Chapter 4 - THE LETTER MY FATHER HIDWe didn't sleep.
At sunrise, Christopher came to Amy's house with two investigators.
He examined the flash drive.
Then he looked at me.
“Your father may have known this was coming.”
I hated hearing that.
Because it meant my father had left secrets behind.
Secrets that were now capable of destroying my life.
Christopher opened the first file.
A scanned letter appeared.
My father's handwriting.
I recognized it instantly.
My hands trembled.
Elizabeth,
If you are reading this, then I failed to protect you from the people who watched our family for years.
I stopped.
Christopher continued reading.
The letter explained that my father had once partnered with Jared.
The partnership ended badly.
Jared had allegedly stolen money from the company.
My father discovered it.
He threatened to expose him.
Jared threatened him back.
But before anything happened, my father died unexpectedly.
The official cause had been a heart attack.
I remembered the funeral.
The flowers.
The rain.
My mother's tears.
The way Jared had stood silently near the back.
He hadn't cried.
I had never understood why.
Now I knew.
My father's letter continued.
Jared will try to approach my daughter through someone she trusts.
I looked at Ashley.
She looked sick.
He may use his son.
Dwight.
My chest tightened.
The next paragraph was worse.
If Elizabeth marries Dwight, they will attempt to access the trust. Do not believe the marriage is legitimate.
I covered my mouth.
Christopher stopped reading.
“You need to hear the next part.”
He continued.
The trust is not only money. It contains the original company records proving what Jared did.
I stared at the screen.
So this wasn't just inheritance.
There was evidence.
Evidence that could destroy Jared.
That explained everything.
But then the letter said something I never expected.
I placed the evidence where Jared would never look.
Christopher looked at me.
“Where?”
I shook my head.
“I don't know.”
Then we found a handwritten clue.
A street address.
My childhood home.
The house had been sold years ago.
But the address meant something.
My father's workshop.
The place where he used to repair old radios.
Amy searched online.
The building still existed.
The new owner had renovated it.
Christopher called a local contact.
Within an hour, we had permission to enter.
When we arrived, I walked through the dusty workshop.
Everything smelled the same.
Oil.
Wood.
Metal.
Memories.
I stood beside the old workbench.
Then I noticed a scratch in the floor.
A rectangular outline.
Christopher crouched.
“There.”
We pulled up the loose panel.
Inside was a metal box.
Locked.
Ashley whispered, “That's it.”
Christopher looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“I saw Jared searching for it once.”
The key was nowhere.
Then I remembered something.
My father's old pocket watch.
It had been given to me after the funeral.
I opened it.
A tiny key had been hidden beneath the back plate.
I stared at it.
My father had planned this.
Christopher unlocked the box.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
Bank records.
And one cassette tape.
Amy stared.
“Who still uses those?”
I smiled despite everything.
“My father did.”
Christopher found an old player in the workshop.
The tape clicked.
Static.
Then my father's voice.
“If you're hearing this, Jared has already tried to take what doesn't belong to him.”
I started crying.
My father paused.
Then said:
“Elizabeth, the person you marry will be the test.”
Silence.
Then:
“Because the only way Jared can reach the trust is through someone you love.”
I looked at Dwight's photo on my phone.
My father continued.
“Watch what happens when you refuse.”
The tape ended.
Nobody moved.
Then Christopher noticed something written on the box.
A date.
Tomorrow's date.
“That can't be coincidence.”
“What does it mean?” I asked.
He turned the box over.
There was another document underneath.
A court notice.
It contained my name.
Dwight's name.
And a hearing date.
Tomorrow morning.
I stared at it.
“They already scheduled the hearing.”
Christopher's jaw tightened.
“No.”
“What?”
“They scheduled it before you were attacked.”
I felt ice spread through my veins.
The slaps hadn't been the beginning.
They had been the final act of a plan that started months earlier.
And Dwight hadn't married me to steal my money.
He had married me to trigger something.
May you like
Something my father had hidden.
Something Jared was terrified I would discover.
