Chapter 4: The Woman in the Photograph
I read the message three times before I called Helen.
She answered immediately.
"Marcus, where are you?""
"At a gas station. Someone just sent me a photograph of Naomi and Ethan together. Six months ago.""
"Together how?""
"At a restaurant. The message says she was helping him get my father's land.""
There was a pause.
"Send me the photograph.""
I forwarded it.
A few seconds later, Helen called again.
"Marcus, don't respond to that number.""
"Why?""
"Because whoever sent it knows what you're investigating. We don't know whether they're trying to help you or manipulate you.""
I stared at the photograph.
Naomi was wearing a blue dress. Ethan sat across from her, his hand resting beside a folder.
She was smiling.
Not the uncomfortable smile she had given me at graduation.
A genuine smile.
The kind she used to give me when we celebrated small victories.
I zoomed in on the folder.
There was a company logo.
Riverside Holdings.
"She knew," I whispered.
"Marcus?""
"She knew about the land before she called me just a friend.""
Helen's voice softened.
"That's what we need to establish. Knowledge and involvement are two different things.""
I ended the call and sat inside my car.
For eight years, I had believed Naomi was building a future with me.
Now I was beginning to wonder whether she had been building something else with the people who wanted my inheritance.
The next morning, Helen asked me to meet her at her office.
She had already printed the photograph.
Beside it lay a copy of the original Riverside agreement.
"I spoke with a forensic document examiner," she said.
"He can review the signatures and determine whether your father's was altered.""
"How long?""
"Several days.""
She opened another folder.
"In the meantime, I want to understand Margaret Reed's involvement.""
I slid the photograph of the original signatories across the desk.
Helen studied it.
"That's definitely Margaret.""
"How much did she receive from Victor Lang?""
"According to the transfer agreement, approximately two million dollars.""
I stared at the number.
"Two million?""
"Yes. But there's an important detail. The payment wasn't made directly to her. It went through a company registered in her name.""
"Why?""
"Possibly to conceal the transaction. We need the financial records.""
I remembered my father's letter.
People can be bought with money. Others can be bought with promises.
"What happens if the transfer was illegal?""
"Then the cooperative may have grounds to reclaim the interest.""
She paused.
"And that could make your land even more important.""
My phone vibrated.
Naomi.
I let it ring.
Then a message appeared.
*Naomi:* We need to talk. Please. Not about the contract. About us.
I turned the screen toward Helen.
She read it.
"Do you want to respond?""
"No.""
"Good.""
But five minutes later, another message arrived.
*Naomi:* I'm outside your apartment.
I stood.
Helen raised an eyebrow.
"Do you want me to come with you?""
"No. I need to hear what she has to say.""
"Then remember something. You don't owe her a confession, a promise, or a signature.""
I drove home.
Naomi was standing beside the entrance when I arrived.
She wore a long beige coat and held a paper coffee cup.
Her hair was tied back.
She looked tired.
For a moment, I saw the woman I had loved.
Then I remembered the auditorium.
"Marcus.""
I unlocked the door.
"You have five minutes.""
She followed me inside.
Her eyes moved around the apartment.
The photographs were gone from the living room.
Her books were stacked in a cardboard box beside the wall.
She noticed.
"You packed my things?""
"I haven't thrown them away.""
"That's not what I meant.""
"Then what did you mean?""
She placed her coffee on the counter.
"Can we sit down?""
"No.""
She swallowed.
"Fine.""
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then she looked at me.
"I know what happened at graduation was wrong.""
"Wrong?""
"I panicked.""
"You panicked and introduced me as a friend?""
"I didn't know how to explain things.""
"You had eight years to explain things.""
Her eyes filled.
"Marcus, please don't make this harder.""
I laughed quietly.
"You keep saying that.""
She looked away.
Then she reached into her handbag and removed a folded document.
"I want you to understand something about Riverside.""
I didn't take it.
"Go ahead.""
"Ethan approached me months ago. He knew I was finishing my doctorate and offered me a position with his company.""
"How generous.""
"At first, I thought it was an academic consulting role. They needed someone familiar with urban development research.""
"And when did you discover my father's land was involved?""
She hesitated.
"Three months ago.""
I felt something tighten in my chest.
"Three months?""
"Yes.""
"Before graduation.""
She nodded.
"Why didn't you tell me?""
"Because Ethan said the negotiations were confidential.""
I stared at her.
"Naomi, I'm the landowner.""
"I know.""
"Then whose confidentiality were you protecting?""
She didn't answer.
I walked toward the kitchen.
She followed.
"Marcus, I never intended for you to get hurt.""
"Did you tell Ethan that we were together?""
She looked down.
"Yes.""
"Did you tell him I had sold my father's business to pay your tuition?""
Her silence answered for her.
I turned around.
"Did you tell him about the ring?""
Her eyes widened.
"What ring?""
I stared at her.
Then I remembered the velvet box was still in my bedroom drawer.
"Nothing.""
She stepped closer.
"Marcus, Ethan and I weren't together when we first started working together.""
"When did that change?""
She wiped her cheek.
"After you and I began having problems.""
I almost smiled.
"What problems?""
"You were always working. You didn't understand my world anymore. I needed someone who could understand what I was becoming.""
"What you were becoming?""
"A doctor. Someone with opportunities.""
I looked at her.
"Your tuition was paid because I sold the business my father spent forty-two years building.""
"I know.""
"Then don't stand in my kitchen and tell me I didn't understand your world.""
She began crying.
"I loved you.""
I looked at her for a long moment.
"Maybe you did.""
She reached for my hand.
I stepped back.
Then I noticed something.
The document she had brought was still lying on the counter.
I picked it up.
It was a confidentiality agreement.
At the bottom was Naomi's signature.
Above it was a clause stating that she had received confidential information concerning the Riverside property and agreed not to disclose it to any third party.
The date was six months earlier.
I looked at her.
"You signed this before you told me anything.""
She nodded.
"Yes.""
"Did you receive money?""
Her face changed.
"Marcus...""
"Did you?""
She looked toward the door.
Then she whispered, "Ethan arranged a consulting payment.""
"How much?""
"Fifty thousand dollars.""
I felt the room tilt.
Fifty thousand dollars.
I had sold my father's business for her education.
And she had accepted fifty thousand dollars from the people trying to take the land.
"Did you earn it?""
"I worked on the research.""
"What research?""
She opened her mouth.
But before she could answer, my phone rang.
Helen.
I answered.
"Marcus, I need you to come to my office immediately.""
"What's happened?""
"We received the preliminary forensic report.""
"And?""
Her voice lowered.
"Your father's signature on the later Riverside transfer document was not written by him.""
I looked at Naomi.
She had gone pale.
Helen continued.
"And there's something else. The person who submitted that document was not Victor Lang.""
I gripped the phone.
"Who was it?""
"Margaret Reed.""
Naomi's mother.
I slowly lowered the phone.
Naomi looked at me.
"Marcus, I can explain.""
I shook my head.
"Then explain why your mother forged my father's signature.""
Her lips parted.
And for the first time since I had known her, Naomi looked genuinely terrified.
"I didn't know she had done that," she whispered.
May you like
But before I could ask another question, she said something even worse.
"Marcus, my mother told me your father had already agreed to sell everything.""
