Edward reached his mother before her head struck the stone path.
He caught her beneath the shoulders and lowered her carefully.
“Mother.”
Margaret opened her eyes.
For a moment she seemed not to recognize him.
Then she whispered, “The ledger.”
“We have it.”
Her eyes widened.
“No. You shouldn't have opened it.”
Clara crouched beside her.
“Why?”
Margaret looked at her.
“Because your father knew.”
The sentence hung between them.
Edward stared.
“My father knew what?”
Margaret tried to sit up.
Clara helped her.
“Not here,” Margaret said.
They brought her back into the house.
The dining room had changed while they were gone.
The wine had been wiped from the table.
The documents were gone.
Only the red stain remained.
Someone had cleaned the room without being asked.
Edward saw it immediately.
“Who touched the table?”
No one answered.
Simon Price stood near the fireplace.
“I instructed the staff to clean the spill.”
“You weren't here.”
“I was.”
“No. You were in the archive.”
Simon looked at him.
“I came back.”
Clara watched them both.
The solicitor's tie was slightly crooked.
His right cuff was damp.
And there was a smear of dark dust along his sleeve.
Archive dust.
“You've been down there,” Clara said.
Simon looked at her.
“So have you.”
“Not after you.”
He said nothing.
Margaret was seated at the head of the table.
Thomas still had not returned.
Nora stood behind her.
Edward placed the ledger on the table.
Margaret looked at it as though it were a coffin.
“Tell me the truth,” Edward said.
She looked at him.
“Which truth?”
“All of it.”
Margaret's hands folded together.
“My sister did not steal your father's money.”
“I know.”
“She discovered that Henry had been moving company funds into private accounts.”
Edward stared.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To finance a second life.”
Nora frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“Henry had another family.”
Silence.
Edward sat down slowly.
Clara did not move.
“How long?” he asked.
“Several years.”
“Did you know?”
Margaret nodded.
“I discovered it after your birth.”
“Then why stay?”
Margaret looked at him.
“Because leaving would have meant losing you.”
Edward looked away.
The explanation did not comfort him.
Clara understood why.
There was something else.
“You said Elise discovered the transfers.”
“Yes.”
“What did she do?”
“She threatened to expose him.”
Margaret's voice had become faint.
“Henry panicked. He accused her of stealing. He created false records. He made it look as though she had taken money from the company.”
“And then?”
Margaret looked at the photograph.
“She disappeared.”
“Did my father kill her?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
Edward looked up.
“You know that?”
Margaret's eyes filled.
“I know because I helped her leave.”
Clara's expression changed.
“You helped Elise escape.”
“Yes.”
“Where did she go?”
Margaret shook her head.
“I never knew.”
Edward stood.
“You let me believe she stole money.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
“From Henry.”
Edward's voice hardened.
“He was dead fifteen years before I learned any of this.”
“Yes.”
“Then what were you protecting me from?”
Margaret looked toward Simon.
That was enough.
Edward followed her gaze.
Simon remained motionless.
“Get out,” Edward said.
Simon smiled faintly.
“You don't understand what you're doing.”
“I said leave.”
Simon did not move.
Clara stepped closer to him.
“You knew Elise.”
“No.”
“You recognized the photograph.”
“I did not.”
“You looked at Margaret when she mentioned the name.”
“I was surprised.”
Clara pointed at his sleeve.
“Then explain the archive dust.”
Simon glanced down.
“I was looking for you.”
“Why?”
“To stop you from making a mistake.”
Edward laughed without humor.
“Everyone keeps telling me I'm making mistakes. Nobody tells me what the correct answer is.”
Simon looked at him.
“Your mother does.”
Margaret suddenly said, “No.”
Everyone turned.
She was crying now.
“Simon.”
He looked at her.
“You promised.”
Simon’s expression hardened.
“You promised too.”
Clara stepped between them.
“What promise?”
Neither answered.
Edward looked at his mother.
“What did you promise him?”
Margaret wiped her cheek.
“Money.”
“How much?”
“All of it.”
Edward stared.
“Your estate?”
Margaret nodded.
“In exchange for what?”
She looked at Simon.
“For keeping Elise alive.”
