Chapter 12 - THE FATHER BEHIND THE MONSTER
The room seemed to tilt.
Bradley was Edward's son.
I looked at my father.
He wasn't surprised.
That was the first thing I noticed.
“You knew,” I whispered.
My father lowered his weapon.
“I suspected.”
“You suspected?”
“Your mother never told me everything.”
Edward laughed softly.
“She told him enough to make him afraid.”
I looked toward the staircase.
“Where is Claire?”
Edward pointed upward.
“She and the child are safe.”
“You kidnapped them.”
“I moved them.”
“You kidnapped them.”
His smile disappeared.
“Call it whatever you want. I kept them alive.”
My father stepped forward.
“You've caused enough damage.”
Edward looked at him.
“You still don't understand.”
“I understand exactly who you are.”
“No.”
Edward's eyes hardened.
“You understand who I was.”
He walked toward an old cabinet.
From inside, he removed a thick file.
He placed it on the table.
“Open it.”
I did.
The first page was an old trust agreement.
My mother's signature was at the bottom.
Then I saw my own name.
My birth date.
And a clause that made my hands tremble.
If the family structure becomes compromised, control shall pass to the eldest surviving beneficiary upon reaching thirty-five years of age.
I looked at my father.
“I just turned thirty-five.”
He nodded.
Edward smiled.
“Exactly.”
“What happens at thirty-five?”
“You inherit everything.”
“I already inherited my mother's estate.”
“No.”
Edward tapped the document.
“You inherited the visible portion.”
He opened another folder.
Inside were company ownership records.
Private accounts.
International holdings.
Voting agreements.
Properties I had never heard of.
My mother hadn't simply left me money.
She had left me an empire.
An empire deliberately hidden from Bradley.
“Why?”
Edward answered.
“Because your mother knew Bradley would come after you.”
“She knew her own daughter would marry him?”
“She suspected the marriage was engineered.”
I felt sick.
“By whom?”
Edward looked at my father.
“Your father.”
I turned.
“Dad?”
My father looked broken.
“It wasn't supposed to happen this way.”
“What wasn't?”
“Your mother and I discovered that Edward's organization was using our family business to move illegal money.”
Edward interrupted.
“Your father wanted to expose me.”
“I did.”
“But your mother realized the network was bigger than either of us.”
My father nodded.
“So she created the trust.”
“To trap them,” I said.
“Yes.”
Edward's expression changed.
“She created a structure that would eventually force everyone connected to the network to reveal themselves.”
“Bradley.”
“Yes.”
“Barbara.”
“Yes.”
“Your people.”
“Yes.”
I looked at him.
“Then why are you helping me?”
Edward sat down.
“Because I wasn't the only villain.”
Silence.
He reached into the file.
There was a photograph of a young woman.
I recognized her immediately.
Helen.
My mother's closest friend.
I stared.
“She worked for you.”
“She worked for everyone.”
My heart sank.
“But she helped me.”
“She did.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother asked her to.”
The truth was becoming impossible to follow.
My mother had built a game inside a game.
Every betrayal had been anticipated.
Every enemy had been given just enough rope to expose themselves.
Then Edward said:
“There is one person your mother never identified.”
“Who?”
He slid another photograph toward me.
It showed a man standing beside Bradley at a charity event.
I knew him.
My mother's former financial adviser.
Martin Cross.
He had disappeared after the investigation began.
“He's alive,” Edward said.
“Where?”
“Inside your company.”
My blood froze.
“That's impossible.”
“Look at the photograph.”
I did.
On the back was a recent date.
And a handwritten message.
HE HAS ACCESS TO THE FOUNDATION.
Then I heard footsteps.
Claire appeared at the top of the stairs, holding Ethan.
She was crying.
But she was alive.
I ran toward her.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded.
“Ethan's okay.”
I hugged them both.
Edward watched silently.
Then he said:
“You have seventy-two hours.”
“For what?”
“To find Martin.”
“And if I don't?”
Edward looked at Ethan.
“He'll take the child.”
I stepped in front of Claire.
“No.”
Edward's voice softened.
“Then find him before he does.”
For the first time, I understood.
Bradley had been a monster.
But he had never been the final enemy.
Someone else had been waiting behind him.
Someone who knew my mother's entire plan.
Someone who knew my name.
May you like
And someone who wanted the one thing my mother had spent her life protecting.
Me.
