Chapter 11 - THE CONFESSION NINETEEN YEARS LATE
Nobody moved.
Emily kept the phone pressed against her ear.
“You pushed him?”
Anthony sobbed once.
“No.”
“Then what do you mean?”
“I caused the fall.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Put him on speaker.”
Emily did.
Anthony’s voice filled the room.
“That morning, Robert confronted Marcus on the sixth floor.”
Susan closed her eyes.
“Marcus denied everything.”
Anthony continued.
“I was there to recover the documents.”
“By force?” Daniel asked.
“Yes.”
Emily clenched her fists.
“What happened?”
“Robert tried to leave.”
Anthony’s breathing became uneven.
“I grabbed his coat.”
Emily shut her eyes.
“He pulled away. We struggled.”
“And?”
“The temporary railing broke.”
Susan started crying.
Anthony whispered, “Robert fell.”
The room disappeared around Emily.
For nineteen years, she had imagined an accident.
Then murder.
Now something uglier.
A reckless moment.
A frightened lawyer.
A weak railing.
“I looked down,” Anthony said. “He was alive.”
Emily’s eyes opened.
“What?”
“He survived the fall?”
“For a few minutes.”
Susan made a broken sound.
Anthony continued.
“I wanted to call 911.”
“But?”
“Marcus stopped me.”
Daniel’s face turned cold.
“He told you to let Robert die.”
“Yes.”
Emily felt sick.
“And you listened.”
Anthony said nothing.
“You listened.”
“Yes.”
Emily ended the call.
Curtis stared at her.
“My father—”
“Don’t.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t.”
She walked into the hallway.
Daniel followed.
Emily pressed both hands against the wall.
“I bought a stranger dinner yesterday.”
Daniel said nothing.
“Yesterday my biggest problem was rent.”
Still nothing.
“Now my mother is alive, my father’s death wasn’t an accident, half the people in this city have fake death certificates, and apparently my family owns a block worth millions.”
Daniel leaned against the opposite wall.
“Your summary is accurate.”
She laughed despite herself.
Then started crying.
Daniel stepped forward.
“Can I?”
Emily nodded.
He hugged her.
Not tightly.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
After a minute, she pulled away.
“I need this to end.”
“It will.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“But I can promise you won’t finish it alone.”
Back inside, Curtis stared at the floor.
Susan wiped her eyes.
Daniel placed the flash drive on the table.
“We get the archive file.”
“How?” Emily asked.
“Reeves Holdings headquarters.”
“Marcus is on your board.”
“Yes.”
“So he may have access.”
“He does.”
“Wonderful.”
Daniel smiled grimly.
“We go tonight.”
At 11:20 p.m., Daniel, Emily, Susan, and two trusted security officers entered Reeves Tower through a private garage.
They reached the archive server room.
Daniel entered a code.
Red light.
Access denied.
He tried again.
Same result.
Someone had changed the credentials.
Then the building lights went out.
Emergency lighting turned red.
A voice came through the ceiling speakers.
“Daniel.”
He froze.
Marcus.
Alive.
“Still trying to fix old mistakes?”
Daniel looked toward the camera.
“Come down here.”
Marcus laughed.
“No.”
Then he addressed Emily.
“Miss Carter.”
Emily stared at the camera.
“Your father once stood exactly where you are.”
Her blood chilled.
“What?”
“He found the original signature file nineteen years ago.”
Daniel turned.
“That server room didn’t exist then.”
“Not this room.”
Marcus’s voice sounded amused.
“The old one.”
A steel door unlocked at the end of the corridor.
Beyond it was a dark stairwell.
“Come see what Robert left behind.”
Daniel stepped in front of Emily.
“No.”
Marcus laughed again.
“Still making her decisions?”
Emily moved past Daniel.
She opened the door.
At the bottom of the stairs stood an abandoned office.
On the wall, written in faded black marker, were six words in her father’s handwriting:
DANIEL - IF I FAIL, TRUST EMILY.
Emily stared.
May you like
She had been ten when her father died.
Why had he written her name?
