Chapter 10 - The Secret Teresa Buried
We raced home.
The house was dark.
The security team was in the driveway.
No one had seen Teresa leave.
No one had seen Chloe leave.
The front door opened when I pushed it.
Inside was silence.
“Chloe!”
Nothing.
I ran upstairs.
Her bedroom was empty.
Window locked.
Bed untouched.
The closet door was open.
I found Teresa in our bedroom.
She was sitting on the floor.
Blood covered the sleeve of her robe.
“Where's Chloe?”
She looked up.
“I don't know.”
I grabbed her shoulders.
“Where is our daughter?”
“I don't know!”
Her voice broke.
Then she pointed beneath the bed.
A black phone lay there.
I picked it up.
One recording.
I played it.
Teresa's voice filled the room.
“If you're hearing this, they already know.”
Then another voice.
My father's.
My heart stopped.
“My son, there is something you need to understand.”
The recording crackled.
“I built the company to survive men who wanted power.”
A pause.
“But Daniel wanted something different.”
I looked at Teresa.
She couldn't meet my eyes.
My father's voice continued.
“He wanted to become me.”
The recording ended.
I stared at the phone.
“What did you know?”
Teresa began crying.
“Everything.”
“Then tell me.”
She finally looked at me.
“Daniel didn't kill your father.”
I froze.
“What?”
“He was there.”
“Teresa.”
“He shot him.”
My voice dropped.
“Then who killed him?”
She swallowed.
“The person who ordered Daniel to do it.”
“Who?”
She whispered,
“Your mother.”
The room went silent.
I laughed once.
It was the kind of laugh that comes when reality becomes too absurd to hold.
“My mother?”
“She wanted control of the company.”
“She was broke.”
“She wasn't.”
Teresa shook her head.
“Your mother had another life.”
She opened a drawer.
Inside were dozens of photographs.
My mother beside politicians.
My mother beside judges.
My mother beside the same men whose names were in the ledger.
And one photo made my blood stop.
My mother was standing beside Martin Hale.
Twenty-seven years earlier.
The same man who had just kidnapped my daughter.
My wife continued.
“Martin was your mother's protégé.”
I stared at the photograph.
“Then Daniel wasn't The Broker.”
“No.”
“Who was?”
Teresa closed her eyes.
“Your mother.”
I felt the room tilt.
“My mother died six years ago.”
Teresa whispered,
“No.”
I looked at her.
“She never died.”
The words barely registered.
“She disappeared.”
I stepped backward.
“Where is she?”
Teresa pointed at the photo.
“She's been living under another name.”
“What name?”
Teresa looked directly at me.
Then she said:
“Evelyn Crane.”
The same woman standing downstairs.
The same woman who claimed to be protecting me.
I ran.
But when I reached the staircase, Evelyn was already gone.
Only one thing remained.
A note on the table.
May you like
You finally know who your mother is.
Now ask yourself why she wants Chloe.
