Chapter 16 - The Missing File
We rushed into the study.
Richard and Chloe were gone.
Andrew remained.
Julian slammed him against the wall.
“What did you do?”
“I saved your evidence.”
“By shutting off the camera?”
Andrew reached into his jacket.
Julian stepped back.
Andrew removed a small memory card.
“Richard brought a signal scanner.”
“He was seconds from finding your camera.”
“I killed the feed before he saw the transmission light.”
Daniel checked the system.
Andrew was telling the truth.
“Where are they?”
“Richard left through the garden.”
“Chloe went upstairs.”
My heart stopped.
“Upstairs where?”
Andrew looked at me.
“Your bedroom.”
I ran.
The safe behind my dressing room panel was open.
Documents covered the floor.
One file was missing.
My husband’s original trust amendment.
The document that would activate Julian’s voting shares after marriage.
Without it, Richard could delay the transfer.
With it, he could study every vulnerability.
Julian searched the hallway.
“Chloe!”
No answer.
Then we heard a car engine.
She had escaped.
Richard called fifteen minutes later.
“You’ve always underestimated me, Evelyn.”
“You’re finished.”
“Am I?”
“You entered my home illegally.”
“Prove it.”
“We have recordings.”
“Recordings that cut out before anything useful happened?”
I looked at Andrew.
He shook his head.
Richard did not know we had saved everything before the camera died.
Good.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“Attend the wedding.”
I frowned.
“I thought Chloe didn’t want me there.”
“She changed her mind.”
“Why?”
“Because tomorrow, in front of three hundred guests, you’re going to announce that you are stepping down from the Vance board.”
Julian stared at me.
“And if I refuse?”
“The trust document becomes public.”
“So?”
Richard laughed.
“Not that document.”
My stomach tightened.
“What else did Chloe take?”
He answered with five words.
“Your husband’s final medical file.”
I stopped breathing.
Julian looked confused.
My husband had not died exactly the way Julian believed.
The official story was a sudden heart attack.
The truth was more complicated.
And once again, a secret I had buried to protect my son had become ammunition.
Richard whispered, “Tomorrow you can lose the company.”
“Or you can lose your son’s memory of his father.”
Then he hung up.
Julian looked at me.
“What medical file?”
There was no place left to hide.
May you like
So on the night before his wedding, I finally told my son how his father really died.
---
