Chapter 5 - What Her Mother Left BehindWe went to the Bennett family estate before sunrise.
The property was normally quiet, almost painfully polished.
That morning, security vehicles lined the driveway.
Ethan's father was waiting for us in the library.
Richard Bennett.
He was seventy-two.
Sharp.
Controlled.
The kind of man who could make a room go silent without raising his voice.
He looked at the photograph.
His expression changed.
“I haven't seen this woman in twenty years.”
I stepped forward.
“She was my mother.”
“I know.”
Those two words hit harder than they should have.
“You knew her?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Richard looked at Ethan.
Then at me.
“She worked on an investigation involving one of our investment partners.”
“What investigation?”
“Fraud.”
Lauren had told me my mother discovered money laundering.
Richard confirmed it.
But his version was different.
“My father was involved with an investment consortium,” he said. “One of the companies was quietly moving money through offshore structures.”
“And you?”
“I was twenty-nine.”
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“Did you help?”
“No.”
His answer came too quickly.
I noticed.
“So my mother came to you?”
“Yes.”
“What did she give you?”
Richard opened a locked drawer.
He removed a yellow folder.
My name was written on it.
MAYA PIERCE
I stared.
“Why does this exist?”
“Your mother asked me to create it.”
“For what?”
“To protect you.”
My throat tightened.
“What was she afraid of?”
Richard didn't answer immediately.
Then he said,
“Someone was trying to make it appear that your mother had stolen money.”
I felt sick.
“How much?”
“Enough to destroy her reputation permanently.”
“Did she steal it?”
“No.”
“Then why didn't anyone clear her name?”
Richard looked toward the window.
“Because the evidence disappeared.”
I stepped closer.
“Who made it disappear?”
He finally looked at me.
“Someone inside my company.”
“Who?”
“Your mother never learned the name.”
A floorboard creaked behind us.
Everyone turned.
Nobody was there.
Then a security alarm sounded.
Richard cursed.
“What now?”
A guard appeared at the door.
“Sir, someone accessed the lower archive.”
Ethan and I followed him downstairs.
The archive room was a vault.
The door was still closed.
No damage.
The access log showed one entry.
MAYA PIERCE
My blood ran cold.
“I wasn't here.”
The guard shook his head.
“I understand.”
The scanner log showed my fingerprint.
That was impossible.
Unless someone had copied it.
Inside the archive, boxes had been opened.
Only one file was missing.
My mother's.
We searched everywhere.
Nothing.
Then Ethan noticed a small camera above the door.
“It has footage.”
The security officer pulled it up.
The recording showed someone entering the archive at 3:17 a.m.
A woman.
Dark coat.
Long hair.
She walked directly to my mother's box.
She opened it.
Removed the file.
Then looked directly at the camera.
Her face was visible for one second.
I knew her.
I stepped closer.
“That's impossible.”
Ethan looked at me.
“Who is it?”
“Lauren.”
The screen went black.
A power failure.
We all stared at each other.
Then Richard said quietly,
“That camera wasn't connected to the external network.”
“What?”
“It records internally.”
Ethan's eyes hardened.
“Then whoever accessed it knew the system.”
The lights returned.
A technician entered, carrying a device.
“Sir, there's something wrong.”
He handed Richard a hard drive.
“Someone remotely accessed the archive camera five minutes before the footage appeared.”
Richard looked at me.
“Five minutes before?”
“Yes.”
The technician nodded.
“That means someone was watching us watch them.”
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Nobody spoke.
Then a male voice said,
“Your mother trusted the wrong man.”
I froze.
“Who are you?”
“You're looking for Lauren.”
“Yes.”
“You should stop.”
“Where is she?”
A pause.
Then:
“She isn't your enemy.”
“Then who is?”
The voice became almost a whisper.
“Ask your husband why his father paid Daniel Cross.”
The line went dead.
I slowly lowered the phone.
Ethan stared at me.
“What did they say?”
I couldn't answer.
May you like
Because for the first time since we had started investigating, I wasn't afraid of Lauren.
I was afraid of the possibility that Ethan's family had been part of the secret all along.
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