Chapter 6 - WHAT MY FATHER KNEWWe reached the hidden room and locked the passage.
I turned to Garrett.
“What do you mean my father didn't die naturally?”
Garrett leaned against the wall, breathing hard.
He was still weak.
Still learning how to trust muscles that had been deliberately neglected.
But he could stand.
“How did you know my father?”
“I didn't.”
“Then how can you say he was murdered?”
Garrett pointed to the key.
“B-17 wasn't created for my accident.”
“What was it created for?”
“Your father's investigation.”
I stared at him.
“Investigation into what?”
“Corbin Holdings.”
My father's face appeared in my mind.
He had always been quiet.
Private.
After his stroke, he sometimes became confused.
I had thought it was part of the illness.
Maybe it wasn't.
Garrett opened an old file.
“Your father was hired as an external auditor.”
“For your company?”
“Yes.”
“He never told me.”
“Because he discovered money laundering.”
My hands began to shake.
“How much?”
“Enough to destroy powerful people.”
I opened the file.
There were handwritten notes.
Names.
Dates.
Account numbers.
One sentence had been circled in red.
DOUGLAS IS NOT THE ORIGINAL SOURCE.
I stared at Garrett.
“Then who is?”
“We don't know.”
I read further.
Then I saw something familiar.
MILLER
My father's handwriting appeared beside my ex-husband's surname.
Christopher.
I closed my eyes.
“Why was my father investigating my husband?”
“He wasn't.”
Garrett looked at the page.
“He was investigating the company Christopher worked for.”
A terrible possibility formed.
“Christopher was recruited because of me.”
Garrett nodded.
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“We need proof.”
We found an old laptop hidden inside the room.
The battery still worked.
There was one encrypted folder.
Garrett looked at me.
“Your father probably left this.”
“Can you open it?”
“No.”
I remembered something.
My father's favorite phrase.
Something he had repeated every Sunday after his stroke.
The year you were born.
I entered 1987.
The folder opened.
Inside was a single video.
My father appeared on screen.
Older.
Tired.
But clear.
“Rebecca, if you're seeing this, I've already failed to protect you.”
I covered my mouth.
He continued.
“I discovered that someone inside Corbin Holdings was moving money through shell companies. I tried to report it. They knew.”
He took a breath.
“They told me to stop.”
“They mentioned you.”
My eyes filled with tears.
“They knew you were my daughter.”
The video continued.
“I need you to understand something. If anything happens to me, do not trust anyone who tells you this was an accident.”
The screen went black.
I couldn't move.
Garrett placed a hand on my shoulder.
Then another file opened automatically.
A photograph appeared.
My father.
Garrett's father.
And another man.
The three of them standing together.
The fourth man was blurred.
Garrett stared.
“My father knew yours.”
“Apparently.”
The photograph zoomed.
The blurred man's face sharpened.
I recognized him instantly.
Ethan Vale.
The family's attorney.
Garrett went pale.
“The lawyer.”
“The lawyer,” I whispered.
Someone had been manipulating the Corbin family for years.
And Ethan had been there from the beginning.
We heard a sound outside.
The hidden passage door moved.
Garrett pushed the laptop into my hands.
“Hide it.”
The door opened.
Evelyn entered.
She saw Garrett standing.
For the first time, there was no shock on her face.
Only relief.
Then she began to cry.
“I've been waiting years to see you standing.”
Garrett stared at her.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because the person watching us was your father's closest friend.”
“Who?”
Evelyn whispered:
“Ethan Vale.”
Garrett clenched his fists.
Then Evelyn said the words that changed everything.
“Ethan didn't order your accident.”
I looked at her.
“Then who did?”
Evelyn pointed toward the door.
“Someone you already know.”
A voice answered from the hallway.
“Mother.”
Douglas stepped inside.
He was holding a gun.
May you like
And behind him stood Christopher.
Blood ran down his face.
