Mara could not move.
Her father remained beneath the dock, one hand gripping the ladder, his wet hair plastered against his forehead. He looked older than the man in her memories, but the eyes were the same. She remembered those eyes across a kitchen table, over a schoolbook, beside a hospital bed.
“Dad?”
Thomas looked at her.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Mara climbed down.
Mercer stepped forward.
“Mara, wait.”
She ignored him.
Thomas reached the dock ladder.
She caught his hand.
It was warm.
Real.
Her knees nearly gave way.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
“You let me think that.”
“I had no choice.”
“You always had a choice.”
Thomas lowered his eyes.
“You're right.”
Mara slapped him.
The sound echoed beneath the dock.
Thomas did not defend himself.
He simply looked at her.
“I deserved that.”
She began crying despite herself.
“Why didn't you come home?”
“Because if I came home, they would have killed you.”
“Who?”
Thomas glanced toward the shore.
“Everyone who knew what was beneath this lake.”
Mara looked up.
Mercer stood several yards away.
His weapon was lowered.
The lawyer watched him carefully.
Elias remained against the dock post.
“Why did you tell me not to trust Mercer?” Mara asked.
Thomas's eyes narrowed.
“Because Daniel Mercer was one of the officers who helped me disappear.”
Mercer did not deny it.
Mara turned.
“You knew?”
“I knew Thomas was alive.”
“Since when?”
“Since eleven years ago.”
Her face tightened.
“And you never told me?”
“I was ordered not to.”
“By whom?”
Mercer looked at Thomas.
“By your father.”
Mara stared at Thomas.
He nodded.
“I asked him to keep you safe.”
“That isn't keeping me safe. That's keeping me ignorant.”
Thomas looked toward the burning cottage.
“You were safer ignorant.”
“Not anymore.”
“No.”
His voice softened.
“Not anymore.”
The lawyer approached.
“My name is Evelyn Shaw,” she said quietly. “Your father asked me to find you if the tunnel was opened.”
Mara looked at her.
“You knew where I lived.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Eight years.”
Mara laughed bitterly.
“So everyone knew except me.”
Thomas reached for her hand.
“I was trying to give you a life.”
“You gave me a lie.”
He had no answer.
Mercer finally approached.
“We don't have time.”
Mara turned on him.
“You don't get to say that after twelve years.”
“I know.”
“Who is Bell working for?”
Mercer looked toward the road.
“He was ordered to recover the black case.”
“By whom?”
“I don't know.”
Thomas shook his head.
“Yes, you do.”
Mercer looked at him.
Thomas's expression was hard.
“You know exactly who gave the order.”
Mercer said nothing.
Evelyn spoke.
“The case contains the original ledger.”
Mara looked at her.
“What ledger?”
“The one your father found.”
Thomas nodded.
“It records every payment, every property transfer, every false identity, and every officer who helped hide them.”
“And Bell took it.”
“No,” Thomas said.
Mara looked at him.
“Then who did?”
Thomas looked toward the road.
“Bell.”
Mara frowned.
“But you just said—”
“I said Bell was ordered to recover it. I didn't say he kept it.”
Mercer understood.
“He delivered it.”
“To whom?”
Thomas looked at Mara.
“Your father's killer.”
The words seemed to stop time.
Mara whispered, “You know who killed you?”
Thomas's expression changed.
“He didn't kill me.”
“Then who?”
“He killed the person who tried to save me.”
Elias spoke from behind them.
“Samuel Vale.”
Thomas looked at him.
“Yes.”
Mara turned.
“Who is Samuel?”
“My brother,” Thomas said.
She looked at Elias.
“You said Adrian was your brother.”
“He is,” Thomas said.
Mara stared.
Thomas continued.
“There were three of us.”
Elias lowered his head.
“Thomas, Adrian, and Samuel.”
“Why have I never heard of Samuel?”
“Because Samuel became the man behind everything.”
Mara felt cold.
“Your brother?”
“Yes.”
“He runs the operation?”
“He did.”
“Did?”
Thomas looked toward the lake.
“He died three years ago.”
Mara stared.
“Then who's still running it?”
