Chapter 7 - MY FATHER'S LETTERDerek left the letter on the warehouse floor.
Then he walked away.
He didn't threaten me.
Didn't shout.
Didn't try to stop me.
That frightened me more.
Samuel picked up the letter.
“You shouldn't read this here.”
“Give it to me.”
He hesitated.
“Anna.”
“Give it to me.”
He handed it over.
I opened it.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
My father's.
The first line nearly stopped my heart.
Anna, if you are reading this, I failed to protect you.
I kept reading.
He wrote that Mercer Holdings had been used by powerful people to move money through legitimate businesses.
He had tried to expose them.
Then he discovered that someone inside the organization had stolen access to the family's assets.
Someone close to him.
Someone he trusted.
The letter named three people.
Samuel Reed.
Evelyn Mercer.
And a man whose name I knew too well.
Derek Lawson.
I stared at it.
“No.”
Samuel looked away.
My father wrote:
Derek is not who he says he is.
My hands shook.
The next line was worse.
He approached you because of me.
I couldn't breathe.
Rachel had been right.
The marriage wasn't random.
The client dinner.
The charity event.
The first meeting.
The wedding.
The house.
Everything had been planned.
I looked at Samuel.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your father made me promise.”
“To protect me?”
“Yes.”
“You didn't.”
“I tried.”
I pushed the letter into his chest.
“You let Derek marry me.”
Samuel flinched.
“I thought keeping you alive mattered more.”
I stared at him.
“Alive?”
He didn't answer.
I suddenly remembered something from years ago.
A night when Derek had come home furious.
I had asked where he had been.
He said, “Cleaning up your father's mess.”
At the time, I'd assumed he was insulting me.
Now I wasn't sure.
Samuel continued.
“Your father left instructions.”
“What instructions?”
“You were supposed to receive everything when you turned thirty.”
“I turned thirty two years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't I receive anything?”
“Because Derek intercepted the documents.”
I felt dizzy.
“How?”
“Your legal identity had been altered.”
“By who?”
“Derek.”
I looked at the letter again.
A second page had been folded behind the first.
I opened it.
There was a list of accounts.
Property.
Companies.
Trusts.
The total value made no sense.
It was enormous.
Millions.
Maybe more.
And beneath the list was one final sentence.
Do not trust the person who tells you I am dead.
I looked at Samuel.
“My father was murdered.”
“Yes.”
“Who did it?”
Samuel closed his eyes.
“I'm not certain.”
“But you suspect Derek.”
“Yes.”
The warehouse door opened.
Rachel and Daniel entered.
I stared at them.
“How did you find me?”
Rachel looked furious.
“Your car.”
Daniel walked toward Samuel.
“We're leaving.”
Samuel didn't move.
“Not yet.”
Daniel's eyes hardened.
“You've had years to tell her.”
Samuel looked at me.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“Derek wasn't the one who started the plan.”
“What plan?”
“To take your inheritance.”
A heavy silence.
“Then who?”
Samuel looked at the letter.
“Your mother.”
I stopped breathing.
“My mother?”
“She knew.”
“No.”
“She helped hide the money.”
“Why?”
“To protect you.”
“Then why did she die?”
Samuel looked at me.
“She didn't.”
Everything inside me stopped.
“What?”
“Your mother is alive.”
Rachel whispered my name.
I heard nothing.
I stared at Samuel.
“You're lying.”
“I've seen her.”
“Where?”
He reached into his coat.
Pulled out a photograph.
An older woman stood beside a window.
Gray hair.
Thin face.
A scar beneath her left eye.
I knew that face.
I had buried it twenty years ago.
My knees nearly gave out.
“That isn't possible.”
Samuel said quietly:
“It is.”
I stared at the photograph.
“Where is she?”
He looked at me.
“She lives less than twenty miles from Rachel's house.”
The world went silent.
Then my phone vibrated.
A message.
Unknown number.
He told you, didn't he?
Another message followed.
Your mother is alive.
May you like
Then one more.
But Derek knows where she is.
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