Clara felt cold.
“You've been paying him.”
Margaret nodded.
“For thirty-two years.”
Edward turned toward Simon.
“You know where she is.”
Simon said nothing.
“Where?”
Still nothing.
Edward crossed the room.
Simon did not retreat.
“You've taken my mother's money for thirty-two years.”
“I've protected a secret for thirty-two years.”
“Whose secret?”
“Yours.”
Edward stopped.
Simon reached into his jacket.
Clara tensed.
But he removed only an envelope.
He placed it on the table.
“Your mother has been sending money to an account in Switzerland. That account belongs to someone who has been caring for a woman named Elise.”
Margaret covered her face.
Edward opened the envelope.
Inside was a recent photograph.
An elderly woman sat beside a window overlooking a garden.
Her hair was silver.
Her face was thinner than the woman in the old photograph.
But the eyes were unmistakable.
Margaret's eyes.
Edward stared.
“She’s alive.”
“Yes,” Simon said.
Clara picked up the photograph.
“Where?”
Simon hesitated.
“England.”
“Where exactly?”
“That information is not free.”
Edward looked at him with disbelief.
“You extorted my mother.”
Simon shook his head.
“I gave her what she wanted.”
“What did she want?”
“To keep Elise hidden.”
Margaret spoke softly.
“I thought Henry's enemies would find her.”
Clara looked at the photograph again.
“Why would anyone still care after thirty-two years?”
Margaret didn't answer.
Simon did.
“Because Elise didn't leave with only her life.”
He looked toward the ledger.
“She took something with her.”
Edward opened it.
“The missing page.”
Simon nodded.
“What was on it?”
“A list.”
“Of what?”
“Names.”
Clara looked at him.
“Whose names?”
Simon smiled.
“People who built their fortunes by helping Henry Hale.”
Edward's face tightened.
“Politicians?”
“Some.”
“Bankers?”
“Yes.”
“Police?”
Simon did not answer.
Clara understood.
The ledger was not merely evidence of a family scandal.
It was a record of a network.
And if Elise still had the missing page, there were powerful people who might still want it destroyed.
A noise came from the hallway.
Everyone turned.
Thomas stood in the doorway.
His shirt was torn.
There was blood on his cheek.
Edward moved toward him.
“What happened?”
Thomas looked directly at Simon.
“He found me.”
Simon went still.
Thomas pointed at him.
“He tried to kill me.”
Simon shook his head.
“That is a lie.”
Thomas laughed bitterly.
“I should have known you would say that.”
Clara moved toward Thomas.
“Where were you?”
“The garage.”
“Why?”
“I was trying to leave.”
“Why didn't you?”
Thomas reached into his coat.
He removed a small cassette recorder.
“I found this in the archive.”
Simon took one step backward.
Edward noticed.
“What is it?”
Thomas placed the recorder on the table.
“My father left it.”
Clara stared.
“Your father?”
Thomas nodded.
“He was Henry Hale's accountant.”
Edward looked at the recorder.
Thomas pressed play.
A man's old voice crackled through the speaker.
Henry Hale.
“I know Elise has the page. If anything happens to me, the person who betrayed us is not the woman. It is the man I trusted most.”
The recording stopped.
Everyone looked at Simon.
He had gone pale.
Then Margaret whispered the name.
“Thomas.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Edward stared at him.
“Your father betrayed mine?”
“No.”
Thomas looked at Edward.
“He tried to expose him.”
“Then who was the man Henry trusted?”
Thomas looked at Simon.
“His lawyer.”
Simon Price.
The room went silent.
Simon suddenly reached for the fireplace poker.
Clara stepped back.
Edward moved between him and Margaret.
Simon raised the poker.
But before he could strike, the dining room doors burst open.
Police officers entered.
And behind them stood a woman in a dark coat, older now, silver-haired, carrying a small leather case.
Margaret saw her.
Her lips parted.
“Elise.”
Click Here to continue read next: PART4: The Woman Everyone Believed Dead Returned With the Missing Page and a Truth That Changed Who Needed Forgiveness
The Dinner Was Meant to Settle an Inheritance, Until a Glass Fell and Everyone Stopped Pretending
Part 3 of 16
