Chapter 7 - SARAHThe recording lasted only twelve seconds.
Long enough to destroy the last piece of certainty I had.
“Bring Rebecca to the study,” my father said. “Do not bring the police.”
Then silence.
I looked at Rebecca.
“Why the study?”
She whispered, “Because that's where your father kept the files.”
I walked down the corridor.
Every memory of my childhood suddenly felt wrong.
The old clock.
The wooden railing.
The study door.
My father's desk.
I opened it.
Empty.
Then I noticed a hidden compartment.
Inside was a key.
Rebecca recognized it immediately.
“That opens something.”
“What?”
“The vault.”
I looked at her.
“There's a vault?”
She nodded.
“You have no idea how rich your family really was.”
“I don't care about the money.”
“You should.”
“Why?”
“Because Emily isn't just the heir.”
I stared at her.
“She is the proof.”
“Proof of what?”
Rebecca looked at me.
“That your father didn't build his fortune.”
“He stole it.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“He built it using people.”
I opened the vault.
Inside were passports.
Photographs.
Bank records.
Letters.
And one file labeled:
SARAH BENNETT — SURVIVOR.
My hands shook.
I opened it.
The first page contained a photograph of Sarah in a hospital bed.
Her face was bruised.
Her eyes were swollen.
Underneath was one sentence:
Witness refuses to cooperate until child is secured.
I read the next page.
Then another.
Then I saw Emily's name.
Sarah had discovered that my father had manipulated the family trust for years.
She had threatened to expose him.
He had threatened Emily.
So Sarah disappeared voluntarily.
Not because she abandoned us.
Because she was hiding us.
I fell into a chair.
“She left to protect Emily.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“Because your father had access to everything. Your phone. Your emails. Your finances.”
I stared at my hands.
“All this time…”
“She believed you would be targeted next.”
“Then why come back now?”
Rebecca looked away.
“Because he found her.”
“What?”
“Three months ago.”
I turned.
“Three months?”
“She came to me.”
“And?”
“She said he knew where Emily was.”
I suddenly understood.
The wedding.
Rebecca.
The note.
Everything.
“You were trying to get custody so Sarah could take Emily.”
“Yes.”
“Then where is Sarah now?”
Rebecca's eyes filled with tears.
“I don't know.”
A gunshot exploded upstairs.
We froze.
Then another.
Daniel shouted from the hallway.
“DOWN!”
We hit the floor.
Glass shattered.
Someone was firing from outside.
Elias grabbed me.
“Move!”
We ran into the vault.
Bullets struck the door.
Then everything went quiet.
Too quiet.
We waited.
Thirty seconds.
Nothing.
Then I heard footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Coming down the stairs.
Rebecca whispered:
“It's him.”
My heart stopped.
“Your father?”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“Someone worse.”
A shadow appeared beneath the door.
Then a familiar voice spoke.
My mother's.
“Andrew?”
I opened the door.
My mother stood there.
Blood on her dress.
And in her hand was a gun.
“Your father didn't take Emily.”
May you like
She started crying.
“I did.”