Thomas did not answer.
Mercer did.
“His daughter.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Mara looked at him.
“Who?”
Mercer hesitated.
“Clara Vale.”
Mara searched her memory.
The name meant nothing.
Thomas said quietly, “It should.”
He pulled a photograph from inside his coat.
Mara looked at it.
A young woman stood beside Samuel Vale.
Mara's breath stopped.
She knew her.
Not from the photographs.
From her own life.
“She taught at my school.”
Thomas nodded.
“Under another name.”
Mara remembered a woman from childhood.
Miss Claire.
The teacher who had once told Mara that her father loved her more than anything.
The teacher who had visited the hospital when Thomas was supposedly dying.
The teacher who had held Mara's hand at the funeral.
“She was there.”
“Yes.”
Mara stared at the photograph.
“She knew you were alive.”
“Yes.”
“And she knew about me.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't she hurt me?”
Thomas looked at her.
“Because she needed you.”
“For what?”
“The ledger.”
Elias pushed himself away from the post.
“She believes your father hid the final page.”
Mara remembered the missing report.
“The page in my house.”
Thomas nodded.
“You have it.”
She reached into her pocket and pulled out the brass key.
Thomas's eyes widened.
“Where did you get that?”
“Under the floor.”
He stared.
“That key doesn't belong to the cottage.”
“Then where?”
“To the old chapel.”
“There isn't a chapel here.”
“There was.”
Evelyn interrupted.
“Before the property was converted.”
Thomas nodded.
“The final page is hidden there.”
Mercer looked toward the road.
“We need to leave.”
A vehicle engine sounded in the distance.
Everyone turned.
Two black vehicles appeared between the trees.
Elias swore.
“They found us.”
Mercer raised his weapon.
Thomas climbed onto the dock.
Mara grabbed his arm.
“Can you walk?”
“I can.”
“Then we're leaving together.”
Thomas looked at her.
“You shouldn't.”
“I've spent twelve years without you.”
Her voice hardened.
“You're not disappearing again.”
They ran toward the trees.
Gunfire cracked behind them.
Mercer pushed Mara down.
“Stay low!”
Branches whipped against her face as they crossed the slope behind the cottage. Thomas moved more slowly, but Evelyn supported him. Elias followed with one hand pressed against his wound.
A bullet struck the tree beside Mara.
She froze.
Mercer pulled her forward.
“Keep moving.”
They reached an abandoned stone shed overlooking the lake.
Inside, Thomas collapsed onto a wooden crate.
Mara knelt beside him.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“You're lying.”
“Old injuries.”
He lifted his shirt.
A long scar crossed his abdomen.
Mara stared.
“How did you survive?”
“Elias.”
She turned.
Elias stood in the doorway.
“You saved him?”
“Yes.”
“And then you betrayed him.”
“Yes.”
Mara looked at him.
“Why?”
Elias swallowed.
“Because they had you.”
Thomas spoke.
“And because I asked him to.”
Mara stared at both men.
“What?”
Thomas explained.
“Elias had to appear loyal to them. Otherwise neither of us would have survived.”
Mara's anger faltered.
“But Jonah?”
Elias looked down.
“I told Jonah the truth.”
“And?”
“He didn't believe me.”
“Why?”
“Because he found evidence that I had betrayed your father.”
Mara looked toward Thomas.
“You let him believe that.”
“I had to.”
“And Jonah disappeared because of it?”
Thomas nodded.
“He agreed to disappear until we could recover the ledger.”
“Then why didn't he tell me?”
“Because the person closest to you was listening.”
Mara thought of the recording.
The person who had betrayed Jonah was close to her for years.
She understood now.
But one question remained.
“Who?”
Thomas looked at her.
“Your mother.”
Mara went still.
“My mother died when I was ten.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“She wasn't the woman you thought she was.”
Click Here to continue read next: PART7: The Truth About Mara’s Mother Connected Every Betrayal, and the Final Ledger Revealed Why Jonah Had Chosen Her Instead of Running
The Police Arrived Before Sunrise, Yet the Woman Already Knew Exactly What They Had Come to Ask Her About
Part 6 of 16
