The footsteps stopped outside the study.
Mr. Reyes motioned toward the closet.
We had seconds.
I slipped inside.
He stood near the desk.
The door opened.
Mother's attorney entered with another man.
I recognized the second man too.
He was the estate accountant.
The one who had told me months earlier that there was nothing unusual in the trust.
I held my breath.
“Search the desk,” the attorney said.
The accountant hesitated.
“Are you sure this is necessary?”
“You heard Evelyn.”
“She said Nora might come here.”
“She was right.”
The closet door pressed against my shoulder.
I could hear every word.
The accountant opened drawers.
The attorney checked the floor.
Then he said something that made my heart pound.
“If she finds the red file, this is finished.”
The accountant stopped.
“The red file?”
“Yes.”
“Evelyn said that file was destroyed.”
“She was wrong.”
I looked at Mr. Reyes.
He was standing on the opposite side of the room, hidden behind the open door.
His expression told me he had heard it too.
The accountant whispered, “What if Daniel gave it to her?”
“He didn't.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Evelyn checked his house herself.”
A floorboard creaked.
The attorney turned.
Mr. Reyes stepped out.
“Looking for something?”
The man's face went pale.
“What are you doing here?”
“Representing my client.”
The attorney's eyes moved toward the closet.
I opened the door.
His expression collapsed.
I stepped out holding the red folder.
“You mean this?”
Nobody spoke.
The accountant lowered his head.
I looked at the attorney.
“You knew about this.”
He didn't answer.
“You knew my mother was looking for it.”
Still nothing.
I held up my father's letter.
“And you knew my father was afraid of her.”
The attorney finally spoke.
“You don't understand the situation.”
“I understand enough.”
He took a step toward me.
“You need to give me that folder.”
“No.”
“This isn't a game.”
“I know.”
Mr. Reyes moved between us.
“You're trespassing.”
The attorney looked at him.
“You shouldn't be interfering.”
“You followed my client.”
“I came to protect the estate.”
“No,” I said.
“You came to protect Evelyn.”
The accountant suddenly spoke.
“That's not entirely true.”
Everyone turned toward him.
He looked terrified.
But he continued.
“I was told the transfers were authorized.”
“By whom?”
He looked at me.
“Your mother.”
“Did you verify them?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“She had documents.”
“What documents?”
His eyes moved to the attorney.
The attorney said nothing.
I understood.
There were forged documents.
Not just one.
Enough to convince the accountant.
Enough to move millions.
Enough to make me appear unstable if I challenged them.
My hands tightened around the folder.
“Where are the originals?”
The accountant swallowed.
“Some are in the firm's archive.”
“Some?”
“The rest were sent to a storage company.”
“Which one?”
He hesitated.
Mr. Reyes said, “Answer her.”
The accountant gave us the name.
I wrote it down.
Then the attorney said something unexpected.
“You should stop.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because you're looking at this as though your mother was the only person involved.”
Silence.
“What does that mean?”
He looked toward the floor.
“Your father had another partner.”
“Business partner?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
He shook his head.
“Not yet.”
I stepped closer.
“You've spent years helping my mother hide this. You don't get to decide what I can handle.”
His face tightened.
“I didn't help her hide it.”
“You just followed me here.”
“To stop you from opening something you don't understand.”
“What?”
He looked at the red folder.
“Your father left a second trust.”
My heart stopped.
“A second trust?”
“Yes.”
“Who was it for?”
He didn't answer.
“Who?”
He looked at me.
“You.”
I stared at him.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does if you understand why your father created it.”
“Then explain.”
He shook his head.
“Not here.”
“Why?”
“Because this house isn't safe.”
Mr. Reyes stepped forward.
“What exactly are you warning her about?”
The attorney looked at him.
“Evelyn isn't the only person who knows about the second trust.”
That sentence changed everything.
I thought of the woman at my father's funeral.
The unknown name in the folder.
The payment to Daniel.
The foundation.
The forged medical report.
There were too many pieces.
And someone else was moving them.
I turned to the accountant.
“Did my father know about the second trust?”
“Yes.”
“Did Mother?”
“I believe so.”
“Does Celeste?”
“I don't know.”
I closed the folder.
The attorney said, “You need to leave this house.”
“Why?”
He looked toward the front window.
A car had stopped outside.
No headlights.
Just an engine idling.
The attorney's face changed.
“Because we're not the only ones who came here.”
Mr. Reyes pulled the curtains closed.
“Everyone stay away from the windows.”
We waited.
The car remained outside for almost a minute.
Then it drove away.
Nobody spoke.
The attorney finally said, “You need to understand something.”
I looked at him.
“Your father didn't trust the police.”
“Why?”
“Because someone inside the investigation had already been paid.”
My stomach turned.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Then how do you know?”
He reached into his jacket.
He pulled out a sealed envelope.
“This was given to me by your father.”
I stared at it.
“Why didn't you give it to me before?”
“Because Evelyn threatened my family.”
The room went silent.
He looked ashamed.
“I was weak.”
I didn't soften toward him.
But I understood.
Fear could make good people participate in terrible things.
He handed me the envelope.
My father's handwriting covered the front.
For Nora, when the truth can no longer be hidden.
I opened it.
Inside was another letter.
My father wrote that he had discovered someone inside the family business had been cooperating with Mother.
The person had access to bank records.
Estate documents.
Private correspondence.
And my father's schedule.
Then came a sentence that made my hands numb.
I believe the person responsible for helping Evelyn has access to Nora's personal accounts.
I looked at Mr. Reyes.
“My accounts?”
He nodded grimly.
“That would explain how she always knows what you're doing.”
I looked at the attorney.
“Who?”
He shook his head.
“Your father never wrote the name.”
“Then why give me this?”
“Because there is a clue.”
I read the final paragraph.
Your first mistake will be assuming the person closest to Evelyn is the most dangerous.
I looked up.
The attorney's phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
He listened.
Then hung up.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Someone accessed the estate server.”
“When?”
“Three minutes ago.”
I looked at the red folder.
We had been here less than an hour.
Someone knew.
Not only that we'd found the house.
They knew we had found the documents.
Mr. Reyes grabbed his coat.
“We're leaving.”
I followed him.
As we stepped outside, my phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
You should have stayed away from your father's house.
I stared at it.
Another message appeared.
The next person who disappears won't be your laptop.
I looked around the dark street.
There was nobody there.
But I suddenly understood the real danger.
Mother had spent years trying to control my inheritance.
Someone else was willing to frighten me into abandoning it.
And I had just become the one person standing between them and everything my father had hidden.
Click here to continue reading: PART 7: The Threat on My Phone Was Only the Beginning, Because Someone Had Already Entered My Accounts and Knew Exactly Where I Was Going
The Moment My Mother Destroyed My Laptop, I Realized She Was Trying to Erase Far More Than My Work
Part 6 of 12
