Chapter 5 - WHY MY MOTHER PULLED THE TRIGGER
“My mother shot someone?”
Nathan didn’t answer.
He was staring at the cassette.
I pressed play on the second side.
My mother’s voice appeared immediately.
She was crying.
“I don’t know if anyone will ever hear this.”
I could barely breathe.
“Daniel is gone. Evelyn is dead. And I don’t know whether Samuel will survive what comes next.”
Nathan sat beside me again.
Then Mom said:
“I fired the shot.”
I covered my mouth.
“A man came through the kitchen looking for Nathan. He had a gun. Evelyn pushed Nathan into the service hallway and told me to get him out.”
Nathan whispered, “I remember that hallway.”
Mom continued.
“The man found us before we reached the door.”
Her voice broke.
“I picked up Daniel’s gun and fired.”
Nathan lowered his head.
“I killed him because he was going to kill a thirteen-year-old boy.”
Tears burned my eyes.
My mother—the woman who clipped coupons and apologized when she accidentally stepped on ants—had once killed a man to save Nathan Drake.
The recording continued.
“Evelyn ran back upstairs for evidence. I heard two more shots.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“When I returned, she was gone.”
Not dead.
Gone.
“What does that mean?” I whispered.
Mom explained that Vincent’s men arrived within minutes.
Daniel forced Hannah and baby Bella into a vehicle.
They fled Chicago.
Three days later, newspapers reported Evelyn’s fatal car crash.
Daniel disappeared shortly afterward.
My mother spent the next two decades changing jobs, staying poor, and avoiding attention because she believed Vincent would kill me if he found us.
Then came the strangest part.
“Samuel Drake found me six months later.”
Nathan looked up sharply.
His father had found my mother.
“He promised he believed me. He promised he would expose Vincent when he had enough evidence.”
Mom began crying again.
“But Samuel made me accept something.”
“What?” I whispered.
The tape answered.
“Shares.”
Nathan stared at me.
“Shares?”
“Four percent of Drake Harbor Logistics. Samuel transferred them into a trust under another name. He said they were insurance.”
My mouth went dry.
Four percent of a multibillion-dollar company.
My mother had lived in a one-bedroom apartment.
She had worn secondhand shoes.
She had died owing $49,200.
And somewhere, she had apparently owned a fortune.
The final words on the tape were quieter.
“If anything happens to me, the shares belong to Bella.”
Nathan slowly looked at me.
But the tape wasn’t finished.
“Tell Nathan one more thing.”
Static filled the room.
“Samuel Drake did not die of natural causes.”
May you like
Nathan stopped breathing.
“My father was murdered too.”
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