Chapter 14 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
The man entered slowly.
He was older.
Thinner.
His hair was gray.
But his eyes were unmistakable.
Daniel stared at him.
"Father?"
The man stopped.
Rachel stood behind Daniel.
Patricia began crying.
The man looked at Rachel.
"You're exactly like him."
Rachel's voice trembled.
"Where is my father?"
The man looked away.
"Alive."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
Rachel's anger rose.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"No."
He looked at Daniel.
"That's why I came."
Daniel stepped forward.
"You destroyed our family."
His father smiled sadly.
"I destroyed many things."
"Why?"
"Because I thought I could control Jonathan."
Rachel interrupted.
"Where is my father?"
"He went into hiding."
"Why?"
"Because he discovered what I had done."
Rachel stared.
"What did you do?"
The older man looked at Patricia.
Then at Vanessa.
"I built the system."
Daniel's face hardened.
"The shell companies."
"Yes."
"The money."
"Yes."
"The identities."
"Yes."
Rachel felt sick.
"Why?"
"To protect the families."
"From Jonathan?"
"From everyone."
Rachel shook her head.
"That doesn't make sense."
"It will."
He walked toward the table.
"There was a ledger."
Rachel remembered the file.
"The second file."
He nodded.
"That ledger contains every payment, every name, every secret."
"Where is it?"
He looked at Vanessa.
"She has it."
Vanessa's face went pale.
"No."
The man smiled.
"You've always been afraid of what it says."
Vanessa shook her head.
"I never saw the whole thing."
"Neither did your father."
Rachel looked between them.
"Then who did?"
The man looked at Daniel.
"Your husband."
Rachel's heart sank.
Daniel stared at him.
"No."
"Yes."
Rachel turned to Daniel.
"Did you see the ledger?"
Daniel didn't answer.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"You did."
Daniel finally spoke.
"I saw part of it."
"What part?"
"Your father's name."
"And?"
"Your mother's."
Rachel froze.
"My mother?"
Daniel nodded.
"And mine."
Rachel stepped back.
"Why would my mother be in it?"
Daniel looked devastated.
"Because she was the one who asked your father to disappear."
Rachel stared.
Everything she thought she knew was collapsing.
Her mother.
Her father.
Daniel.
Patricia.
Vanessa.
None of them had told her the truth.
The older man reached into his coat.
He removed a small envelope.
"This was meant for you."
Rachel took it.
She recognized the handwriting.
Her father's.
She opened it.
Inside was a single sentence.
Do not trust the person standing beside you.
Rachel slowly looked up.
Daniel was standing beside her.
So was Vanessa.
So was Patricia.
And behind them stood Daniel's father.
Four people.
Four secrets.
One warning.
Then Ethan burst through the door.
"Rachel!"
Everyone turned.
Ethan looked terrified.
"I found him."
Rachel's heart stopped.
"Who?"
Ethan held up his phone.
A live location was displayed.
"I found your father."
Rachel stepped forward.
"Where?"
Ethan looked toward the road.
"He's coming here."
Daniel's father suddenly looked afraid.
For the first time, Rachel saw genuine terror in his eyes.
He whispered:
"Then we're all in trouble."
Outside, headlights appeared.
One car.
Then another.
Then a third.
Rachel held the letter against her chest.
Her father's warning repeated in her mind.
May you like
Do not trust the person standing beside you.
But she no longer knew who that person was.
