Chapter 5 - THE MAN WHO KNEW MY MOTHER
Gregory was found two days later.
He was hiding at an abandoned vineyard.
We went there with investigators.
When he saw me, he smiled.
“You look just like Eleanor.”
I stared.
“You knew my mother.”
“Yes.”
“What did you do to her?”
“I didn't hurt her.”
“Then who did?”
He looked toward my father.
“He knows.”
My father stepped forward.
“Don't.”
Gregory laughed.
“You've spent twenty-eight years protecting your daughter from the truth.”
I looked at my father.
“What truth?”
Gregory answered.
“Your mother didn't die naturally.”
Silence.
My father closed his eyes.
“What are you saying?”
Gregory looked at me.
“Her death was arranged.”
My heart stopped.
“By whom?”
He smiled.
“Thomas.”
“But Thomas is dead.”
“No.”
I stared.
Gregory continued.
“Thomas Carter has been alive this entire time.”
Andrew stepped forward.
“That is impossible.”
Gregory shook his head.
“He disappeared.”
He looked at me.
“Just like Evelyn.”
My father reached for my arm.
“Lily, we need to leave.”
“No.”
I pulled away.
“I need to hear everything.”
Gregory opened a safe.
Inside was an old photograph.
Thomas Carter.
Alive.
Taken only three months earlier.
I stared at the photograph.
My entire body went cold.
The man who had supposedly died fifteen years ago was alive.
And beneath the photograph was a handwritten note.
THE WEDDING WAS ONLY THE FIRST MOVE.
I looked at Jonathan.
“What does that mean?”
He turned the page.
Another sentence was written underneath.
THE REAL HEIR HAS NOT BEEN FOUND YET.
Everyone went silent.
I looked at my father.
“Who is the real heir?”
He didn't answer.
Gregory smiled.
Then the lights inside the vineyard went out.
A car engine started outside.
Someone had come for us.
My father shouted:
“Get down!”
Glass shattered.
Security rushed forward.
I grabbed Andrew's hand instinctively.
For one second, he pulled me behind him.
Not because he wanted control.
Because he wanted to protect me.
Then he whispered:
“I'm sorry.”
I looked at him.
“For what?”
“For taking so long to choose you.”
Before I could answer, another shot struck the wall.
Everyone froze.
Jonathan grabbed the trust documents.
Gregory disappeared through the rear door.
And when the lights came back on, one thing was missing.
The photograph of Thomas.
Someone had taken it.
Which meant the man we thought was hiding from us already knew exactly where we were.
And he wanted us to know something else.
May you like
He wasn't afraid of the trust.
He was coming for the family itself.
