Chapter 13 - The attorney's office had been closed for eighteen months.Yet the lights were on.
Michael entered through the side door.
Daniel followed.
Detective Brooks stayed outside with officers.
The office was empty.
Files had been removed.
Computers wiped.
Furniture covered in plastic.
Michael walked into the main conference room.
His sister was sitting at the table.
Rebecca was there too.
Both were alive.
Neither looked surprised to see him.
Michael stopped.
“You lied to me.”
His sister nodded.
“Yes.”
Rebecca whispered:
“We had no choice.”
Michael slammed the door.
“You always had a choice.”
His sister stood.
“We were trying to keep you alive.”
“And you did it by letting me believe my daughter was unstable?”
“No.”
“Then explain.”
She looked at Rebecca.
Rebecca spoke first.
“Sarah wanted you to forget.”
“Forget what?”
“Your own role.”
Michael frowned.
“What role?”
His sister placed a document on the table.
Michael read it.
His signature.
Two years earlier.
A declaration naming a temporary guardian for Emma.
The signature looked like his.
But Michael knew he had never signed it.
He stared.
“This is forged.”
His sister shook her head.
“It isn't.”
Michael looked up.
“What?”
“You signed it.”
“I don't remember.”
“Because you were medicated.”
Michael's face went pale.
“After the accident.”
“Yes.”
“I was unconscious.”
“You were awake for part of the night.”
Michael remembered fragments.
Painkillers.
Voices.
A pen.
Someone telling him Sarah had died.
His mind had blocked most of it.
His sister continued.
“Paul used the hospital records to make it appear you voluntarily transferred temporary guardianship.”
Michael's voice cracked.
“I never agreed.”
“We know.”
“Then why is it here?”
“Because Daniel signed as witness.”
Michael turned toward Daniel.
Daniel couldn't meet his eyes.
“You signed it.”
“Yes.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Daniel whispered:
“Because Paul already had the original.”
Michael's anger exploded.
“You could have told me!”
Daniel shook his head.
“They had Emma's location. They knew everything.”
Rebecca stood.
“Sarah knew that once the legal record existed, they could manipulate it.”
Michael looked at the document.
“So the whole thing was built on one fake agreement.”
“No,” his sister said.
“It was built on several.”
She opened another file.
The original trust.
Then the adoption.
Then the medical records.
Then the school reports.
Each piece was connected.
Paul had designed a chain.
Emma would be declared unstable.
Michael would appear unable to parent her.
Temporary guardianship would become permanent.
The trust would move.
Richard would gain access.
Ashley would receive payment.
Paul would control the process.
Michael looked at Rebecca.
“And Sarah?”
“She tried to break the chain.”
Rebecca pulled out one final envelope.
“She left this for you.”
Michael opened it.
A handwritten note.
Michael,
You will hate me for this. You should.
I didn't tell you Rebecca was Emma's mother because I knew you would go looking.
If you knew, you'd confront Richard.
If you confronted Richard, Emma would be taken.
Michael's eyes burned.
Sarah continued:
I needed you to believe Emma was only my daughter.
I needed them to underestimate how far I would go to protect her.
At the bottom:
And I needed them to believe you were alone.
Michael sat down.
For two years, he had thought Sarah had left him without answers.
She had actually been building a final defense.
Then he saw the final paragraph.
There is one person I could not protect.
Michael's chest tightened.
The name below was not Emma.
Not Michael.
Not Rebecca.
It was Ashley.
Michael looked up.
“Ashley.”
Rebecca nodded.
“She was forced into it.”
“She hurt Emma.”
“Yes.”
“She threatened her.”
“Yes.”
Michael looked at the letter again.
Sarah had predicted that Ashley would eventually become dangerous.
She had also predicted that Ashley would try to escape Paul.
Michael folded the letter.
“What do we do now?”
A sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Detective Brooks shouted:
“Everyone down!”
Gunfire shattered the windows.
Michael grabbed Emma's file and pulled his sister down.
Rebecca crawled behind the table.
Daniel moved toward the back door.
Then a voice echoed through the office.
Paul.
“You should have left the past buried.”
Michael looked toward the doorway.
Paul appeared.
No disguise.
No smile.
Just a gun in his hand.
“I want the original trust.”
Michael held it up.
“You mean this?”
Paul nodded.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
Paul raised the gun.
Then another voice came from behind him.
“Don't.”
Ashley.
She stood in the doorway.
Her gun was pointed at Paul.
Everyone froze.
Paul smiled.
“You came back.”
Ashley looked at Michael.
“I told you.”
Michael remembered her words.
You are asking the wrong person.
Ashley looked at Emma.
Her expression cracked.
“I never wanted to hurt her.”
Emma stared at her.
Michael stepped in front of his daughter.
Ashley lowered her weapon.
“Paul threatened my brother's grave.”
Paul laughed.
“You still care about Noah.”
Ashley looked at him.
“You took everything from me.”
Paul's expression became cold.
Then he raised his weapon.
May you like
Two gunshots exploded.
And the lights went out.
