Chapter 5 - MY FATHER'S SECRET
I couldn't speak.
My father looked at me.
“Emily.”
“Is it true?”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“I made a deal.”
“With Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To protect you.”
“From what?”
“From the Carter family.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You're telling me you made a deal with the man who destroyed my life to protect me?”
“Yes.”
“That's insane.”
“I know.”
“What happened?”
My father sat down.
Twenty years earlier, he had discovered that Thomas was stealing money.
He confronted him.
Thomas threatened to expose a secret.
A secret involving my mother.
She had secretly given birth to four children.
Thomas wanted three of them.
He believed controlling the children meant controlling the trust.
My father tried to stop him.
Thomas threatened to destroy Hayes Holdings.
So my father agreed to a temporary arrangement.
He would fund Carter Holdings.
In exchange, Thomas would leave me alone.
But Thomas broke the agreement.
He manipulated Daniel.
He separated the children.
He created false records.
He eventually arranged my accident.
My father discovered the truth too late.
I stared at him.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“You were recovering.”
“Then later.”
“I tried.”
“The letter.”
“Yes.”
“Thomas intercepted it?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
All those years.
I thought my father had simply respected my marriage.
He had been fighting a war I never knew existed.
Anna stepped forward.
“I have evidence.”
She opened another folder.
Inside was a recording.
Thomas's voice.
Clear.
Cold.
Emily cannot know about the trust.
Then Evelyn's voice.
What about Daniel?
Thomas answered:
He will do what we need if he believes he's protecting his mother.
I looked at Daniel.
He closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
When Emily leaves Daniel, we transfer the shares.
Then Gregory's voice.
And if she refuses?
Thomas answered:
Use the accident.
I felt sick.
The accident had been planned.
My marriage had been used.
My mother-in-law's cruelty had been deliberate.
Christmas wasn't the beginning.
It was the end of a plan that had lasted years.
I looked at my father.
“What happens now?”
He answered:
“We take everything back.”
That evening, my father's attorneys filed emergency legal actions.
Carter Holdings was frozen.
Evelyn's accounts were frozen.
Gregory's shell companies were investigated.
Daniel's authority was suspended.
The family mansion was placed under court protection.
But Thomas was still missing.
Then Anna received a message.
She read it.
Her face changed.
“What?”
She looked at me.
“Thomas wants to meet you.”
“Where?”
She showed me the address.
The old Carter estate.
I looked at my father.
He shook his head.
“No.”
“I have to go.”
“It's a trap.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because I want to hear him explain why.”
My father looked at me.
“You don't owe him that.”
“No.”
May you like
I picked up my coat.
“But I owe myself the truth.”
