Chapter 1 - THE MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
The room went silent.
I stared at the bank transfer.
My mother's name appeared on one side.
The recipient's name appeared on the other.
Richard Cole.
I knew that name.
Everyone in my family did.
Richard Cole had been my father's closest business partner.
Ten years earlier, Dad had told us Richard died suddenly after a heart attack.
There had been a funeral.
There had been flowers.
There had even been an obituary.
So why had my mother been sending him money?
I looked at Evelyn.
She was standing beside the fireplace.
Her confidence was gone.
“Mom.”
She said nothing.
“Who is Richard Cole?”
Her lips tightened.
“No one.”
The attorney looked at her.
“Mrs. Hayes, we have more than forty-seven transfers.”
My mother slowly sat down.
Claire stood beside me.
Her face was still pale from the night before.
I took her hand.
“Forty-seven?”
The attorney nodded.
“Over the last three years.”
“Three years?”
“Yes.”
I looked at my mother.
“You told us Richard died ten years ago.”
She stared at the floor.
My brother finally spoke.
“Mom, what's going on?”
She snapped at him.
“Stay out of this.”
That answer told me everything.
She was afraid.
The attorney opened another file.
“There is also a second account.”
He placed the document on the table.
It belonged to Claire.
My wife's personal inheritance account.
The account her grandmother had left her before she died.
Money Claire had never touched because she wanted to save it for our baby.
I looked at the withdrawals.
Thousands of dollars.
Every month.
I turned toward my mother.
“You took money from Claire.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“I borrowed it.”
“You stole it.”
“I was going to return it.”
“When?”
She had no answer.
Claire's voice was quiet.
“Why?”
My mother looked at her.
“You don't understand.”
“No,” Claire said.
“I don't.”
“You married into this family and took everything.”
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
“I never took anything.”
“You took my son.”
I stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Evelyn glared at me.
“You've changed.”
“No.”
I looked at Claire.
“You finally showed me who you are.”
My mother stood.
“You're choosing her over your own mother?”
I answered without hesitation.
“Yes.”
Her face collapsed.
The attorney placed one final document on the table.
“This is the most important one.”
I opened it.
It was a company transfer agreement.
Richard Cole had apparently purchased a controlling interest in my father's old business shortly before his supposed death.
But the ownership had never been transferred.
Instead, the shares were placed inside a private trust.
The beneficiary was my mother.
I stared at the document.
“Why would Richard leave you his shares?”
My mother didn't answer.
Then the front door opened.
Everyone turned.
An older man stepped inside.
Gray hair.
Dark coat.
A walking cane.
My heart stopped.
My brother whispered:
“That's impossible.”
The man looked directly at my mother.
“Hello, Evelyn.”
She stood frozen.
I stared at him.
Richard Cole was alive.
May you like
He smiled faintly.
“And I think it's time your sons learned the truth.”
