Chapter 6 - THE MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
A tall man stepped out of the SUV.
Gray hair.
Black coat.
Walking slowly toward the café.
I knew that face.
Even though I hadn't seen it in seventeen years.
My father.
My knees nearly gave out.
“Dad?”
He stopped outside the window.
For one impossible second, we simply stared at each other.
Then he entered.
No dramatic speech.
No apology.
Just silence.
I stood.
“You're alive.”
He nodded.
“I am.”
“Why?”
His expression broke.
“Because someone wanted me dead.”
Daniel moved between us.
“Who?”
My father looked at Rachel.
“Robert found out first.”
Rachel nodded.
My father sat down.
He explained everything.
Years earlier, Robert had discovered that a group of investors was using his company to launder stolen intellectual property.
Jason became involved after discovering the money.
But Jason wasn't the mastermind.
The mastermind was someone inside the Mitchell family.
“Who?” I asked.
My father looked toward the courthouse.
“Eleanor.”
Jason's mother.
I couldn't speak.
My father continued.
“She had been moving assets for years.”
“She used Robert's company as a vehicle.”
“When Robert threatened to expose her, she arranged for him to be silenced.”
Daniel frowned.
“And Jason?”
“He found out.”
My father explained that Jason had spent years covering up his mother's crimes.
He stole the company.
He hid evidence.
He destroyed records.
Not because he wanted to become rich.
Because he was terrified Eleanor would destroy everyone who knew the truth.
I thought about Jason's behavior.
The secrecy.
The paranoia.
The control.
The constant fear behind his arrogance.
It suddenly made sense.
“But why marry me?”
My father looked away.
“Because he needed access to your inheritance.”
My heart cracked.
Even if Jason had been protecting someone, he had still used me.
Rachel reached across the table.
“There’s more.”
She placed another document in front of me.
It was a trust agreement.
My name appeared at the top.
Beneath it was a clause I had never seen.
“If the Mitchell family attempts to transfer company assets without authorization, ownership automatically reverts to the original beneficiaries.”
Daniel read it twice.
“Your father put this in place?”
“No,” my father said.
“Robert did.”
I looked up.
“So the company was never Jason's.”
“Correct.”
“And never mine.”
“Not exactly.”
My father pointed to the final page.
“You are the beneficiary.”
Then my phone rang.
Jason.
I answered.
His voice was barely audible.
“Iris, you need to listen.”
“What?”
“I just found out who ordered the transfer.”
“Who?”
He whispered:
May you like
“Your father.”
Then the line went dead.
