Chapter 13 - The Truth Beneath the Marriage
Caroline couldn't breathe.
She sat at the kitchen table.
“My mother wasn't my mother?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I said may not.”
“Then who was she?”
“I don't know.”
“Why would my father lie to me?”
“To protect you.”
“From whom?”
“Everyone.”
Grace opened the flash drive.
The files were encrypted.
She tried several passwords.
Nothing worked.
Then Caroline remembered her father's handwriting.
A phrase he used when she was young.
Always look beneath the obvious.
Grace entered it.
The drive opened.
There were dozens of files.
Financial records.
Photographs.
Audio recordings.
And one folder labeled Caroline.
She stared at it.
“Open it.”
Grace did.
Inside was a birth certificate.
Caroline looked at it.
Her name.
Her date of birth.
Her father's name.
But the mother's name was different.
She stared at the screen.
“No.”
Grace looked at her.
“This could be forged.”
Evelyn whispered:
“It isn't.”
Caroline turned.
“How do you know?”
“Because I saw the original.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
Caroline's voice shook.
“Who is that woman?”
Evelyn swallowed.
“Someone your father trusted.”
“Who?”
Evelyn looked at Daniel.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Then said:
“Margaret Harper.”
Caroline stared at him.
The room went silent.
“That can't be true.”
“It is.”
“My mother was Margaret?”
“No.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Margaret was listed as your biological mother in the original records.”
Caroline felt sick.
“But my father told me my mother was Sarah.”
“He did.”
“Then why?”
“Because Margaret wanted something from your father.”
“What?”
Daniel looked at the photograph.
“You.”
Caroline's face went pale.
“What?”
“Margaret believed your father had hidden the real location of the Harper fortune inside something connected to you.”
Caroline looked at the wedding ring on her finger.
Michael.
The marriage.
The property.
The documents.
The recording.
Everything suddenly connected.
“He didn't marry me for my apartment.”
Grace looked at her.
“No.”
“He married me because he thought I could lead him to the fortune.”
Evelyn nodded.
“And Margaret wanted it too.”
Caroline stared at the flash drive.
“Then what's on the recording?”
Grace played the remaining audio.
Michael's voice appeared.
“If she marries me, she'll trust me.”
Margaret's voice followed.
“And if she doesn't?”
Michael answered:
“She will.”
A pause.
Then Margaret said:
“She doesn't know who she really is.”
Caroline's heart stopped.
The recording ended.
Nobody spoke.
Then the front door opened.
Michael stood there.
He looked exhausted.
But he wasn't alone.
Margaret stood beside him.
Caroline stared.
Michael looked at the documents on the table.
Then at the flash drive.
May you like
Then at Caroline.
“You weren't supposed to find that.”
