Lionel didn''t answer. Hannah took his silence as a yes and didn''t bother speaking to him for the rest of the ride.


    When they arrived home, she was heading up the stairs when he called her


    name.


    "Putting the fire aside for a moment, let''s talk about Zack. Are you going to tell me you had nothing to do with what he did?"


    Lionel''s brow was furrowed. He knew Hannah and Sandra didn''t get along, but he never imagined she would stoop so low. If Hannah hadn''t gone to Zack and told him those things, he never would have sent those men after Sandra.


    He had spent that night at the hospital with Sandra, watching her jolt awake from nightmares, her pillow soaked with tears, screaming for help. He couldn''t imagine the terror she must have felt. If someone hadn''t happened to walk by and save her...


    The thought made his expression harden. No matter how much he wanted to give Hannah the benefit of the doubt, this had crossed a line.


    Hannah looked at the raw emotion on his face, her own expression unreadable. She knew how much he cared about Sandra. He had doubted her and misunderstood her countless times because of that woman, and every time, he eventually learned the truth. But what did it matter? It never stopped him from doubting her again.


    She was done with it.


    With a faint smile, she pulled a small recording pen from her purse and tossed it to him. "Do you know how to use one of these? If not, I can teach you."


    She hadn''t nned on recording the conversation that day, but some strange impulse had made her bring it along and turn it on. It seemed fate had a hand in it. Seeing him press y, Hannah turned and walked upstairs without another word.


    The recording yed back the entire conversation between Hannah, Zack, and his mother. There was nothing in it that matched his usations.


    He clenched his fist around the small device, his eyes fixed on the empty staircase.


    Had he... had he gotten it wrong again?


    Upstairs in the master bedroom, Hannah noticed signs that someone had been staying there. Her gaze fell on the empty picture frame on the nightstand, then drifted to therge empty frame on the wall.


    Perfect. Just perfect. A frame that massive, and not a single picture in it. And he hadn''t even noticed.


    Of course. The only things that mattered to him were things that involved Sandra. Anything to do with her waspletely off his radar.


    Hannah didn''t have the energy to be upset about it. She just grabbed a change of clothes and went into the bathroom.


    When she came out, she saw the recording pen sitting on her dresser. She let out a coldugh and pocketed it. Typical of someone who knows they''re in the wrong too cowardly to face the music.


    The next day, Hannah was in the walk-in closet getting dressed for her appointment to have her wound redressed. As she was getting her things together, her eyes fell on the jewelry boxes in the cab.


    The man truly was oblivious. Which, she thought, was for the best.


    She grabbed a few bracelets and rings, tucked them into her purse, and went downstairs.


    Lionel was already in the dining room.


    As she sat down, a maid began serving breakfast. She ced each dish in front


    of Lionel with gentle reverence. When it was Hannah''s turn, however, her movements became rough and careless.