Page 8 of Hacker Salvation

Brock tapped his finger on his glass of amber liquor. “Do you know his family well? Could they be setting you up for his murder? You mentioned earlier he would come home beaten sometimes. Maybe it went too far this time, and they’re trying to take you down.”

Neal let out a whistle. “You might be onto something, Brock. Annabella, did you read Nate’s will?”

Over the past week, Nate had given me lots of documents to sign before the wedding. I’d just assumed it was the prenup we had talked about. I hadn’t minded signing it—Nate was worth way more than me. We’d discussed in full what it was, so when Nate had handed it to me, I’d signed without reading. “No. I know I should’ve, but I didn’t. Someone mentioned earlier that he’d changed it, and that’s another reason I’m the prime suspect.”

John leveled a heated look at me. “You signed a legal document without reading it?”

I downed the amber liquor in my cup. The alcohol was starting to hit my bloodstream. It was helping keep my nerves under control. I didn’t like having to explain my life to so many people. And on top of that, one of my closest friends was still missing. “Nate is my primary lawyer and has been since he graduated. He never did anything wrong before, so yes, I signed without reading. Neal, how bad is it?”

Brock leaned over Neal’s shoulder. His eyes were large with surprise. “Nate’s grandparents opened up the law firm. When they passed, the firm was willed to Nate, not his parents. And Nate didn’t have you sign a prenup. It was his will. He changed his will last week. In case he died, you got everything. But if something happens to you, his sister will get everything.”

Why would he put me in the middle of his family issues? “If he owned the firm, why did his parents have so much over him? Why not make peace? This doesn’t make sense. I saw the broken arms and bruises. Someone hurt him, and now he might be dead. And I’m in charge of the fucked-up family’s fortune.”

I was furious. I was desperate. I no longer trusted the system. I didn’t understand how I could even be in trouble. It made no sense. They had no body. “How are they making me surrender my passport if there is no body.”

I was convinced Nate had injured himself or someone close to him had injured him, but deep down, I knew he was still alive. I kept waiting for him to show up with a bandage and an apology.

“Hell, I’m supposed to be on set first thing in the morning. The cops wouldn’t let me take my phone. They told me it was evidence. All they did was treat me like I killed Nate, and they don’t have any evidence that he’s even dead. I keep thinking he’s going to walk through the door at any second and think this is a funny joke. I have no credit cards on me. Everything I have is at Nate’s house. I’ve already sold mine. Where am I supposed to go?” Tears streamed down my face.

Daisy came over and wrapped me in a hug. “You stay here tonight. We will figure everything out in the morning. I think the boys have enough to go on for a while. Let’s get you settled into the guest room.”

John, Aaron, and Brock were huddled around Neal as Daisy walked me out of the room. I hoped they would find something to clear my name. More than anything, I hoped my friend wasn’t dead.

4

John

Iwatched as Annabella’s perky ass walked out the door. “She didn’t do it.” I wasn’t sure if I said the words to reassure myself or my friends. My phone hadn’t stopped vibrating in my pocket since I walked Annabella out of the sheriff’s office. I knew it was my sister. She would want to help. But we had enough help at the moment.

Brock raised a brow. “We know, man, but it looks like someone framed her. And who knows if Nate is even dead?”

Neal pulled up the cleaning lady’s picture.

“How did you pull up the photo so fast? All Annabella gave you was a last name.” I pulled the screen closer to get a better look.

“I hacked into Nate’s files at work the second we got here. Her contract was on his hard drive. It listed her date of birth and Social Security number. She doesn’t look like someone who would frame Annabella for murder.” Neal said.

I gulped down the expensive scotch, “Money. If someone paid her enough, she would do anything. Hell, Annabella said Nate would come home bruised. If someone did something to Ms. Orchard’s family, she could’ve helped frame Anna.” Brock arched his brow at the nickname I gave Annabella. I ignored him and continued. “We need to look into the cleaning lady’s finances.”

“Already have. Nothing. No large deposits, no extra spending. She worked for her last employer for twenty years until he died a few weeks ago. That’s when Nate hired her. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.”

I looked down at Neal’s laptop and the information in front of him. “But why would she go out of her way to record that conversation last night? She just happened to return to the house when Nate and Anna were having a fight and thought to record it? I don’t have a housekeeper, but is it not worrisome she just walks into the house?”

Aaron spoke up for the first time. “I grew up with staff around the house. Normally, they come and go and don’t announce themselves when they arrive. So her walking in is not unusual. Now the videotaping of her employers is strange. We need to talk to her. Annabella mentioned earlier that she fired Ms. Orchard and the lady was distraught.”

Brock nodded. “I’ll talk to her tomorrow. Our plane is scheduled to leave tomorrow afternoon. I have a meeting with the governor. He didn’t say what it was about, but I need to head back to Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow night. John, you can stay here and help Annabella out.”

I had no plans to leave. I was just glad I didn’t have to fight Brock about it. “Did Anna mention who Nate was dating? We should talk to him to see if he knows more than she does. The way she made it sound, Nate had been with the same man for a while. If he loved this man, why did he give everything to Anna? Could his lover have been the one to kill him or make it look like he’s dead to set up Anna?”

The more I thought about the case, the more I realized how much Nate’s will caused a bigger issue. Anna would go from a millionaire to a billionaire if he was really dead. She would have everyone coming at her in all directions if we couldn’t find more information about what was going on.

“So we’re all in agreement that she’s innocent?” I asked, needing reassurance from my friends.

Neal looked up from his laptop. “She may be a tad superficial and seriously jaded, but she’s also utterly lacking in devious ways. She’s quick to anger, but not malicious in the least. I have some searches running, and I reached out to a few people online to gain more information. Let’s start back up in the morning and see if we can come up with a game plan.

Brock and Jessica headed for the guesthouse. Neal and Aaron headed for the master bedroom. I walked down the hall of guest rooms toward mine but stopped when I was outside of Anna’s. My fingers itched to knock on the door and demand more answers. Instead, I slid down the wall outside her door and pulled out the notebook with the list of information.

I’d learned that leaving an electronic trail could be incredibly damaging, so I always had pens and paper at my disposal. My notes on the case were too important to trust to the police. They figured they already had their killer. Sure, Anna had the financial motives, to an extent, but she was no slouch when it came to earning money or being financially stable. She had her own money.

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