Chapter 6 - What Ben Didn't Tell MeBen sat in silence inside the parked car.
The train station lights flickered across his face.
“You know her,” I said.
He shook his head.
“Not like that.”
“You were in the photograph.”
“I know.”
“You said you didn't know about the ledger.”
“I didn't.”
“But you knew my mother.”
He closed his eyes.
“Your father introduced us.”
My father stared at him.
“When?”
“Years ago.”
I turned to Dad.
“You never told me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
My voice cracked.
“Everyone keeps protecting me from the truth.”
Dad didn't answer.
Ben finally spoke.
“Your mother met Daniel after she discovered the financial transfers.”
“What transfers?”
“He was stealing from your father.”
“And my mother found out.”
“Yes.”
“Then what happened?”
Ben swallowed.
“Daniel tried to make it look like your mother had taken the money.”
I stared at him.
“She didn't.”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Ben looked at Dad.
Dad said nothing.
I felt sick.
“You.”
Ben's eyes widened.
“No.”
“Then who?”
He hesitated.
“Someone inside your father's company.”
“Who?”
Ben's voice dropped.
“Gary.”
The name hit me like another blow.
My brother-in-law.
Linda's husband.
The man who had told everyone Ellie had lunged for the cup.
Suddenly everything connected.
Gary had a motive.
Gary had money.
Gary had access.
And Gary had spent months telling everyone I was unstable.
I looked down at the ledger.
“We need to open it.”
Dad shook his head.
“Not here.”
We drove back to my father's house.
He locked the doors.
Closed the curtains.
Then placed the ledger on the kitchen table.
The first pages were old financial entries.
Names.
Dates.
Amounts.
Then I saw something familiar.
Our family company.
Money had been moved through shell accounts.
Over and over.
Millions.
Then I saw Gary's name.
Not once.
Dozens of times.
My hands shook.
But the final page was worse.
A handwritten note from my mother.
If they come after my daughter, it means they found the second account.
I looked at Dad.
“What second account?”
He stared at the page.
“I don't know.”
I turned the page.
A number had been written beneath the note.
A bank account.
International.
Then another sentence.
The account belongs to whoever controls the house.
I remembered the property documents.
The house was in my name.
I looked at Ben.
He looked back.
“You said they wanted me out.”
“Yes.”
“Because of this.”
He nodded.
“What's in the account?”
“I don't know.”
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
Now you understand why Linda threw the coffee.
I stared at the message.
Another followed.
It wasn't supposed to hit Ellie.
I stopped.
My father took the phone from my hand.
“What does that mean?”
The next message arrived.
The coffee was a distraction.
Then:
While everyone was looking at Ellie, someone took something from your house.
Dad's face hardened.
“What?”
I thought about the cleaned living room.
The replaced rug.
The missing minute.
My blood ran cold.
“The phone wasn't the only thing they accessed.”
We rushed home.
The office door was open.
Inside, the drawers were empty.
But the hidden compartment behind the printer was gone.
Someone had found it.
Then I saw something on the desk.
A handwritten note.
You should have listened to your husband.
I turned around.
Ben was behind me.
May you like
And for the first time...
I wasn't sure which side he was on.
