Chapter 13 - We found Ethan's vehicle two miles away.Empty.
No Elsie.
No Ethan.
No Marcus.
The rain destroyed most of the tracks.
But it couldn't wash away one thing.
A tiny blue ribbon caught on a fence.
Mara had used that ribbon on Elsie's dresses.
Clara recognized it.
“She was here.”
“Then she is still nearby.”
We followed the fence line to an old railway tunnel.
Inside, we found a room.
A chair.
A blanket.
A child's drawing.
And a camera.
Ethan had been recording.
We played the footage.
He had been documenting everything.
Not for Marcus.
For someone else.
The video showed Ethan meeting Mara weeks before her death.
Mara handed him documents.
He promised to protect her.
Then the next video showed Marcus confronting Ethan.
“You work for me.”
“I did.”
“Then you still do.”
Ethan had refused.
Marcus threatened his family.
That explained everything.
Ethan wasn't innocent.
He had helped build the system.
But he had also been trapped inside it.
The final video showed Mara.
She looked directly into the camera.
“Ethan, if you betray me, my family dies.”
He nodded.
“I won't.”
Then the video ended.
We found another file.
The title:
WHO KILLED MARA.
The answer was not Marcus.
Not Ethan.
Not Samuel.
It was Arthur Bell.
Arthur had arranged the crash.
He had paid a driver to force Mara off the road.
Marcus had covered it.
Samuel had hidden the financial evidence afterward.
Julian had been lied to.
He thought Mara was still investigating.
He didn't know she was dead.
I stared at the screen.
My board chairman had murdered my daughter-in-law.
And then I remembered Arthur escaping the foundation.
He knew we were close.
He had Elsie.
We traced his payments.
One account had received a recent transfer.
A private airfield.
Arthur planned to leave the country.
We arrived before he could.
The hangar door was open.
Inside stood Arthur.
He was holding Elsie.
Vanessa stood opposite him.
“Put her down,” I said.
Arthur laughed.
“Why?”
“She has nothing to do with this.”
“She has everything to do with it.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“You said she was only leverage.”
Arthur looked at her.
“She is the inheritance.”
I understood.
Arthur wasn't working for Marcus anymore.
He was trying to steal the trust for himself.
That made him more dangerous.
“Where is the original deed?”
Arthur smiled.
“Gone.”
“Where?”
“I burned it.”
Clara shook her head.
“You didn't.”
Arthur turned.
Clara was holding a document.
The real deed.
Arthur's face collapsed.
“How?”
“Mara gave it to me.”
I looked at Clara.
Arthur raised his weapon.
Security moved.
Vanessa stepped between them.
“Enough!”
Arthur grabbed her.
“You betrayed me.”
“No.”
She looked at her father.
“I finally stopped obeying you.”
Marcus appeared behind her.
“You should have.”
Everything froze.
He looked at Arthur.
“You've become a liability.”
Arthur laughed.
“You built this.”
“And you made it sloppy.”
Marcus raised his weapon.
Arthur fired first.
The hangar erupted.
Glass shattered.
Everyone dropped.
Vanessa pulled Elsie behind a vehicle.
Julian tackled Arthur.
Marcus disappeared through the rear door.
I ran after him.
We reached the runway.
His car was waiting.
He opened the door.
Then stopped.
He looked at me.
“You think Mara wanted revenge.”
“What did she want?”
He smiled.
“Justice.”
“Then why are you running?”
His face changed.
“Because she found something worse.”
“What?”
He stepped backward.
“Your father didn't start this.”
I froze.
“Who did?”
Marcus looked directly at me.
“Your grandfather.”
Then he drove away.
I stood on the runway.
My father's father.
A man I had barely remembered.
Could the entire system go back another generation?
Samuel approached.
“Cesare.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
He handed me a final envelope.
“It was hidden in Mara's records.”
I opened it.
Inside was a photograph of my grandfather.
Beside him stood Marcus's grandfather.
And behind them was a young woman.
My grandmother.
On the back were four words:
THE FIRST PAYMENT.
I turned the photograph over.
May you like
There was one final line.
PAID IN BLOOD.
