Chapter 6 - The Secret My Sister BuriedI answered the call.
"Harland's phone. Luca Moretti speaking."
The person on the other end remained silent.
Then an older man's voice said, "You shouldn't have found the greenhouse."
Dr. Samuel Voss.
I recognized his voice immediately.
"Where is Theo?"
A sharp breath.
"You don't understand what you're doing."
"That seems to be the only sentence anyone in this family knows how to say. Where is the boy?"
"If you care about him, stop asking questions."
I looked at Harland.
He had gone perfectly still.
That frightened me more than his earlier arrogance.
"Listen carefully, Doctor. The police are on their way. They already have the footage, the forged documents, and the ledger. If anything happens to Theo, you'll spend the rest of your life explaining your involvement."
The doctor gave a bitter laugh.
"You think the police can protect a child from what has already been set in motion?"
The call ended.
I immediately handed the phone to Marcus.
"Trace it."
He nodded and led Harland outside with the arrested gunman.
Adrian remained beside the cabinet, pale and sweating.
I turned toward him.
"You have a few minutes before the police arrive. Use them wisely."
He swallowed.
"I never wanted anyone hurt."
"Then why did you help Harland?"
"My job was to prepare the transfer documents. I was told the transaction had been approved by your father years ago."
"And the signature?"
"I was given a scanned copy."
"You knew it was forged."
He didn't answer.
I stepped forward.
"You have spent eleven years advising my family. You knew about Isabella. You knew about Theo. You knew my father suspected Harland, and you kept silent while they stole from us."
"Your father threatened to destroy my career."
"So you helped a thief?"
Adrian lowered his head.
"He had evidence that could ruin me."
"What evidence?"
Before he could respond, Isabella touched my arm.
"Stop."
I turned.
She was staring at the letter from our father.
"You need to hear what happened the night he died."
I looked at her.
"You knew something?"
She took a shaky breath.
"I was here that night."
The words landed like a blow.
Six years ago, when our father died, I had been in London negotiating the purchase of a competing company. I returned for the funeral, signed the necessary papers, and took control of the estate.
I had been devastated, but I never questioned the circumstances surrounding his death.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I was afraid."
"Of whom?"
She looked at Harland's empty chair.
"Him."
Isabella explained that she had returned to the estate after receiving a letter from our father. He had asked her to come quietly because he had discovered irregularities in the foundation accounts.
He believed Harland was stealing from the estate.
But the theft was only part of the problem.
Our father had also discovered that the northern property had been pledged as collateral against a series of secret loans. If the debts were not exposed, the land could be seized.
He intended to transfer the property into a protected trust for Theo.
Before he could complete the paperwork, he became ill.
"I visited him in his bedroom," Isabella continued. "He was conscious, but barely. Dr. Voss had given him medication and insisted he needed rest."
"What happened?"
"I heard Harland arguing with the doctor outside the room. They thought I had left. Voss said the dosage was too high. Harland told him to keep quiet and follow the instructions."
My mouth went dry.
"Are you saying they killed him?"
"I'm saying I heard them."
"Why didn't you go to the police?"
"Because the next morning, Dr. Voss told me that our father had left a letter accusing me of stealing money from him. Harland showed me a document bearing his signature. They threatened to report me, take Theo away, and have me imprisoned."
She wiped her face.
"I was pregnant with Theo at the time. I was terrified. I left because I thought it was the only way to protect him."
"But why fake your death?"
"Harland found me six weeks later. He told me that if I ever returned, my son would disappear."
I stared at her.
All those years, I had believed my sister had died because of a terrible accident.
In reality, she had been living in hiding, raising a child while believing our own family estate was dangerous.
"I should have searched harder," I whispered.
"You couldn't have known."
"I should have trusted our father."
"Yes," she said quietly. "You should have."
Her honesty hurt, but I deserved it.
Outside, police sirens approached the property.
For the first time in years, I felt that the truth might finally come into the open.
Then Marcus burst through the door.
"Sir, we have a problem."
"What now?"
He held up his phone.
"The police have confirmed Dr. Voss's location. He's at the hospital."
"Then go get him."
"There's something else."
Marcus turned the screen toward us.
A message had arrived from an unknown number.
It contained a photograph of Nora.
She was sitting in the back of a car, clutching a stuffed rabbit.
Her eyes were wide with fear.
Below the picture were seven words.
BRING THE ORIGINAL TRUST, OR SHE DISAPPEARS.
I felt my blood turn to ice.
Nora had been safe upstairs less than an hour ago.
Someone had entered my estate, taken a three-year-old child, and walked out without raising an alarm.
Marcus looked at me.
"Sir, we're locking down every exit."
I barely heard him.
I was staring at the photograph.
Because the stuffed rabbit in Nora's hands belonged to Isabella's son.
And beside Nora, barely visible in the dark, was a small hand wearing a silver bracelet.
May you like
A bracelet I had seen in the greenhouse.
It belonged to Theo.
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