Chapter 7 - THE MOTHER I THOUGHT WAS DEAD
My mother had supposedly died when I was eleven.
That was the story I had been told.
A car accident.
A hospital.
A closed casket.
No questions.
No photographs.
No grave I had ever visited.
I had never questioned it.
Until now.
Evelyn stared at the black drive.
“Don't open it here.”
We took it to a secure office.
The file contained only one video.
I pressed play.
A woman appeared.
Older.
Pale.
But unmistakable.
My mother.
I couldn't breathe.
She looked directly into the camera.
“My daughter.”
I covered my mouth.
“If you're seeing this, then your father finally failed to keep you away from the truth.”
Tears streamed down my face.
“I am alive.”
The video continued.
“Your father didn't abandon me. Marianne tried to kill me.”
Evelyn went still.
My mother explained everything.
She had discovered Marianne's financial scheme years earlier.
She confronted her.
Marianne responded by arranging the staged accident.
My father intervened.
He hid my mother under a protected identity while telling me she had died.
But there was more.
“My daughter,” she said, “your father knew the only way to protect you was to make everyone believe you were financially powerless.”
I stared at the screen.
“That is why the trust was hidden.”
My mother explained that the trust contained evidence of Marianne's crimes.
And I was the legal beneficiary.
Grant had spent years trying to gain access.
Marianne had spent even longer trying to force control.
Then my mother's expression changed.
“There is one person you must not trust.”
The video paused.
She looked frightened.
“Not Grant.”
I leaned closer.
“Then who?”
The screen went black.
A final sentence appeared.
ASK EVELYN WHAT HAPPENED THE NIGHT YOUR FATHER DIED.
I turned toward my attorney.
She looked devastated.
“You knew?”
“I knew there was an investigation.”
“Evelyn.”
She closed her eyes.
“Your father called me the night he died.”
My voice shook.
“What did he say?”
“He said someone was coming for you.”
“Who?”
Evelyn looked toward the door.
“Marianne.”
Then the lights in the office went out.
Someone had cut the power.
May you like
And in the darkness, a voice whispered from the hallway:
“You should have stopped digging.”
