Chapter 4 - For the next hour, I did something I had never imagined I would have to do in my own home.I investigated my family.
Not emotionally.
Not as a husband.
Not as a father.
As a man who suddenly realized he might be surrounded by people who wanted him erased.
I locked the doors.
Changed every password.
Called the bank.
Froze every account except one emergency account Victoria did not know existed.
Then I drove to my workshop.
Behind the back wall was another locked cabinet.
This one was older.
I opened it.
Inside was a collection of files I had not touched in years.
Birth records.
Marriage certificates.
Medical records.
Sabrina's adoption papers.
I stared at that last folder.
Sabrina had never legally been adopted by me.
At the time, Victoria had told me it was unnecessary.
I had believed her.
I opened the file.
The first page was normal.
The second page was not.
A handwritten note was attached.
Biological father presumed deceased.
I frowned.
Raymond was not presumed dead.
He had been alive.
Then why had this been written?
I turned the page.
There was another document.
A hospital record.
Date of birth: Sabrina.
Mother: Victoria Mercer.
Father: Raymond Hale.
I stared at the name.
That was expected.
Then I saw the line underneath.
Father unavailable for contact.
I kept reading.
At the bottom was a second note.
Patient's mother reports father left voluntarily.
Voluntarily.
My jaw tightened.
Victoria had spent twenty years telling everyone Raymond had abandoned them.
But what if that wasn't true?
My phone rang.
It was Eleanor.
“Daniel, we've found something.”
“What?”
“The bank transfer you showed me.”
“Yes.”
“The receiving company was created eleven days before the first transfer.”
“By whom?”
“Raymond Hale.”
“That isn't surprising.”
“It becomes surprising when you see the registered address.”
“What address?”
She sent me the information.
I stared at my screen.
My workshop.
The company had been registered using the address of my tailoring business.
Without my knowledge.
They had been building paperwork around my identity.
I drove to the workshop.
The lights were on.
I entered quietly.
Voices came from the office.
Victoria.
Raymond.
I stopped outside the door.
“She knows about the trust,” Victoria whispered.
“So what?”
“He could cancel everything.”
“He won't.”
“You don't know him.”
“I know exactly who he is.”
“You're underestimating him.”
“No.”
Raymond laughed.
“I've been studying Daniel for twenty-three years.”
I froze.
Twenty-three years.
I quietly started recording.
Raymond continued.
“He has one weakness.”
“What?”
“Sabrina.”
Victoria sighed.
“She hates him right now.”
“Exactly.”
A chair scraped across the floor.
“He'll sign anything if he thinks she's leaving.”
My stomach tightened.
“What happens after the transfer?” Victoria asked.
“The house and workshop go to the holding company.”
“And Daniel?”
Raymond paused.
Then spoke casually.
“By then, nobody will know where he is.”
Victoria was silent.
“That's cruel.”
“You wanted the money.”
“I want the money.”
“Then stop pretending you're shocked.”
I felt something cold settle in my chest.
I had spent twenty-three years believing I knew my wife.
Maybe I had never known her at all.
Then Victoria asked:
“What about Sabrina?”
Raymond laughed softly.
“She gets her inheritance.”
“In her own name?”
“No.”
“Then where?”
“The offshore trust.”
I almost stopped breathing.
“There is an offshore trust?”
“Yes.”
“Who controls it?”
Raymond didn't answer immediately.
Then:
“Her biological father.”
A floorboard creaked under my shoe.
Silence.
“Did you hear that?” Victoria whispered.
I stepped back.
The office door opened.
I moved behind a rack of fabric.
Raymond stepped out.
He looked down the hallway.
I watched him.
He turned.
And for one second, our eyes met.
His face changed.
Then he smiled.
“You heard us.”
I stepped from behind the fabric.
“Yes.”
Victoria came running out.
“Daniel…”
“Don't.”
Raymond adjusted his cuff.
“You were never supposed to know this early.”
I stared at him.
“What do you mean?”
He smiled.
“The wedding was supposed to be the last stage.”
“The last stage of what?”
Raymond's smile widened.
“Your disappearance.”
I walked toward him.
“What did you do?”
He reached into his jacket.
For a moment, I thought he had a weapon.
Instead, he pulled out a photograph.
He handed it to me.
I looked down.
It was old.
Very old.
It showed Victoria holding infant Sabrina.
Beside her stood Raymond.
But they were not alone.
There was another man in the photograph.
A man I recognized.
My father.
My dead father.
I stared at the image.
“What is he doing there?”
Raymond's smile disappeared.
“You never asked the right questions.”
He walked away.
I turned the photograph over.
Written on the back were six words.
Your father knew what we did.
My phone buzzed.
A new message.
From Sabrina.
Dad, please come to Bayfront. Alone.
I stared at it.
Then another message arrived.
I found something about Raymond.
May you like
And then:
I think Mom is in danger.
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