Chapter 6 - THE UNCLE WHO BETRAYED US
Thomas Bennett had taught me how to ride a bicycle.
He bought me my first camera.
He sat beside me at my mother’s funeral and told me I was stronger than I felt.
Now my father was telling me he may have helped kill her.
I couldn’t accept it.
“No.”
My father looked tired.
“I didn’t want to believe it either.”
“What evidence?”
“Payments.”
“From Victor?”
“Companies connected to him.”
“Maybe Thomas was working for Mom.”
“That’s what I told myself.”
Ethan leaned against the desk.
“How much?”
My father answered.
“Four million over five years.”
That ended the possibility of coincidence.
Brian brought in old records.
Thomas had purchased properties through shell companies.
Boats.
A condo in Florida.
Cash.
All while claiming his modest trucking business barely survived.
Then something caught my attention.
A property address.
“I know this place.”
Everyone looked at me.
The address belonged to a warehouse near the river.
When I was sixteen, Thomas had taken me there after my father’s birthday party because he said he needed to pick something up.
I remembered sitting in his car for almost an hour.
He told me not to get out.
Then he returned carrying a metal case.
Black.
My heart stopped.
“The box.”
My father stood.
“You saw it?”
“I think so.”
Ethan was already moving.
“Brian, get the address secured.”
My father stepped in front of him.
“That property was sold.”
“To who?”
He looked at the file.
“Company called Northlake Freight.”
Brian’s face hardened.
“Russo shell.”
Of course.
Victor owned it now.
Or someone connected to him did.
Ethan ordered surveillance.
My father wanted to send men immediately.
Ethan refused.
“This is exactly what Russo wants.”
My father glared.
“You think I care?”
“You should if you want Jane alive.”
The room went silent.
My father looked at me.
Ethan continued.
“Someone fired at her yesterday. Someone attacked you today. That means they’re accelerating.”
“Because they think we found something.”
“No.”
Ethan’s eyes moved toward me.
“They think she remembers something.”
I suddenly felt cold.
What else had I seen as a child?
What memory was worth killing me over?
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A single photograph.
It showed the Carter estate.
Taken from outside the gates.
Underneath was a message:
YOUR MOTHER HID IT FOR YOU.
ASK YOURSELF WHY.
I showed Ethan.
His face hardened.
Then another message arrived.
This one contained only coordinates.
Brian entered them into a map.
A location appeared near Lake Geneva.
My childhood lake house.
The one where my mother’s secret began.
May you like
The property had burned down twelve years ago.
But according to the message, something was still there.
