They left the house before midnight.
Robert drove separately.
Daniel insisted that Maya ride with him.
Ethan stayed behind with Claire.
Nobody trusted anyone completely anymore.
The trust documents lay on Maya's lap inside a leather folder.
She had read them three times.
Each reading revealed something different.
The trust had not been created simply to protect money.
It had been designed to prevent anyone connected to the original business from accessing the assets without Maya's consent.
Her mother had anticipated exactly what was happening now.
Someone wanted the trust.
Someone wanted Maya's name.
And someone had spent years making sure she would eventually be forced to sign.
Daniel drove toward a small private law office Robert had recommended.
Maya stared out the window.
“Why didn't you tell me about your father's agreement?”
Daniel kept his eyes on the road.
“Because I was ashamed.”
“That isn't enough.”
“I thought I could save the company.”
“You nearly destroyed our marriage instead.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
She looked at him.
“Did you ever marry me for the trust?”
Daniel's hands tightened on the steering wheel.
“No.”
“You hesitated.”
“Because I was afraid you'd think I did.”
Maya watched him.
“I need the truth now.”
“I married you because I loved you.”
She looked away.
“I don't know if that makes this easier.”
“I don't expect it to.”
The law office was dark except for one room upstairs.
Robert was waiting.
Claire arrived ten minutes later.
Ethan did not come.
Maya noticed.
“Where is he?”
Claire looked at her.
“He said he needed to check something.”
Maya frowned.
“Check what?”
Claire hesitated.
“Your house.”
Daniel immediately called him.
No answer.
He called again.
Still nothing.
Robert walked toward the table.
“We need to finish this before morning.”
Maya opened the trust.
A page near the back contained a handwritten list of names.
Daniel's father.
Maya's mother.
Robert Vale.
Victor.
And one final name.
Evelyn Hart.
Maya stared at it.
“That was my aunt.”
“Yes,” Robert said.
“But you said she died.”
“I said I found a grave.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
“No.”
Maya looked at him.
“You lied.”
“I protected someone.”
“Who?”
Robert said nothing.
Claire walked toward him.
“You never told me.”
Robert's face tightened.
“I didn't trust you.”
“You don't trust anyone.”
“I have reasons.”
Maya placed the paper down.
“Enough.”
Both looked at her.
“If Evelyn is alive, I want to know where she is.”
Robert finally answered.
“She lives outside the country.”
Maya's heart raced.
“Where?”
“Portugal.”
Daniel stared.
“You've known this whole time?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother asked me to keep her hidden.”
Maya's eyes filled.
“My mother knew she was alive?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did she let me believe she was dead?”
“Because Evelyn was being hunted.”
“By Victor?”
“By the person behind Victor.”
Maya looked at the list again.
“Who?”
Robert sat down.
“Your aunt discovered that the original money wasn't Victor's.”
Maya waited.
“It came from a company owned by a man named Adrian Cross.”
Daniel frowned.
“I know that name.”
“So do I,” Maya said.
She remembered the name from an old newspaper clipping.
Adrian Cross had been a wealthy investor who disappeared after a financial investigation.
Robert nodded.
“He built the network.”
“And Victor?”
“An intermediary.”
“Your father?”
“An unwilling partner.”
“My mother?”
“A witness.”
Maya looked at the final page.
“And me?”
Robert's answer was quiet.
“The person the trust was designed to protect.”
A phone rang.
Everyone froze.
It was Ethan's phone.
Daniel answered.
No one spoke.
Then Ethan's voice came through.
“Daniel.”
“Where are you?”
“I made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“I went back to the house.”
“Why?”
“I found something.”
“What?”
Ethan's breathing was uneven.
“The basement.”
Daniel looked at Maya.
“What about it?”
“There's a room behind the storage wall.”
Robert stood.
“Don't open it.”
Ethan went silent.
Daniel heard a metallic sound.
“What was that?”
Ethan whispered, “Too late.”
The call ended.
Daniel grabbed his keys.
Maya followed.
Robert tried to stop her.
“No.”
“I’m going.”
“It could be a trap.”
“It already is.”
They reached the house twenty minutes later.
The front door was open.
Maya's pulse accelerated.
Daniel entered first.
The house was dark.
A lamp flickered in the hallway.
Ethan was nowhere to be seen.
Then they heard a sound from downstairs.
Maya followed Daniel.
Behind the storage shelves was a narrow opening.
Ethan stood inside.
His face was pale.
On the wall were photographs.
Dozens of them.
Maya.
Daniel.
Her mother.
Daniel's father.
Victor.
Robert.
Claire.
And Ethan.
Maya stared.
“How long?”
Ethan shook his head.
“I didn't know.”
“Who took these?”
He pointed toward the back of the room.
A projector was running.
Images appeared one after another.
Maya entering her office.
Maya leaving a restaurant.
Daniel meeting Victor.
Claire entering the marina.
Ethan talking to his mother.
Someone had been watching all of them.
Then a video appeared.
Maya's mother was sitting at a table.
Alive.
Older.
Tired.
But alive.
Maya stopped breathing.
Her mother looked directly into the camera.
“If Maya ever sees this, tell her I didn't die because of the accident.”
Maya's knees nearly gave way.
Daniel caught her.
The recording continued.
“I died because I refused to tell them where the trust was hidden.”
Maya covered her mouth.
Her mother continued.
“I know who is behind Victor.”
She paused.
Then said a name.
“Adrian Cross.”
The screen went black.
Nobody moved.
Then another video began.
This time, Maya's mother was speaking to someone off camera.
The voice was male.
Maya recognized it.
The same calm voice from the phone.
The man said, “You should have signed.”
Her mother answered, “I would rather die.”
The video ended.
Maya turned toward Robert.
“You knew.”
Robert shook his head.
“I suspected.”
“Then why didn't you find her?”
“I tried.”
Daniel looked at the wall.
“There must be more.”
Ethan pointed toward a small safe.
“I found that behind the photographs.”
Maya walked toward it.
The safe opened with the key from the trust box.
Inside was one envelope.
Her name was written on it.
She opened it.
A single photograph fell out.
Her mother.
Standing beside a woman Maya had never seen.
Evelyn.
On the back was a date.
The day after her mother was supposedly buried.
Maya stared.
“She was alive.”
Robert nodded.
“Yes.”
“And she met my aunt.”
“Yes.”
Maya looked at Daniel.
“Then my mother may have survived the night at the hotel.”
Robert's face tightened.
“Yes.”
“Where did she go?”
Nobody answered.
Then Ethan pointed toward the final line of the letter.
Maya read it aloud.
“If you're holding this, I'm somewhere they cannot reach me.”
She looked at the signature.
Her mother's name.
Then beneath it, in smaller handwriting:
But if they have found you, come alone to the old lighthouse.
Maya's heart pounded.
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“I have to go.”
“You're not going alone.”
The lights suddenly went out.
A car door slammed outside.
Then a man's voice came through the darkness.
“Maya.”
She froze.
The voice continued.
“Your mother is waiting.”
Click Here to continue read next: PART8: At the Lighthouse, Maya Finally Learned Why Her Mother Disappeared, Who Controlled the Debt, and What Had Been Hidden Behind Her Name
The Receipt in Her Hands Revealed a Number That Made the Man Outside Forget What He Had Promised Her
Part 7 of 16
