Chapter 9: The Secret Behind Robert Walker's Death
The words remained in the air.
"He thought it was me."
Ethan stared at his mother.
For several seconds, he could not understand what he had just heard.
Not because the sentence was complicated.
Because his mind refused to accept it.
His father.
Robert Walker.
The man who had always believed in people.
The man who taught Ethan to forgive.
The man who wrote a letter warning him about manipulation.
Had once suspected his own wife.
The room around him disappeared.
The board members.
Patricia.
The documents.
Everything became distant.
All Ethan could see was Margaret.
His mother.
The woman who raised him.
The woman who hurt his wife.
The woman who had spent years hiding the truth.
"Mom..."
His voice was quiet.
Almost unrecognizable.
"Did Dad think you betrayed him?"
Margaret looked down.
"Yes."
The answer hurt more than denial.
Ethan stepped back.
"Why?"
Margaret closed her eyes.
"Because I made a mistake."
Patricia crossed her arms.
"A mistake?"
Her voice carried satisfaction.
"That's a very gentle way to describe it."
Ethan looked at Patricia.
"You knew?"
Patricia smiled.
"I knew everything."
The room became colder.
"Of course you did," Ethan said.
"Because you were involved."
Patricia didn't deny it.
Instead, she walked closer to the table.
"Your father was a brilliant man."
She touched the documents.
"But he was too trusting."
Ethan's expression hardened.
"Don't talk about my father."
Patricia ignored him.
"Robert discovered financial irregularities."
Margaret whispered:
"Stop."
But Patricia continued.
"He found money moving through accounts connected to people he trusted."
Ethan looked at Margaret.
"Your accounts?"
Margaret shook her head.
"No."
Her voice broke.
"Not mine."
"Then whose?"
Nobody answered.
Patricia smiled.
"Someone Robert never expected."
The silence stretched.
Finally, Ethan asked:
"Who?"
Patricia looked at Margaret.
Then said:
"Your mother."
Ethan froze.
Margaret looked devastated.
"No."
Patricia turned.
"You know it's true."
Ethan looked between them.
"Mom?"
Margaret took a deep breath.
Then she sat down.
Like her legs could no longer support her.
"There is something I never told you."
Ethan remained standing.
"Apparently there are many things you never told me."
The words hurt her.
But she accepted them.
"When your father died, I told everyone the company was struggling because of market changes."
She looked at the table.
"That wasn't the whole truth."
Ethan waited.
"Before he died, Robert discovered money had been moved from company accounts."
Daniel immediately looked at his laptop.
"How much?"
Margaret answered quietly.
"Three hundred thousand dollars."
The board members reacted.
Whispers spread.
Ethan stared.
"Where did the money go?"
Margaret's eyes filled with tears.
"To pay a debt."
"What debt?"
She looked at him.
"My debt."
The room went silent.
Ethan felt like the floor moved beneath him.
"You had a debt?"
Margaret nodded.
"Years before your father died."
"Why didn't you tell him?"
A painful expression crossed her face.
"Because I was ashamed."
Patricia laughed softly.
"Shame is a convenient excuse."
Ethan ignored her.
"What kind of debt?"
Margaret looked away.
"An investment."
"That failed?"
She nodded.
"I lost money."
"How much?"
"Almost everything I had."
Ethan looked confused.
"But Dad would have helped you."
"I know."
"Then why hide it?"
Margaret's voice became smaller.
"Because I was afraid."
There it was again.
The same word.
Fear.
The thing that had controlled her for years.
"I spent my whole life trying to prove I was not helpless."
She wiped her eyes.
"After your father died, everyone saw me as the woman who inherited his success."
She shook her head.
"They didn't see the woman who was terrified she would lose everything."
Ethan listened.
"But when Robert found out about the missing money, he thought I was stealing from him."
Margaret looked at him.
"I wasn't."
A pause.
"But I understand why he thought that."
Ethan's anger became mixed with confusion.
"Then why didn't you explain?"
"Because before I could..."
She stopped.
Her face changed.
"Before you could what?"
Margaret looked at the floor.
"Robert died."
Nobody spoke.
Ethan felt a chill.
"Mom."
His voice lowered.
"What are you saying?"
Margaret looked at him.
"The night before he died, your father came home angry."
Ethan swallowed.
"I remember."
He was eighteen.
He remembered the tension.
His parents arguing downstairs.
He remembered his father saying they needed to talk.
He remembered Margaret crying.
The next morning...
Robert was gone.
Heart attack.
That was what everyone was told.
But now...
"You're saying Dad died while investigating you?"
Margaret nodded.
"Yes."
Ethan looked at Patricia.
"And you knew this."
Patricia smiled.
"I knew enough."
Daniel looked suspicious.
"Why would you keep this information hidden?"
Patricia shrugged.
"Because information is valuable."
Ethan stared.
There it was.
Her entire personality.
Everything was a transaction.
Even pain.
Even death.
Ethan looked at his mother.
"Did you kill him?"
The question came out before he could stop it.
The room went completely still.
Margaret's face collapsed.
Not anger.
Not offense.
Pain.
The deepest pain Ethan had ever seen.
"You really believe that?"
Ethan immediately regretted asking.
But the damage was done.
"I don't know what to believe anymore."
Margaret looked away.
"I understand."
She stood slowly.
"I would ask you to trust me."
A sad smile appeared.
"But I know I don't deserve that right now."
She walked toward the door.
Then stopped.
"Before your father died, he told me something."
Ethan looked up.
"What?"
Margaret turned.
"He said the truth always finds its way home."
A pause.
"Even if everyone tries to bury it."
She left the room.
Nobody spoke.
Then Daniel's laptop made a sound.
A new message.
Daniel opened it.
His expression changed.
"Ethan."
"What?"
Daniel turned the screen.
A new file had appeared.
No sender.
No identification.
Only one title.
"ROBERT WALKER'S FINAL INVESTIGATION."
Ethan stared.
"How did that get there?"
Daniel shook his head.
"I don't know."
Ethan opened the file.
Inside was a scanned document.
His father's handwriting.
The first line made his blood run cold.
"I know who is responsible."
Ethan stopped breathing.
He continued reading.
"The person who betrayed me is not the person everyone suspects."
His eyes moved lower.
Then he saw the name.
The name Robert Walker had written before his death.
The name of the person he believed had destroyed his family.
Ethan's face went pale.
Because it wasn't Margaret.
It wasn't Patricia.
It wasn't anyone he expected.
It was someone much closer.
Someone who had been standing in the room the entire time.
Ethan slowly looked up.
His eyes moved toward Daniel.
And then toward the empty doorway where Margaret had just disappeared.
Because his father's final investigation had one terrifying conclusion.
The betrayal came from inside the family.
May you like
And the person responsible...
was someone Ethan had trusted his entire life.
