structured it that way after his first wife died.
Camille must have learned.
“That’s why she wanted Sophie.”
“Yes.”
Richard looked toward his sleeping daughter.
Not love.
Not motherhood.
Voting control.
Leverage.
The doorbell rang.
An officer entered with a small package.
“No return address.”
Richard frowned.
“Who delivered it?”
“Courier left before we could stop him.”
Nathan opened the outer packaging carefully.
Inside was a pink child’s hair ribbon.
Sophie’s ribbon.
The one she had worn two days earlier.
Richard’s face turned white.
Beneath it lay a photograph.
Sophie sleeping in her bedroom.
Taken from outside the window.
May you like
And on the back, four handwritten words:
YOU CAN’T WATCH FOREVER.
