Chapter 4 - THE FATHER WHO NEVER DIED
Audrey couldn't speak.
For several seconds, she simply stared at the photograph.
Her father.
Alive.
Older.
Standing outside a courthouse.
Beside him was Richard Vale.
The timestamp was unmistakable.
Six months after his supposed death.
“Where did you get this?” Audrey whispered.
Sophia replied, “Richard sent it.”
“Why?”
“He says he wants to meet you.”
Audrey stood.
“No.”
Sophia was surprised.
“You don't want answers?”
“I want answers. But not if he's trying to lure me somewhere.”
“That's exactly what I thought.”
“Then why are you telling me?”
“Because he gave me something else.”
Sophia opened an encrypted folder.
Inside was a recording.
Audrey pressed play.
Her father's voice filled the room.
“If you're hearing this, Audrey, then I failed to protect you.”
She covered her mouth.
The recording continued.
“I need you to understand something. I did not abandon you. I disappeared because your life was in danger.”
Audrey's eyes filled with tears.
“Victoria discovered the trust.”
A pause.
“She believes the money belongs to her family.”
Another pause.
“She is wrong.”
Audrey sat down.
Her father's voice became quieter.
“Your husband doesn't know what his mother has done.”
That sentence struck harder than everything else.
Dominic.
For years, Audrey had believed he was part of the conspiracy.
But maybe he had been another victim.
Her father continued.
“Do not trust anyone who tells you the trust was created for Dominic.”
A faint sound appeared in the background.
A door opening.
Then her father's voice changed.
“They found me.”
The recording ended.
Audrey stared at the screen.
Sophia said nothing.
Then another message arrived.
A location.
A private chapel outside Phoenix.
Underneath it was one sentence.
Come alone.
Audrey almost laughed.
“Absolutely not.”
Sophia nodded.
“I already contacted federal investigators.”
Audrey looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because the financial transfers weren't the only crime.”
“What else?”
Sophia hesitated.
“Your father's death certificate.”
Audrey's face went cold.
“It was falsified.”
“By whom?”
“We don't know yet.”
Audrey stood.
“Then I want to meet Richard.”
“Why?”
“Because if my father is alive, I need to hear him say it.”
Meanwhile, across the country, Dominic arrived at his mother's house.
Victoria was waiting.
She looked exhausted.
“You shouldn't have come.”
Dominic shut the door behind him.
“Tell me about Richard Vale.”
Victoria froze.
“Where did you hear that name?”
“Tell me the truth.”
She turned away.
“Your father ruined everything.”
Dominic stared at her.
“What did you do?”
Victoria began crying.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
“From Audrey's family.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“Mom, Audrey's father saved your company.”
Victoria turned.
“No.”
Her voice broke.
“He saved himself.”
Then she opened a drawer and pulled out an old photograph.
Dominic looked at it.
His father stood beside Audrey's father.
And between them was a young girl.
Audrey.
But the photograph had been taken twenty-three years before Dominic had ever met her.
On the back was a handwritten note.
Our children will inherit everything.
Dominic looked at his mother.
“What does this mean?”
May you like
Victoria whispered:
“Your marriage was arranged long before either of you knew it.”
