Chapter 8 - My Mother's SecretThe woman was arrested.
But she refused to give her name.
She kept repeating one sentence.
"Ask Margaret."
My mother didn't sleep that night.
Neither did I.
At dawn, I confronted her.
"What did Harrison Caldwell threaten you with?"
She stood by the kitchen window.
"Your father shouldn't have brought you into this."
"Too late."
She turned.
For the first time in my life, my mother looked afraid.
"Twenty-seven years ago, I was investigating Harrison Caldwell."
"For what?"
"Fraud."
She sat down.
"At the time, Caldwell Hotels was much smaller. Harrison had been stealing from investors and employees."
"Did you prosecute him?"
"I tried."
"But you didn't."
"No."
I waited.
"Why?"
She stared at her hands.
"Because someone framed me."
"How?"
"They planted evidence showing I had accepted bribes."
I stared.
"You?"
"Yes."
"But you were a prosecutor."
"I know."
She laughed sadly.
"The irony wasn't lost on me."
She told me Harrison had used corrupt intermediaries to make the evidence look real.
Then he gave her a choice.
Resign.
Or watch her family disappear.
"Your father refused to surrender."
"So what happened?"
My mother looked at my father.
"He made a deal."
My father stepped forward.
"I financed Caldwell."
"You agreed to protect him?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"I agreed to keep his company alive while gathering evidence."
My mother continued.
"William believed we could eventually destroy Harrison legally."
"But you didn't."
"No."
She looked at me.
"Because Harrison knew about you."
I froze.
"You were three years old."
He threatened me?
"He threatened to hurt you."
My father closed his eyes.
"So we waited."
Twenty-seven years.
My parents had protected me by building the Caldwell empire from behind the curtain.
But why let it grow so powerful?
My mother answered before I asked.
"Because Harrison kept changing the terms."
"What terms?"
"He wanted more money."
"Then why not stop?"
"Because he held evidence that could destroy us."
I understood.
The Caldwell family and the Grant family had been trapped together.
Two empires tied by one secret.
My father handed me a file.
Inside was a photograph of a young woman.
Claire's mother.
Margaret Mercer.
My mother pointed to her.
"She helped us."
"Then why did she disappear?"
"Because she stole Harrison's private ledger."
"And my father?"
My father said:
"He helped her escape."
I looked at him.
"What happened?"
"Margaret Mercer was killed."
I shook my head.
"Claire says she's alive."
"We don't know."
"Then whose body was found?"
My mother went silent.
That was the answer.
Suddenly the woman at the museum came to mind.
The impostor.
The one who said:
Ask Margaret why she let my father die.
I looked at my mother.
"Who was her father?"
My mother whispered:
"Thomas Mercer."
Claire's father.
My stomach dropped.
"What happened to him?"
My mother couldn't answer.
My father did.
"Thomas was the man who stole Harrison's ledger."
"And?"
"He was killed before he could give it to us."
"By whom?"
Silence.
I looked at both of them.
"Who killed him?"
My mother finally spoke.
"Veronica."
I felt sick.
"Then why is Veronica still free?"
My mother looked at me.
"Because we never had proof."
A phone rang.
My father's.
He answered.
His face changed.
"What?"
He listened.
Then hung up.
"What happened?"
"The woman in the museum escaped."
"How?"
"Someone cut power to the holding facility."
My mother went pale.
"Veronica."
My father nodded.
Then my phone buzzed.
A photograph appeared.
It showed Veronica standing beside the arrested woman.
The timestamp was from fifteen minutes ago.
Underneath:
You're looking in the wrong direction.
Then another message.
Thomas Mercer wasn't killed by Veronica.
My heart stopped.
The next sentence appeared.
He was killed by your father.
I looked at William Grant.
He didn't move.
May you like
But his silence told me something terrifying.
For the first time in my life, I wondered whether my father had ever told me the truth at all.
