Chapter 14 - The GraveThe cemetery was almost empty.
Rain began falling.
We found my father’s grave first.
The stone was wet.
I knelt.
Ryan stood behind me.
“You think someone is buried here?”
“Not here,” he said.
He pointed toward the older section.
A family plot.
One name was carved into the stone.
Evelyn Shaw.
My breath stopped.
“She died?”
Ryan nodded.
“Three years after your father.”
“But Daniel said she disappeared.”
“She did.”
We dug beside the grave marker.
Beneath the soil was a metal box.
Inside:
A birth certificate.
A cassette tape.
And a photograph.
The certificate had my name.
My father’s name.
And my biological mother.
Patricia.
Officially.
Legally.
For the first time.
I was staring at the truth.
I started crying.
Not because Patricia was my mother.
Not because my father had lied.
Because my whole identity had been built on a story someone else wrote.
I looked at Ryan.
“What does this mean for us?”
He swallowed.
“I don’t know.”
I played the cassette.
My father’s voice filled the cemetery.
“If Emily ever finds this, it means we failed to protect her.”
I covered my mouth.
He continued.
“Patricia is not the greatest threat.”
I looked at Ryan.
“Who is?”
My father’s voice answered.
“Jonathan Reed.”
The cassette continued.
“Jonathan has been controlling the company through forged trusts. He arranged the transfer of assets. He manipulated Patricia. He manipulated Thomas. He manipulated Daniel.”
Ryan whispered:
“Dad.”
Then my father said something else.
“And he knows Ryan is not Daniel’s son.”
I looked at Ryan.
The tape crackled.
“Ryan is the biological son of…”
The audio cut out.
Rain hammered the cemetery.
“No,” I whispered.
We rewound the tape.
Again.
Nothing.
The final words had been erased.
Then headlights appeared.
A car stopped near the gate.
Jonathan Reed stepped out.
He was soaked.
And he was holding a gun.
“You found it.”
Ryan moved in front of me.
Jonathan laughed.
“You really are your father’s son.”
Ryan asked:
“Who is my father?”
Jonathan raised the gun.
“You don’t get to know.”
I felt rage replace fear.
“You have spent my entire life controlling people.”
Jonathan smiled.
“No.”
He pointed the gun at me.
“I spent your entire life controlling history.”
Then he fired.
Ryan pushed me aside.
May you like
The bullet struck him.
He collapsed.
