Chapter 15 - Donald Was AliveI grabbed the phone.
“Donald?”
Static.
Then his voice again.
“Margaret.”
I was crying before I realized it.
“Where are you?”
“I don't know.”
“Are you alive?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I'll explain.”
Harold stared at me in disbelief.
“It's complicated.”
“No,” I said. “It's four years too late.”
Silence.
Then Donald spoke.
“I thought you were safer believing I was dead.”
“You let me mourn you.”
“I know.”
“You let me live with Stephanie.”
“I know.”
“You let them take everything.”
“I tried to stop them.”
“You failed.”
“I know.”
The words came out through clenched teeth.
“Where are you?”
“Underground.”
“Where?”
“I can't say.”
“Why?”
“Because they're listening.”
I looked around.
“We found the ledger.”
“I know.”
“Thomas has Stephanie.”
“I know.”
“He wants the original.”
“Don't give it to him.”
“Then how do I save her?”
Donald was silent.
Then he said,
“Use the phrase.”
“What phrase?”
“Forever starts tomorrow.”
“I already did.”
“Good.”
“What happened?”
“The system opened?”
“Yes.”
“Then you have access.”
“To what?”
“To everything.”
I stared at the laptop.
Donald continued.
“Thomas doesn't want the money.”
“What does he want?”
“He wants the names.”
“What names?”
“The people above him.”
I froze.
“There's someone above Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Donald breathed heavily.
“I couldn't prove it.”
“Who is it?”
“It was the person who ordered the attack on you.”
“What?”
“Four years ago.”
My blood ran cold.
“What attack?”
Donald's voice dropped.
“The first time you tried to sell the house.”
I remembered.
Three weeks before I moved in with Stephanie, I had slipped on icy stairs.
Everyone called it an accident.
It hadn't been.
Someone had loosened the railing.
Donald had suspected.
I had forgotten.
Then another memory returned.
Stephanie standing in the kitchen.
David beside her.
And Thomas on the phone.
They had been discussing me.
I suddenly understood.
The plan wasn't just theft.
It was removal.
I was supposed to die.
Donald continued.
“The person above Thomas has been inside your family for years.”
“Who?”
“I never learned the full identity.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
“Then why are you calling me?”
“Because I finally found out one thing.”
“What?”
“The person controlling everything is the owner of the Hale Estate.”
My heart stopped.
“Linda?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Before he could answer, the line went dead.
I turned to Harold.
“We need the Hale Estate.”
Again.
When we arrived, the doors were open.
Inside, the house was empty.
Except for one room.
A study.
On the desk was a folder.
My name.
Inside were financial statements.
Medical records.
Photographs of me.
Photographs of Donald.
Photographs of Stephanie.
Every major event in our lives had been documented.
Someone had watched us for decades.
Then I found a final photograph.
It showed me as a teenager.
Standing in my father's bank.
Beside me was Donald.
Behind us was a young woman.
I stared.
Linda.
But beside Linda stood a man I had completely forgotten.
My father.
And beside him was Thomas.
Then I saw the final person in the photograph.
A little girl.
Me.
In my arms was a baby.
Stephanie.
The date was the day Stephanie entered our family.
On the back was a handwritten sentence.
THE FAMILY SECRET BEGINS WITH THE MOTHER.
I turned around.
Someone was standing behind me.
It was Linda.
She was holding a gun.
And she was crying.
“I'm sorry, Margaret.”
I stared at her.
“For what?”
She lowered the weapon.
“For lying.”
Then she whispered,
“Thomas isn't the one you're looking for.”
May you like
She pointed toward the ceiling.
“He takes orders from me.”
