Chapter 8 - Derek told me something I had never expected to hear.“The person behind the wall is alive.”
I stared at him.
“Who?”
“My father's partner.”
“Richard Kane?”
He nodded.
“Your husband didn't die alone.”
The steel door trembled.
Someone was inside.
Nathan raised his weapon.
“Stay back.”
We moved toward the hidden chamber.
The key fit into a small slot beside the door.
I turned it.
A mechanical click echoed.
The door opened.
The smell hit first.
Dust.
Medicine.
Metal.
Then I saw the bed.
A man lay beneath a blanket.
His face was thin.
His hair almost entirely white.
But I recognized him.
Richard Kane.
My husband's business partner.
The man who had supposedly disappeared abroad twelve years ago.
He opened his eyes.
“Evelyn.”
I could barely breathe.
“You're alive.”
“Barely.”
Nathan rushed forward.
“Where have you been?”
Richard looked at Derek.
“With him.”
Derek's face collapsed.
“I didn't know what to do.”
I stared at my son.
“You knew he was alive?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Six months.”
My stomach turned.
Richard spoke.
“Derek helped me escape Gideon.”
I looked at my son.
“You helped him?”
“Yes.”
“After you helped Gideon?”
Derek nodded.
“I was trapped.”
I almost shouted.
“You always had a choice.”
“I know.”
He looked broken.
“I made the wrong ones.”
Richard coughed.
Nathan helped him sit up.
“What happened to my husband?”
Richard's eyes filled with shame.
“I was there.”
The room went silent.
“Your husband had discovered the theft.”
Richard swallowed.
“He confronted Gideon.”
“And Derek?”
“He was there too.”
I closed my eyes.
Richard continued.
“Gideon brought poison.”
My heart stopped.
“Your husband knew what was happening.”
Richard pointed to a small metal box.
“He recorded everything.”
I grabbed it.
Inside was a cassette tape.
Old technology.
My husband's voice.
Gideon's voice.
Derek's voice.
The argument.
The threats.
Then the unmistakable sound of glass breaking.
My husband coughed.
Richard cried quietly.
“I should have stopped him.”
“Why didn't you?”
“Because Gideon had my family.”
I looked at him.
“Your family?”
“My daughter.”
I froze.
“Lucinda?”
“No.”
Richard shook his head.
“My younger daughter.”
I remembered the photograph of Lucinda.
There was another child.
A little girl.
A name.
“Clara.”
Richard nodded.
“Gideon threatened her.”
I sat down.
This story had become a maze of fear and blood.
But there was one thing that didn't fit.
“Why did Gideon need the eleven million?”
Richard looked at me.
“He didn't.”
I frowned.
“The money is a distraction.”
I remembered my husband's recording.
The eleven million was bait.
“What is the real asset?”
Richard pointed upward.
“Control.”
“Control of what?”
“Everlake.”
I shook my head.
“Everlake was sold years ago.”
Richard smiled weakly.
“No.”
He explained.
The visible company had been sold.
The intellectual property had not.
My husband had secretly retained patents, software rights, and ownership interests in a technology portfolio worth hundreds of millions.
The eleven million in liquid assets was merely the surface.
The real estate and intellectual property were worth far more.
Gideon wanted control of everything.
And he needed my signature.
That was why the medical manipulation mattered.
That was why they needed me declared incompetent.
That was why they needed me dead if I refused.
Nathan stared at the documents.
“Where are the original ownership papers?”
Richard looked at me.
“Your husband hid them.”
“Where?”
Richard smiled.
“He told me only one sentence.”
I waited.
“He said, ‘Evelyn will remember.’”
I frowned.
Remember what?
My mind searched through decades.
Our first house.
Our wedding.
The swimming club.
The lake.
The old trophy room.
Then it hit me.
A mural.
Behind the old club trophy display was a painting of a swimmer breaking through water.
My husband had designed it.
He used to joke that every secret deserved a good hiding place.
I looked at Nathan.
“The mural.”
We rushed upstairs.
The trophy room was dark.
Dust covered everything.
I pulled down the old display frame.
Behind it was a metal panel.
The key opened it.
Inside were documents.
Patents.
Trust records.
Corporate ownership certificates.
And one final envelope.
My name.
I opened it.
My husband's handwriting.
Evelyn,
If Gideon ever reaches this room, he will believe the papers are the prize. They are not.
The real evidence is inside the foundation's archive.
Lucinda knows where it is.
I stopped.
There was one final sentence.
But someone in your family is already working for Gideon.
I looked toward Derek.
His face went pale.
Then Nathan's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He listened.
May you like
Then looked at me.
“Lucinda has been kidnapped.”
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