Chapter 9 - The Uncle Who Owned the Empire
Ethan returned to Manhattan before dawn.
His face was drawn, his suit rumpled, and his hands shook when he saw Lily asleep in my arms.
“She's safe,” I whispered.
He touched her hair gently.
Then he looked at me.
“Victoria was here.”
I nodded.
“She told me about Victor.”
His expression changed.
“What exactly did she say?”
I explained everything, including the police report and the suspicious circumstances surrounding my father's death.
Ethan listened without interrupting.
When I finished, he sat down heavily.
“Victor raised me after my father died.”
“I know.”
“He told me the accident was unavoidable. He said my father had become paranoid near the end.”
“Did you believe him?”
Ethan stared at the floor.
“I wanted to.”
That was the worst part.
Betrayal was rarely simple. The people who hurt us most often knew exactly how to become indispensable first.
Malik arrived with a report from Albany.
Daniel Mercer had been murdered shortly before Ethan's team reached his house. The local police had secured the scene, and federal investigators were being brought in because the evidence involved interstate financial crimes.
Mercer's computer had been destroyed.
But he had left a voicemail for Ethan two days earlier.
Malik played it.
“Ethan, if you receive this, it means I failed to protect the evidence. Your uncle knows about the key. Don't confront him until you understand what your father discovered.”
A long pause followed.
Then Mercer continued.
“Thomas didn't trust the company records. He created a second ledger and entrusted it to someone outside the family.”
The recording ended.
Ethan rubbed his face.
“Who?”
Malik shook his head.
“The voicemail doesn't say.”
I remembered the letter.
Trust the person who has nothing to gain from my death.
“Maybe my father knew,” I said.
Ethan turned toward me.
“Your father?”
“He was Thomas's partner. Perhaps the second ledger was hidden somewhere connected to him.”
We returned to the bank records and examined the old financial documents.
One account appeared repeatedly.
A small educational fund established in my name when I was a child.
My father had deposited money into it every year until his death.
Afterward, the account had been frozen.
I had never known why.
Catherine Bell contacted the bank and requested the archived records. The documents revealed that my father had designated a second beneficiary.
Thomas Caldwell.
The account contained a reference to a storage facility in Queens.
Ethan looked at me.
“We should have the authorities search it.”
I agreed.
For once, we would let evidence lead us instead of letting anger decide what happened next.
By afternoon, investigators had recovered a sealed metal case from the storage unit.
Inside were old accounting ledgers, photographs, and a list of payments made to several people connected to Caldwell Maritime.
Victor Hale's name appeared at the top.
But the final document was the most shocking.
It was a handwritten letter from Thomas to Ethan.
If Victor has taken control of the company, do not trust the family name. The man who calls himself your uncle is not your father's brother.
Ethan stared at the page.
“What does that mean?”
Malik examined the attached birth records.
Then he looked up, stunned.
“Boss, the documents suggest Victor Hale was adopted into your family after his biological father disappeared.”
Ethan shook his head.
“That doesn't change anything.”
Malik swallowed.
“It does if his biological father was the man accused of arranging your grandfather's murder.”
May you like
The room fell silent.
Because the man Ethan had trusted to protect his father's legacy might have inherited a blood feud that had begun before Ethan was born.
