Chapter 5 - THE BOY THEY USED AS A WEAPONVictoria ran toward the door.
Arthur stopped her.
“Don't.”
“That's my son!”
Thomas tightened his grip on Ethan's shoulder.
The boy looked terrified.
“Mom…”
Victoria began crying.
“I'm here.”
Richard stepped forward.
“You have something I want.”
Arthur held up the ledger.
“No.”
Richard smiled.
“Then your family loses something you love.”
Arthur's jaw tightened.
“You won't touch him.”
Richard laughed.
“You still think this is about revenge.”
“What is it about?”
“The future.”
He pointed at the ledger.
“That book can destroy half the people in this state.”
Arthur stared.
“Good.”
Richard's smile disappeared.
“You don't understand what happens when powerful people panic.”
Arthur stepped forward.
“They already panicked.”
He lifted the ledger.
“And they lost.”
Thomas suddenly raised a weapon.
“Put it down.”
Arthur didn't move.
Richard looked at him.
“Give me the book.”
“No.”
“Then Ethan dies.”
Victoria screamed.
“Please!”
Ethan's face was wet with tears.
“Mom, don't give him anything.”
Thomas shook him.
“Quiet.”
Arthur's eyes hardened.
“Don't touch him.”
Richard smiled.
“Your father said the same thing.”
Arthur froze.
Richard continued:
“Michael thought he could protect everyone.”
“You killed him.”
Richard's expression became cold.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“She did.”
I felt my blood run cold.
Arthur turned toward me.
“What?”
Richard pointed at me.
“Your mother was there.”
“I know.”
“She could have saved him.”
I shook my head.
“That's not true.”
Richard smiled.
“She knows.”
Arthur looked at me.
“Mom?”
I began crying.
“I tried.”
Richard laughed.
“You stood there.”
“No.”
“You watched him collapse.”
“I called the ambulance.”
“You could have given him the medication.”
I froze.
The medication.
I remembered.
Michael's heart medicine had been on the counter.
I had seen it.
But in the chaos, I hadn't understood what was happening.
Richard knew.
He had watched me panic.
He had watched Michael die.
And then he had disappeared.
Arthur looked at me.
“Did you have his medicine?”
“Yes.”
His face fell.
“I didn't know.”
“I know.”
“I didn't know he was having a heart attack.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
Richard smiled.
“Exactly.”
Then Julian stepped forward.
“You're lying.”
Richard looked at him.
“You were there.”
“You drugged me.”
Richard smiled.
“You remember.”
Fragments returned to Julian.
The missing days.
The headaches.
The strange conversations.
He grabbed his head.
Arthur caught him.
“Julian.”
Julian whispered:
“He wanted to know what Dad told me.”
“What did Dad tell you?”
Julian looked at the ledger.
“He told me where the second book was.”
Richard's expression changed.
“What second book?”
Julian smiled.
“You don't know?”
Richard stepped forward.
“Where is it?”
Julian pointed at him.
“You just proved it.”
Arthur understood.
The ledger wasn't the real prize.
Richard had been searching for another document all these years.
The ledger contained names.
But the second book contained proof.
Proof that could connect Richard directly to Michael's death.
Richard's face changed.
“Where is it?”
Julian smiled.
“Safe.”
Thomas shouted:
“Where?”
Julian looked at Victoria.
She suddenly understood.
“The house.”
Julian nodded.
“In Mom's bedroom.”
I looked at them.
“What?”
Michael had hidden something in my bedroom.
For years.
Without my knowledge.
Arthur looked at Richard.
“You never searched there.”
Richard became furious.
“Get it.”
Thomas moved toward the house.
Arthur blocked him.
The confrontation exploded.
Marco and the security team rushed from behind the building.
They had surrounded the property.
Thomas tried to escape.
Police vehicles arrived.
Richard raised his hands.
But before he surrendered, he looked at me.
“You still don't know what your husband left you.”
I stared.
“What?”
Richard smiled.
“A reason to forgive him.”
Then he was taken away.
Inside the house, Arthur searched my bedroom.
Behind the old wardrobe was another hidden compartment.
Inside sat a small wooden box.
I opened it.
There was a letter.
Michael's handwriting.
I held it to my chest.
Eleanor,
If our sons ever find this, tell them I loved them.
I began crying.
I knew Richard would come back.
I also knew you would blame yourself.
Don't.
I covered my mouth.
You didn't kill me.
You saved me.
Arthur looked at me.
“What does that mean?”
I kept reading.
The night I died, Richard poisoned my medication.
I couldn't breathe.
I knew he would try to blame you.
I took the medicine anyway because I needed him to believe I was dead.
Arthur stared.
“What?”
I knew the police would never protect us.
So I made a plan.
The letter continued.
If you are reading this, then I am probably gone.
But I left enough evidence to destroy Richard.
I looked at the final page.
There was a name.
Thomas Reed.
Then another.
Victoria Hayes.
And finally:
Arthur.
I stared.
“Why is your name here?”
Arthur looked confused.
Then he turned the page.
At the bottom was one sentence.
My oldest son already knows the truth.
Arthur stepped backward.
“I don't.”
The lights suddenly went out.
A phone rang in the darkness.
Arthur answered.
A distorted voice whispered:
“You're looking for the wrong enemy.”
Arthur froze.
The voice continued:
“Richard was never the one who ordered Michael's death.”
The call ended.
Arthur looked at me.
Then at Julian.
Then toward the locked door.
Because if Richard wasn't the mastermind…
May you like
someone else had been controlling everything.
And that person had just revealed that they were still inside our lives.
