Chapter 9: The Daughter Who Came Back From the Dead
Nia Carter stood in the center of my wedding ballroom, holding a key that matched the one in my hand.
She looked like my father.
Not vaguely. Not in the way distant relatives sometimes share a smile or the shape of a nose.
She had his eyes, his jawline, and the same small scar above her left eyebrow that he had gotten while repairing a fence when I was six.
I had seen that scar in family photographs my entire life.
Now I was staring at it on a stranger's face.
My sister.
"How old are you?"" I asked.
"Thirty-two.""
Four years older than me.
I tried to calculate the dates, but my mind kept returning to the photograph of the newborn.
"Did you know Dad?""
Nia's expression softened.
"I knew him for the first twenty-one years of my life.""
The room went silent.
I turned toward Dorothy.
She was crying so hard she could barely lift her head.
"Mom?""
She looked at Nia.
Then she whispered, "I'm sorry.""
Nia didn't move toward her.
"That's what you said in the letter you sent me when I was sixteen. You said you were sorry, but you never explained why you gave me away.""
Dorothy's face crumpled.
"I didn't give you away.""
"You signed the papers.""
"I was told you would be safer with another family.""
"Who told you that?""
Dorothy looked toward Raymond.
He lowered his head.
I felt anger rising so quickly that my hands began to shake.
"Everyone in this room seems to know something about my family except me. So let's stop pretending we're protecting anyone. Nia, tell me what happened.""
She studied my face for a moment.
Then she pulled a chair away from the wedding table and sat down.
"My mother died when I was born," she said.
"That's what I was told. I grew up believing I was the daughter of a woman named Elaine Carter, who died in childbirth, and a man who never wanted me.""
I stared at her.
"But Dad was alive.""
"Yes. He visited me when I was little. He brought books, taught me to play chess, and told me I had a brother who would someday become my best friend.""
Her voice broke slightly.
"Then, when I was twenty-one, he stopped coming.""
My mother covered her mouth.
Nia continued.
"I found out why six months later. A man came to my apartment and told me my father had died in an accident. He gave me a copy of the death certificate and warned me not to contact his family.""
"Who was the man?"" I asked.
"Raymond.""
I turned toward my godfather.
He looked devastated.
"You did this?""
Raymond shook his head.
"Jalen, I was following your father's instructions.""
"That's what everyone says!""
Nia raised her hand.
"Let him explain.""
Raymond took a shaky breath.
"Daniel believed someone was using the trust to gain control of the company. He thought Nia was the key to proving who had altered the original documents.""
"Why me?"" Nia asked.
"Because the trust required the signatures of both children once they became adults. If one child disappeared, the other could be pressured into signing away control.""
I stared at the two keys.
"So there were two boxes.""
Raymond nodded.
"One contained the original financial records. The other contained the trust documents and a statement from the lawyer who created it.""
"Why split them?""
"Because your father believed someone inside the company had already accessed the first set of records.""
I looked toward Patricia.
She was sitting motionless, her face drained of color.
Nia followed my gaze.
"She's the reason I came here.""
Patricia slowly lifted her eyes.
"Nia, please.""
"Don't.""
Nia reached into her purse and pulled out a folded document.
"This is a copy of the trust agreement. It says that if either child was declared missing or presumed dead, the remaining shares would be transferred to a temporary guardian until both children could be located.""
I read the page.
The temporary guardian's name appeared beneath a line of signatures.
Raymond Carter.
My godfather.
I stared at him.
"You were the guardian?""
"Only on paper.""
"Then why did you tell Nia her father was dead and she couldn't contact us?""
"Because I received threats. Someone told me that if I brought her to your mother, both children would be in danger.""
"Who?""
Raymond looked at Patricia.
She began shaking her head.
"I never wanted any of this," Patricia whispered.
Nia placed the document on the table.
"Then tell us who paid you to hide my father's survival.""
Patricia pressed both hands against her face.
For a long moment, she said nothing.
Then she lowered them.
"Your father didn't die in that accident," she said to me.
"But he didn't simply disappear, either. Someone helped him leave.""
"Who?""
Patricia looked at Raymond.
"He did.""
Raymond closed his eyes.
The ballroom erupted into whispers.
I stepped toward him.
"You helped my father fake his death?""
Raymond nodded.
"Yes.""
My mother made a broken sound.
I felt as though someone had reached inside my chest and ripped out the last piece of the life I understood.
"You let me bury him.""
"I believed it was the only way to keep you alive.""
"You let Mom mourn him for eleven years!""
Raymond's voice cracked.
"I know.""
"You let me grow up without a father!""
"I know!""
He struck the table with his palm. A champagne glass toppled and rolled across the cloth.
"Your father found evidence that someone was using the company to finance a criminal operation. He believed the people involved would kill anyone who could expose them. He arranged to disappear while the authorities investigated.""
"Then why didn't he come back?""
Raymond looked at the phone in my hand.
"Because the investigation was compromised. Every time he tried to return, someone found out. The threats continued, and eventually he believed staying dead was the only way to keep his children safe.""
I looked at Nia.
"Both of us?""
"Both of you," Raymond said.
Nia shook her head.
"He never contacted me again. I thought he'd abandoned me.""
"He was trying to protect you.""
"From whom?""
Raymond didn't answer.
Instead, Nia placed her brass key beside mine.
"The man who raised me gave me this three weeks ago. He told me to find Jalen Carter and deliver it before his wedding.""
I frowned.
"Who raised you?""
Nia's eyes filled with tears.
"My father's best friend. The man who adopted me when I was a baby.""
She took a small card from her purse and slid it across the table.
The name printed on it made Patricia gasp.
It was the name of the retired judge who had officiated my parents' wedding.
A man who had died five years ago.
Beneath his name was a handwritten note.
The second box is not in the vault.
I looked at Raymond.
"Where is it?""
He slowly shook his head.
"Your father moved it after I helped him disappear.""
Nia turned over the card.
There was one final sentence written on the back.
The person who knows where it is has been standing beside you all day.
My eyes moved across the ballroom.
Dorothy.
Patricia.
Brianna.
Raymond.
Every one of them had been beside me when this nightmare began.
Then I noticed something.
Brianna was gone.
Her white wedding gown was no longer near the table.
The service entrance stood open.
And on the table where my father's letter had been stolen, someone had left my wedding ring.
Beside it was a note.
If you want the truth about your father, come alone.
I grabbed my phone and called Brianna.
It rang once.
Then she answered.
Her breathing was fast and uneven.
"Jalen?""
"Where are you?""
"I found him.""
"Found who?""
My blood turned cold as she whispered the answer.
"Your father.""
A man's voice sounded in the background.
Then Brianna screamed.
The call went dead.
I looked at Raymond.
May you like
He was already running toward the ballroom doors.
And from somewhere outside, a single gunshot shattered the night.
