Chapter 9
I thought I had reached the bottom of the betrayal.
I was wrong.
“What does Mom have to do with this?”
Aaron looked terrified.
“Three weeks ago, someone sent me photographs of her meeting Thomas.”
My stomach tightened.
“Where?”
“Chicago.”
“When?”
“Last month.”
“That’s impossible.”
“It isn’t.”
He showed me the photographs.
Margaret sat across from Thomas in a restaurant.
Another showed them leaving separately.
A third showed Margaret handing him an envelope.
I felt sick.
“She came here pretending she was afraid of him.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because the message said if I warned you, they’d hurt Lily.”
“So you believed them?”
“I didn’t know what to believe.”
I wanted to scream at him.
Instead, I remembered Dad’s video.
Trust none of them.
He had named Margaret.
He had named Aaron too.
Maybe this was why.
“Where is Mom now?”
Aaron checked the location-sharing app he had quietly installed on the temporary phone police gave her.
His face went pale.
“She’s here.”
“Here where?”
“In this building.”
Police rushed toward the lobby.
Margaret was found outside the forensic lab.
She was carrying a visitor badge belonging to someone else.
When officers stopped her, she didn’t resist.
I watched them bring her into an interview room.
Her face was calm.
Too calm.
I entered with Martinez.
“Tell me the truth.”
Margaret looked at Aaron.
“You showed her.”
“Yes,” he said.
She nodded slowly.
“I hoped you wouldn’t.”
“Why were you meeting Thomas?” I demanded.
“To keep him away from you.”
“Stop lying.”
“I’m not.”
“You gave him an envelope.”
“Yes.”
“What was inside?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
“Fifty thousand.”
I stared at her.
“You paid him?”
“He contacted me five years ago.”
Five years.
Not six months.
Not recently.
Five years.
“You knew he was alive.”
“Yes.”
“And you never told Dad?”
“Charles was already dead.”
“Police?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Thomas threatened you.”
“He has been threatening everyone for decades. That excuse is getting old.”
Margaret lowered her eyes.
Then Martinez placed Dad’s video transcript on the table.
“Charles specifically warned Emily not to trust you.”
Margaret read the line.
Her face broke.
“He found out.”
“Found out what?” I asked.
She started crying.
“That I helped Thomas once.”
The room went silent.
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“With what?”
“Getting access to your father’s business records.”
My hands curled into fists.
“You helped the man who threatened your children?”
“I was desperate.”
“For what?”
“To come home.”
Thomas had promised Margaret that if she gave him information about Dad’s company, he would stop threatening the family.
She believed him.
Or wanted to.
She gave Thomas copies of financial records.
Those records helped him locate assets Dad had hidden.
When Dad discovered the betrayal, he cut Margaret off permanently.
That was why she never returned.
Not because she was protecting us.
Because Dad no longer trusted her.
“You spent my whole life blaming fear,” I whispered.
Margaret cried harder.
“I was ashamed.”
“You should have been.”
She looked at me.
“I never wanted Lily hurt.”
“Everyone says that after hurting her.”
Martinez interrupted.
“Why were you near the forensic lab?”
Margaret hesitated.
I knew before she spoke.
“The encrypted file.”
She nodded.
“Thomas wants it.”
“And you were going to steal it?”
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To destroy it.”
Aaron swore.
“Why?”
“Because whatever Charles put there will destroy this family.”
I almost laughed.
“This family is already destroyed.”
Margaret shook her head.
“No, Emily. You don’t understand.”
“Then make me understand.”
She looked at me with fear.
“Thomas Mercer is not Ryan’s father.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“Diane lied.”
“Then who is?”
Margaret whispered,
“Charles.”
My father.
For a second, I couldn’t process it.
Then everything exploded inside me.
“You’re saying Ryan is my brother?”
“No.”
Margaret quickly shook her head.
“No. Charles was not Ryan’s biological father either.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“Ryan was born before Diane ever met Thomas.”
“Why does Dad matter?”
Margaret wiped her eyes.
“Because Charles raised Ryan for his first three years.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“Diane and Charles had a relationship before he married me.”
Aaron looked stunned.
Margaret continued.
“Charles believed Ryan might be his son. For years, he carried guilt.”
“So Dad knew Diane.”
“Yes.”
That explained far more than I wanted.
The company.
The secrecy.
The obsession.
Thomas hadn’t simply lost money to a business partner.
He had believed Charles stole Diane too.
Then Martinez’s phone rang.
The encrypted file had finally been opened.
We went to the forensic room.
A final video appeared.
Dad was sitting in the same chair.
But this recording was made the night before he died.
He looked into the camera.
“Thomas believes this is about money.”
Dad paused.
“It isn’t.”
Then he held up a DNA report.
“I finally know the truth about Ryan Cole.”
I gripped the table.
Dad continued.
“Ryan is not my son.”
I exhaled.
Then Dad said the sentence that changed everything again.
“He is Thomas Mercer’s son.”
Margaret whispered, “No…”
Dad looked directly into the camera.
“And Thomas knows.”
Then the video suddenly cut to security footage.
Rebecca entered Dad’s bedroom.
Behind her walked Diane.
May you like
The timestamp showed 11:43 p.m.
The night my father died.
