Seven Seconds of Silence
Chapter 06 - Seven Seconds of Silence
“Sign the papers,” Daniel said.
Emma heard the hidden camera’s faint mechanical click as it adjusted focus. She kept both hands visible on the table.
“No.”
Daniel lifted the plate.
There were seven seconds between his first movement and the moment he threw it. Later, Emma would remember each second separately: Victoria’s satisfied expression, Mr. Bell’s sudden fear, the candle flame bending as Daniel’s sleeve passed over it, and the terrible recognition that he expected violence to succeed where persuasion had failed.
The plate missed Emma’s head by less than an inch.
When the pieces struck the wall, Mr. Bell stood and shouted Daniel’s name. Victoria did not flinch. She only stared at Emma as blood appeared on her face.
Daniel seemed shocked by what he had done, but not sorry. “Look what you made happen.”
Those words ended something inside Emma.
She reached beneath the table and pressed the emergency button Maya had given her. The signal went to Maya, Sophie, and the security company. Then Emma removed the flash drive from her hidden pocket and placed it beside her plate.
Victoria recognized it immediately.
“Where did you get that?”
Emma said nothing.
Daniel stepped toward her, but Mr. Bell moved between them. “Do not touch her. This dinner is over.”
“No,” Victoria snapped. “Not until I know what is on that drive.”
“You already know,” Emma replied.
Headlights appeared beyond the windows. The first car came through the iron gate, followed by several others. Daniel rushed toward the glass doors, expecting police. Victoria moved more slowly, as though approaching a grave she had spent years avoiding.
A tall gray-haired man emerged from the lead car. Sophie stepped out of the vehicle behind him. Maya followed, carrying a document case. Two investigators and a uniformed officer came from the remaining cars.
Daniel whispered, “Dad?”
Richard Hayes looked through the glass at his son. Pain crossed his face, followed by resolve.
Victoria backed away from the window. “He cannot be here.”
Emma stood, though her knees trembled. Blood had reached her collarbone, but her voice remained steady.
“He is here because you tried to take my home. He stayed away because you made him believe returning would destroy his children.”
Daniel looked from Emma to the flash drive and finally to his mother.
“What did you do?” he asked.
Victoria’s answer came without hesitation.
“What I had to do for this family.”
The front door opened.
May you like
Richard walked inside, carrying a file box marked with the name Hayes Development.
“No, Victoria,” he said. “You did it for yourself.”
