Chapter 7 - Yesterday
The date couldn't be real.
Carter read it again.
Yesterday.
Someone had copied his father's handwriting.
Or someone who knew it intimately had written the letter.
Either possibility terrified him.
Carter called an old family attorney.
The man refused to speak over the phone.
“Come alone,” he said.
Carter asked why.
The attorney answered:
“Because your father left instructions.”
Carter drove to the office.
The attorney was waiting.
He looked older than Carter remembered.
“You shouldn't have opened the archive.”
Carter placed the photograph on the desk.
“Who is Rebecca?”
The attorney closed his eyes.
“She was your father's business partner.”
“Everyone says she disappeared.”
“She did.”
“Then why is she alive?”
The attorney looked at him.
“I never said she was.”
Carter leaned forward.
“Then explain this.”
He showed the photograph.
The attorney went silent.
Finally, he said:
“Your father created a contingency plan.”
“For what?”
“For betrayal.”
“Whose betrayal?”
The attorney hesitated.
“His own.”
Carter frowned.
“My father didn't trust himself?”
“He didn't trust what he was becoming.”
The attorney opened a drawer.
He removed a sealed envelope.
“This was supposed to be delivered to you when you turned forty.”
Carter stared at it.
“I'm thirty-nine.”
The attorney nodded.
“I know.”
“Then why are you giving it to me?”
“Because someone already opened the other file.”
Carter opened the envelope.
Inside was a single photograph.
His father.
Standing beside a much younger Rebecca.
And between them was a child.
Carter stared.
“Who is the child?”
The attorney looked at him.
“You.”
Carter's heart seemed to stop.
“That’s impossible.”
The attorney shook his head.
“You weren't born into the family the way you were told.”
Carter stood.
“What are you saying?”
The attorney didn't answer.
Instead, he placed another photograph on the desk.
A baby.
A hospital bracelet.
The name on it was Carter Bennett.
Carter stared at the name.
Bennett.
His eyes widened.
“Maya.”
The attorney nodded.
“Her family is connected to yours.”
Carter suddenly understood why Maya had been protecting Eleanor.
Why she knew the house.
Why she had been terrified.
But before he could ask another question, the office door opened.
A man walked inside.
Gray coat.
Dark hair.
Victor.
Carter turned.
May you like
Victor smiled.
“Now you finally know where to start.”
