Chapter 10 - Arthur refused to sleep.Every minute mattered.
The police searched the property.
Dogs tracked Ethan's scent to the garden.
Then lost it at the gate.
Arthur stood beneath the rain.
“She was here.”
Chloe nodded.
“Lucy?”
“Yes.”
“How did she get past security?”
“She probably knew another way in.”
Arthur looked toward the mansion.
“My father built this place.”
“And your family knows all the secrets.”
Exactly.
They searched the old blueprints.
A hidden tunnel connected the mansion to the lake.
Arthur stared.
“There.”
The police opened the tunnel entrance.
Inside were fresh footprints.
Small.
And larger.
Arthur followed them.
The tunnel ended beneath the old greenhouse.
Someone had left a flashlight.
And a camera.
Arthur turned it on.
A recording played.
Lucy appeared.
“Arthur.”
He stared at the screen.
“You don't remember me.”
Arthur's hands trembled.
“I remember enough.”
Lucy smiled sadly.
“No. You remember what Father wanted you to remember.”
She lifted an old photograph.
Arthur as a child.
Lucy beside him.
Then the photograph changed.
Arthur saw himself standing beside their father.
Lucy wasn't there.
The image had been edited.
“Your father erased me.”
Lucy continued.
“He told you I died because I discovered the truth.”
“What truth?”
“That your mother never died in that accident.”
Arthur stared.
“My mother died when I was ten.”
“No.”
Lucy shook her head.
“She disappeared.”
Arthur felt dizzy.
“My entire family…”
“Was built on lies.”
Lucy leaned closer.
“Ethan and Emily are only the latest pieces.”
Arthur's eyes narrowed.
“Where is my son?”
Lucy looked away.
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere you can't reach.”
Arthur slammed his hand against the table.
“Tell me!”
Lucy remained calm.
“I will trade him.”
“For what?”
“The trust.”
Arthur stared.
“You want the eighteen million.”
“I want what Father stole from me.”
“You already destroyed my family.”
“Your family was already destroyed.”
Arthur's voice lowered.
“You'll never get that money.”
Lucy smiled.
“Then Ethan dies.”
The video ended.
Arthur closed his eyes.
Chloe placed a hand on his shoulder.
“There's something else.”
She pointed at the screen.
A reflection in the glass.
A second person stood behind Lucy.
Arthur froze.
It was Richard Cole.
Alive.
And smiling.
Arthur turned to the police.
“Find him.”
Minutes later, an officer came running.
“We have a location.”
Arthur grabbed his coat.
“Where?”
“The old cemetery.”
Arthur frowned.
“Why there?”
The officer handed him a photograph.
It showed a grave.
The name engraved on it was:
LUCY VALE.
Arthur stared.
“But she's alive.”
The officer nodded.
“That's not the strange part.”
He pointed beneath the name.
A second inscription read:
BENEATH THIS GRAVE LIES THE ORIGINAL TRUST.
Arthur looked at Chloe.
“My father hid the trust beneath Lucy's grave.”
They rushed to the cemetery.
Rain poured.
Arthur dug.
After twenty minutes, the shovel struck metal.
A small box.
Inside was a document.
And a key.
The trust document contained one final clause.
Arthur read it slowly.
“The trustee shall receive full control only if both heirs are alive and the trustee identifies the party responsible for the attempted deaths.”
Chloe whispered,
“So that's why they kept hunting the children.”
Arthur nodded.
But there was another page.
The signature at the bottom was not his father's.
It was Arthur's.
And dated twenty years after his father's death.
Arthur stared.
“This was signed yesterday.”
A phone rang behind them.
Richard Cole stood among the graves.
“Exactly.”
May you like
He raised a gun.
“And now you finally know why.”
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