CHAPTER 4 The Voice Behind The Secret
The recording began with static.
A low, distorted sound filled the conference room.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Nobody moved.
Then a voice appeared.
A woman’s voice.
Calm.
Controlled.
Familiar.
“Daniel, you are making this much harder than it needs to be.”
Corin’s entire body froze.
He knew that voice.
Everyone in the room knew that voice.
Lorraine.
But this was not the Lorraine who sat in court wearing expensive clothes and pretending to care about family.
This was different.
This was the voice of someone who believed nobody could stop her.
Daniel’s voice answered.
“You moved the money.”
A pause.
Then Lorraine laughed softly.
Not a nervous laugh.
A confident one.
“You always did think you were smarter than everyone else.”
Corin stared at the screen.
His hands tightened around Rory.
The little boy was awake now.
He did not understand everything.
But he understood one thing.
The adults were talking about something bad.
Daniel’s voice became sharper.
“$1.2 million disappeared from the company accounts.”
“Careful, Daniel.”
Lorraine’s voice changed.
“You are accusing your own sister.”
“You stopped being my sister when you started stealing from my family.”
The words hit the room like a physical impact.
Evelyn covered her mouth.
Thomas leaned closer to the screen.
Because this was the evidence they had been searching for.
But then Lorraine said something nobody expected.
“You still don’t understand.”
Her voice became colder.
“This family was never yours.”
Corin frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Nobody answered.
The recording continued.
Daniel sounded angry.
“You think because our parents left you nothing, you can take what belongs to my children?”
A long silence followed.
Then Lorraine spoke.
“I spent my entire life watching you get everything.”
Corin looked at the screen.
The voice continued.
“You were the favorite.”
A bitter laugh.
“You got the company.”
“You got the house.”
“You got Amelia.”
“You got the perfect family.”
Daniel interrupted.
“This is jealousy?”
“No.”
Lorraine’s answer was immediate.
“It is correction.”
The room went quiet.
Corin felt a chill.
Because that word sounded like something from a nightmare.
Correction.
Like she believed she was fixing something.
Not destroying it.
Daniel spoke slowly.
“You need help.”
“No.”
Lorraine replied.
“I need what was always supposed to be mine.”
The recording stopped.
Everyone stared at the screen.
Then the file continued.
A second recording.
Created two days later.
Daniel again.
But this time his voice was different.
Fearful.
“Amelia was right.”
Evelyn looked up.
“Amelia?”
Daniel continued.
“She said Lorraine wouldn’t stop.”
A sound of movement.
Like someone walking.
Then Daniel whispered:
“If anything happens to us, Corin needs to know.”
The recording ended.
The room became silent.
A silence filled with a terrible realization.
Corin looked at Thomas.
“My parents knew.”
Thomas nodded slowly.
“They knew Lorraine was dangerous.”
“But they still let her be around us.”
The words came out with pain.
Evelyn immediately answered.
“They did not know how far she would go.”
Corin looked away.
“But they knew enough.”
Nobody could argue.
Because that was the hardest truth.
His parents had been afraid.
And they had still tried to protect him.
The door suddenly opened.
Everyone turned.
A police officer stood there.
“Ms. Hartwell?”
Evelyn stood.
“Yes?”
“I need to speak with you.”
Her expression changed.
“What happened?”
The officer looked toward Corin.
“There was an incident outside.”
Thomas stood immediately.
“What kind of incident?”
The officer hesitated.
“A vehicle belonging to Ms. Bellweather was found damaged in the courthouse parking area.”
Corin frowned.
“What?”
The officer continued.
“Someone broke into it.”
Evelyn looked confused.
“Was anything stolen?”
The officer shook his head.
“No.”
“Then why are you telling us?”
The officer pulled out a small plastic evidence bag.
Inside was a folded piece of paper.
“We found this on the driver’s seat.”
Evelyn looked at it.
“What does it say?”
The officer opened the bag carefully.
The note was short.
Only one sentence.
STOP DIGGING OR THE BOY WILL BE NEXT.
Corin felt the blood leave his face.
The boy.
Not Rory.
Not the children.
The boy.
Him.
Someone was threatening him.
Thomas immediately stepped in front of Corin.
The lawyer who had spent years handling corporate disputes suddenly looked like a man protecting his own son.
“Where is Lorraine?”
The officer answered:
“She left the courthouse twenty minutes ago.”
Evelyn looked toward the window.
Outside, dark clouds had gathered over the city.
The same kind of stormy sky that had existed the night Corin lost his parents.
Except this time…
He was not a helpless child waiting for someone to save him.
He knew something now.
Someone wanted him silent.
Which meant he was getting close to the truth.
An hour later, Lorraine Bellweather sat alone inside the back seat of a black luxury car.
Her driver said nothing.
He knew better.
Lorraine stared out the window.
The city moved past her.
People walking.
Cars passing.
A normal world.
A world that had no idea how close it was to seeing everything collapse.
Her phone rang.
She answered immediately.
“Tell me.”
A man’s voice responded.
“The drive was found.”
Lorraine closed her eyes.
“I know.”
“And?”
She looked at the courthouse disappearing behind them.
“Corin watched part of it.”
A pause.
“How much?”
“Enough.”
The man became silent.
“That is a problem.”
Lorraine’s jaw tightened.
“No.”
“What?”
She looked at her reflection in the window.
For the first time, there was no confidence.
Only calculation.
“Corin is still a child.”
The man said nothing.
“He thinks truth is enough.”
Her expression hardened.
“But truth has never protected anyone.”
The car continued through the city.
Then Lorraine spoke again.
“There is one thing Daniel never understood.”
“What?”
“He always believed people would choose what was right.”
She smiled faintly.
“I know better.”
The man asked:
“What do you want us to do?”
Lorraine looked at the rain beginning to fall.
“Find the original recording.”
“It may not exist.”
“It does.”
“How do you know?”
Because Daniel always had a weakness.
He always believed he could save everyone.
Lorraine looked down at her hands.
“And that weakness means he left another copy.”
The man waited.
“Where?”
Lorraine closed her eyes.
Then she whispered:
“With the person he trusted most.”
A pause.
Then she said the name.
“Corin.”
That night, Corin sat beside Rory’s bed in Evelyn’s guest room.
He had not slept.
He watched his little brother breathe.
The same way he had every night since the accident.
Except tonight was different.
Because now he knew someone had tried to take Rory away.
Someone had tried to make him look like a monster.
Someone had destroyed his family.
He looked at the USB drive sitting on the table.
Then he noticed something.
A tiny hidden symbol engraved into the plastic.
A symbol he had seen before.
On his father’s old watch.
On his mother’s jewelry box.
A symbol from their family.
He touched it.
And suddenly remembered something.
A conversation from months ago.
His father had knelt beside him in the garage.
“Corin.”
“Yeah, Dad?”
“If you ever feel like you are alone…”
His father had pointed at the symbol.
“Remember this.”
“What does it mean?”
Daniel had smiled.
“It means there is always another door.”
Corin stared at the USB.
Another door.
A hidden message.
A second secret.
He grabbed the drive.
Because if Lorraine was hiding something…
His parents had hidden something too.
And somewhere inside that tiny piece of plastic was the key.
The key to proving what really happened.
May you like
And finding the person who killed his family.
End of Chapter 4
