Chapter 7 - The First BetrayalVictor Hale disappeared.

That was the first thing the board told us when we returned to the company.

His phone was off.

His house was empty.

His office had been cleaned.

Too clean.

Richard ordered a forensic team to secure his computer.

Ava worked with them.

I stayed in my grandfather's office.

I couldn't stop thinking about my father.

Maybe he was lying.

Maybe he wasn't.

Either way, someone had killed my mother.

And someone had spent sixteen years hiding it.

I opened another drawer.

Inside was a stack of letters.

All addressed to my father.

None had been sent.

One read:

Daniel, if you confess now, Nathan can still be protected.

Another:

You don't understand what Victor is capable of.

And another:

I know you didn't cause the crash. But your silence helped him.

I stared at that sentence.

My father hadn't killed my mother.

But he knew who did.

And he had stayed silent.

I felt sick.

Ava entered.

“You found something?”

I handed her the letter.

She read it.

“Your grandfather believed Daniel was involved.”

“He was.”

“Not necessarily.”

She looked at me.

“What?”

“He may have been threatened.”

“By Victor?”

“Maybe.”

She placed a flash drive on the desk.

“We recovered this from Victor's office.”

I plugged it in.

There were dozens of encrypted files.

One folder opened.

BROOKS FAMILY

Inside were photos.

My mother.

My father.

My grandfather.

And me.

Hundreds of them.

Taken over sixteen years.

School.

Birthdays.

Sports.

Grocery stores.

My stomach turned.

“Someone has been tracking me.”

Ava nodded.

“Probably before you even knew.”

Then I saw a video file.

Recorded nine days earlier.

The morning my father told me to leave.

I opened it.

A hidden camera showed my father, Melissa, and Cole in the kitchen.

I watched my father open a drawer.

My shoebox was inside.

My hands went numb.

He removed my savings.

Cole asked,

“How much?”

“Three thousand one hundred twenty-four.”

Melissa said,

“He'll need money.”

My father responded,

“He'll figure it out.”

Then Cole said something that made everything go silent.

“Dad, what if Nathan finds out about the trust?”

My father turned toward him.

“What trust?”

Cole looked confused.

“You said Grandpa's lawyer was coming.”

My father went pale.

The video ended.

I stared at Ava.

“What trust?”

She shook her head.

“I don't know.”

We searched every file.

Nothing.

Then another video appeared.

It was dated sixteen years earlier.

The night my mother died.

A parking lot.

My mother walked toward a car.

A man approached.

She spoke to him.

He handed her something.

Then he walked away.

The image was blurry.

But the face became visible under the light.

Victor Hale.

My breathing stopped.

Then my mother looked directly toward the camera.

As if she knew she was being watched.

And behind her, another figure stepped from the shadows.

My father.

I stared at the screen.

Two men.

One woman.

One terrible night.

Then my mother pointed toward my father.

Victor raised something in his hand.

The video cut.

Ava whispered,

“This isn't enough to prove murder.”

“No.”

I looked at the frozen image of my father.

“But it's enough to prove he lied.”

My phone buzzed.

A message.

Stop digging, Nathan.

Another arrived.

Your father wasn't the only person who wanted your mother dead.

Then a final message.

Ask Richard what happened sixteen years ago.

I looked up.

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Richard was standing in the doorway.

His face had gone pale.