Nobody moved.
The musicians had stopped playing.
The wedding guests stood in clusters beneath the string lights, their champagne glasses forgotten.
Daniel stared at his mother.
“You were there?”
Elena nodded.
“When?”
“The night he died.”
“You told me he was at the office.”
“I lied.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“Why?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of my father?”
Elena looked toward Samuel.
“Not only him.”
Samuel stepped closer.
“Tell him the whole thing.”
Elena shook her head.
“I will.”
Daniel looked at Mara.
She was still beside him.
He realized that her hand had gone cold.
He held it anyway.
“Start at the beginning,” he said.
Elena drew a breath.
“Your father and Victor were partners. Thomas Reed discovered what they were doing. He threatened to expose them.”
Samuel interrupted.
“My father didn't threaten them. He gave them a deadline.”
Elena nodded.
“You're right.”
Daniel looked at Samuel.
“What happened after that?”
“Thomas prepared evidence.”
Samuel opened the notebook.
“He had copies of bank transfers, contracts, account numbers. Enough to send both men to prison.”
Daniel's eyes dropped to the pages.
“Then why didn't he?”
“Because your father got to him first.”
Elena spoke quietly.
“He offered Thomas money.”
Samuel laughed bitterly.
“My father refused.”
“He refused,” Elena agreed.
“What happened?”
Elena's hands trembled.
“Your father followed him.”
Daniel felt anger rising.
“Why?”
“Because Thomas had taken something.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
Daniel looked at Samuel.
Samuel nodded.
“The original ledger.”
“Where is it?”
“That's what nobody knew.”
Daniel turned back to his mother.
“You knew.”
Elena looked away.
“I knew Thomas had hidden it.”
“Where?”
“I didn't know.”
Samuel shook his head.
“You knew enough.”
Elena's eyes flashed.
“You weren't there.”
“No,” Samuel said. “But my father was.”
Daniel raised a hand.
“Stop.”
Both of them fell silent.
Daniel looked at his mother.
“Tell me what happened that night.”
Elena sat down.
She looked suddenly older.
“Your father called me around eleven.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me there had been an accident.”
“With Thomas?”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“With Victor.”
Daniel's stomach tightened.
“My father killed Victor?”
“No.”
Elena looked at Mara.
“Victor was already dead when your father arrived.”
Samuel's expression changed.
“You never told us that.”
“I couldn't.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn't know who had killed him.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Then why did Dad help hide it?”
“Because he was afraid.”
“Of who?”
Elena looked toward the doorway.
Samuel followed her gaze.
Nobody stood there.
Elena lowered her voice.
“Victor had another partner.”
Daniel felt a chill move across his shoulders.
“Who?”
She shook her head.
“I never saw his face.”
Samuel stepped forward.
“But you heard his name.”
Elena said nothing.
Samuel opened the notebook and turned several pages.
“There.”
He pointed.
Daniel leaned over.
A name had been written repeatedly in the margin.
Arthur Vale.
Daniel recognized it.
“Who is Arthur Vale?”
Elena looked at him.
“Your father's lawyer.”
Mara suddenly spoke.
“That isn't possible.”
Everyone looked at her.
She reached into her purse and removed a folded document.
“I found this in my father's things.”
Daniel took it.
It was a legal agreement.
Arthur Vale had represented both the Mercer company and Victor Hale.
The document was dated six days before Victor died.
Daniel read the final clause.
Then he looked up.
“This says Victor planned to testify.”
Samuel nodded.
“Exactly.”
“Against my father?”
“Against both of them.”
Daniel's mind raced.
“If Victor was going to testify, why would Dad help hide his death?”
“Because your father knew what would happen next,” Elena said.
“What?”
“He knew Arthur Vale would destroy the evidence.”
Samuel looked at Elena.
“And did he?”
She nodded.
“Most of it.”
Daniel looked down at the notebook.
“Most?”
“There was one page your father couldn't find.”
Samuel's expression tightened.
“What page?”
Elena stared at him.
“The page naming the person who ordered Victor's death.”
Silence.
Mara looked at Daniel.
“Does that page still exist?”
Elena nodded.
“I believe it does.”
“Where?”
Elena's eyes moved toward the old house.
“In this building.”
Daniel turned toward the villa.
“Where?”
“In your father's study.”
“That room has been locked for seven years.”
“I know.”
“Who has the key?”
Elena hesitated.
“I do.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Give it to me.”
She did not move.
“Mom.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand enough.”
“No.”
Elena stood.
“If you open that room, you will find things your father never wanted you to see.”
“I already found that.”
“You found a letter.”
“And now I'm going to find the rest.”
Elena looked at Mara.
“You shouldn't be involved.”
Mara answered calmly.
“I've been involved since before I met him.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Samuel stepped toward the door.
“I'll come with you.”
Daniel nodded.
The three of them moved through the house.
Guests watched silently.
Some followed at a distance.
Mara stayed beside Daniel.
As they climbed the stairs, she whispered, “Are you sure?”
“No.”
“Then why are you doing this?”
“Because I spent my whole life believing a lie.”
She looked at him.
“And now?”
“Now I want the truth, even if it ruins everything.”
They reached the study.
Elena took a small key from her purse.
She held it for a moment.
Then she placed it in Daniel's palm.
His fingers closed around it.
The lock turned.
The room smelled of dust and old paper.
Daniel switched on the lamp.
His father's desk stood exactly where it had been.
Books lined the shelves.
A framed photograph showed Daniel as a child sitting between his parents.
He picked it up.
His mother looked away.
Mara noticed something beneath the frame.
“A scratch.”
Daniel moved closer.
There was a narrow mark carved into the wooden desk.
Three letters.
A.V.
Arthur Vale.
Samuel came to the desk.
“Open the drawer.”
Daniel pulled.
It was locked.
He tried another key.
Nothing.
Elena whispered, “Your father kept the important things in the bottom drawer.”
Daniel searched the desk.
Nothing.
Then Mara noticed the carpet.
“It doesn't sit flat.”
Daniel pulled it back.
A small metal box was hidden beneath the floorboard.
Samuel crouched beside it.
“There.”
Daniel lifted the box.
Inside were bank receipts, photographs, and a single sealed envelope.
The envelope had no name.
Only a date.
The night Victor died.
Daniel opened it.
Inside was one page.
He read the first line.
Then stopped.
“What?”
Mara moved closer.
Daniel handed it to her.
She read.
Her face drained of color.
Samuel reached for the page.
Daniel did not stop him.
Samuel read it.
His hands began to shake.
“What does it say?” Elena asked.
Samuel looked at her.
“You already know.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
Samuel turned the page toward her.
The handwriting belonged to Victor.
It contained only one sentence.
If anything happens to me, the person who knows the truth is not Arthur Vale.
It is Elena Mercer.
Daniel looked at his mother.
She did not deny it.
Instead, she whispered:
“I wasn't protecting your father.”
Daniel stared.
“Then who were you protecting?”
Elena looked at Mara.
And for the first time that evening, Mara looked truly terrified.
“I was protecting you.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“From what?”
Elena's answer came slowly.
“From the truth about your birth.”
Click Here to continue read next: PART4: The Secret About Daniel’s Birth Changes Everything Mara Believed, While the Missing Ledger Finally Points Toward the Person Who Started the Deception
On the Wedding Steps, a Groom Notices His Mother Holding His Hand Too Tightly, as Though She Already Knows the Ceremony Cannot Continue
Part 3 of 16
