Claire shook her head in disbelief as Tony’s fingers blanched, his grip tightening on the arms of the chair. The story Phil was telling them was too contrived to be real and yet too unbelievable to be fiction.

“I never remember her mentioning a sister. But then again, she never spoke about her family, not to me. Did Dexter even know Marie? She died almost ten years ago,” Tony said.

It wasn’t that they made a point of following Marie London’s prison sentence; however, each time she came up for parole, the Rawlingses were there. The first time it happened, Tony insisted on going alone. He said he didn’t want Claire to have to face her. Claire disagreed. Marie played a significant role in her life as well as Tony’s. She stated her case. In the end, she went. At each subsequent hearing, they went together. Their legal teams constructed letters appealing for the denial of her parole. Even when she became ill, the Rawlingses petitioned for her to remain in prison, where she belonged.

There may have been other factors at work to keep Marie incarcerated. Tony had a knack for getting his way. Claire didn’t want to know. She simply wanted justice. The day they received the message that she had passed away within a federal penitentiary hospital was the day Claire finally let go of the fear that someday Marie would find a way to harm her family.

Had she done it? Had Marie somehow had influence over Dexter? Were his motives something other than they appeared?

“He would have been so young,” Claire said.

“We can’t make a connection,” Phil said. “That’s why this has been so elusive. We’ve scoured the visitor records at the penitentiary. He never visited. Not under his own name. She had very few visitors over the years.

“The most obvious connection between Jonas Dexter Smithers and the Rawlings family, besides now Natalie, is with his father and you.”

Tony reached for a pencil resting upon his desk and snapped it in two. “Me. I brought that man into our daughter’s life. The man who calls her bug. What the hell kind of name is that?”

It was a rhetorical question, one Tony had voiced more than once since Dexter and Natalie’s visit.

“Mrs. Rawlings,” Taylor said. “May we talk for a minute?”

Claire nodded.

“No, outside the office.”

Claire looked about the room, her green eyes scanning Taylor, Phil, and finally Tony. “No. We can talk here.”

“Claire,” Phil said, “I’d like to show something to Mr. Rawlings.”

Her pulse quickened and stomach twisted. “If this has to do with Nat, I want to see it.”

“Maybe...” Tony began.

She could barely hear her husband over the rush of blood in her ears. The mother’s intuition she’d felt the day they received the first text message, the day Natalie had not made it to Nice, was back. “I’m going to say this one time: if you have anything to say about my daughter, you’ll say it in front of me.”

Taylor walked closer to Claire. “It’s not going to be easy to see. Maybe if Mr. Rawlings saw it first, he could help you.”

“I’m not sure how fragile you think I am, but I can tell you that I’ve survived more than what you can show me.”

“Yes, Claire, you have,” Phil said, “but this is Nat.”

“And she’s alive and well in Vermont. I wish she were here, but I know she’s safe. If you were going to show me something and I didn’t know that she was safe, then I could understand the concern. She’s safe.”

Tony’s head shook as he muttered, “In Vermont, but safe?”

Phil nodded. “That’s what we need to discuss.”

“Listen, I may not agree with everything that happens, but I will support my daughter no matter what. I’ve said it before: I will not lose her.”

After Phil and Taylor exchanged glances, Phil opened his iPad and pulled up pictures. Tony and Claire stood and moved closer. No one spoke as the first picture came into view. It was of a large, lovely villa, almost castle-like, surrounded by pine trees.

“Is this where she was?” Tony asked, his jaw clenched.

“Yes, we confirmed it with a staff member,” Taylor answered. “She identified Natalie in pictures.”

“It’s big.” It was the only thing Claire could think to say. It seemed as though she’d been in a lovely place. Claire wanted to believe that. However, Tony’s original home had been beautiful too. Though it had been leveled decades ago, there were still pictures. For some reason, the picture from the article about them in Vanity Fair came to her mind.

“It is large,” Phil said. “One of the things that caught our attention was that the staff member informed us that Natalie had been with Herr Smithers for just over a month.”

Claire stood taller as her lips came together.

“A month?” Tony asked. “Where was she before that? You said it was Diane, not Nat traveling. Where was Nat?”

Phil swiped the screen to the next picture.

Claire gasped, her knees going weak as a wave of nausea washed through her.

Tony reached for her arm, steadying her, yet unable to look away from the screen. He pulled his wife closer. “He’s going to die.”

Claire shook her head. “No, this isn’t what we’re thinking.”

“The room had been cleaned, but we found a hair in the drain of the tub.”

“A long brown hair,” Taylor emphasized, confirming what Phil had just said. “We had it tested. It was Natalie’s.”

As Tony swore under his breath, Claire reached for the iPad and walked back to the sofa. Her nausea wouldn’t allow her to stand any longer. Yet she couldn’t look away, not now that she’d seen.

She swiped the screen, over and over, taking in the small room from different angles. There were pictures of the stark bathroom with an old clawfoot bathtub. “In this drain?”

“Yes,” Taylor confirmed. “The room is now empty, as you can see. There are no sheets, blankets, or towels...or clothes. There were also no clothes in the master bedroom. There really is no way to know exactly what happened.”

“She was taken. We were right,” Claire said, looking to Tony, her voice cracking. “But why like this? Why?”

“We’re going to Vermont and bringing her home.”

“I want to see her again, to know she’s safe. I think I already knew how their relationship was, but I never...I can’t imagine...” Her green eyes overflowed with tears. “...how could I even fathom?”

“How much are you willing to spend to change the playing field?” Phil asked.

“As much as it takes,” Tony replied.

Claire blinked away the tears. “What are you talking about?”

“Dexter Smithers thinks he can hide behind his fortune. If it’s gone, he can’t hide.”

Claire thought back, memories she hadn’t entertained in decades coming to the surface. “He can’t know it’s you. If he does, she’ll be the one to pay.”

Tony nodded. “I hate that you’re thinking that way, but you’re right. Don’t worry. He won’t know what hit him.”

“And Nat? What if she truly loves him?”

“Then he needs to earn it, not take it.”

Claire took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I know that, too.” She looked into her husband’s dark stare. “It could still happen. After a terrible beginning, it could happen. She could forgive him. They could be happy.”

“Then he better be ready to pay the price and earn her forgiveness. He needs to want it too, enough to work for it. To admit what he’s done and let Nat be the one who decides.”

“I guess time will tell.”

Tony swallowed, his eyes silently repeating the apology Claire refused to allow his lips to utter. He’d said it many times, but now they were beyond that. Their past was over. They’d moved on. Life was too short to harbor resentment over the past.

Yet at times like this, as Claire settled against the couch, the memories were more vivid than they’d been the day before. The colors were still real. Closing her eyes, she saw the white woodwork of her suite and the black of his eyes.

As Tony and Phil began to discuss options, Claire’s cell phone rang. Their daughter’s name appeared on the screen. “It’s Nat.” She wiped her cheeks. “I have to talk to her. I never know when she’ll call again.”

The other three all nodded.

“Invite her home,” Tony suggested.

“Okay...” Claire worked to steady her tone.