Chapter 5 - THE HOUSE OF LIES
Detective Brooks immediately ordered officers to locate Caleb.
His phone disappeared from the network twelve minutes later.
His car was seen once on a traffic camera heading north.
After that, he vanished.
Sophia remained upstairs with an attorney she contacted shortly after midnight.
She refused to speak to Ethan.
Ethan did not try to force the conversation.
He sat alone in the kitchen staring at the transfers bearing his name.
At 2:18 a.m., Richard entered.
He placed a cup of coffee beside his son.
Ethan looked at it.
“I don’t deserve that.”
Richard sat opposite him.
“It’s coffee.”
“You know what I mean.”
Richard said nothing.
Ethan looked at his father’s bruised cheek.
“I keep seeing it.”
“The slap?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Ethan winced.
Richard continued.
“Maybe remembering it will stop you from making the same mistake again.”
Ethan looked down.
“I want you to forgive me.”
“I know.”
“Will you?”
Richard stared into his coffee.
“I don’t know.”
Ethan had expected anger.
The uncertainty hurt more.
Richard looked toward the dark hallway.
“Forgiveness is not pretending something didn’t happen.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Richard met his eyes.
“I don’t think you do.”
Ethan stayed silent.
Richard continued.
“You didn’t simply hit me.”
“You looked at a man who raised you and decided, within seconds, that he was capable of something monstrous.”
Ethan’s throat tightened.
“I saw Sophia crying.”
“And you never asked me one question.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“I know.”
Richard leaned back.
“That is what I have to forgive.”
The words remained between them.
After several minutes, Ethan pushed the transfer records forward.
“What do we do about this?”
Richard looked at them.
“We find out who forged your authorization.”
“And if it can’t be proven?”
“We prove it.”
“You sound sure.”
“I’m not.”
Ethan stared at his father.
Richard looked tired.
More tired than Ethan remembered ever seeing him.
“What happens if investigators think I stole the money?”
Richard’s answer came immediately.
“I tell them the truth.”
“What if the truth isn’t enough?”
“Then we find more truth.”
Ethan almost smiled.
It disappeared quickly.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the missing money earlier?”
Richard looked away.
“Because I wasn’t sure whether you were involved.”
Ethan froze.
“You thought I might have stolen from you.”
“I had documents with your signatures.”
Ethan’s voice sharpened.
“So you investigated me.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t confront me.”
“No.”
Ethan stood.
“That sounds familiar.”
Richard looked at him.
“At least I didn’t hit you.”
Ethan stopped.
The words were deserved.
He sat back down.
Richard sighed.
“I wanted evidence before I accused my son of something that could destroy his life.”
Ethan stared at the table.
The contrast was brutal.
Richard had suspected him of stealing millions and waited for proof.
Ethan had suspected Richard of assault and struck him within seconds.
“I understand.”
Richard nodded.
“That’s a start.”
A noise came from the hallway.
Grace entered carrying Sophia’s laptop.
Ethan frowned.
“Where did you get that?”
“It was in the guest room.”
Richard stood.
“Grace.”
“She left it open.”
“That doesn’t mean you can search it.”
Grace placed it on the table.
“I didn’t.”
Ethan looked at the screen.
An email application was open.
A draft message filled the center.
The recipient field contained no address.
The subject read AFTER RICHARD IS REMOVED.
Richard’s expression hardened.
Grace pointed.
“I saw the subject when I walked past.”
Ethan sat down.
The body contained only three lines.
Once Richard is declared incapable, Ethan takes control.
Once Ethan takes control, the audit is terminated.
After that, we transfer the rest and leave before anyone understands what happened.
Ethan read the message twice.
Richard whispered.
“The rest.”
Grace looked at him.
“They were planning another transfer.”
Ethan’s face went pale.
“How much is left in the trust?”
Richard did not answer.
“Dad.”
“Enough.”
“How much?”
“Just over thirty-one million in liquid assets.”
Grace swore under her breath.
Ethan stared at the screen.
Thirty-one million dollars.
Suddenly the staged accusation made horrifying sense.
Sophia had not been trying merely to embarrass Richard.
She needed him removed.
If Richard were accused of attacking his daughter-in-law, the family could pressure him to step down.
If concerns about his mental state were added, lawyers could petition for temporary control.
Ethan, as designated successor, would assume authority.
Then Sophia could manipulate Ethan.
She had already been doing it.
The door opened.
Sophia stood there.
Her attorney was beside her.
She looked at the laptop.
Then she looked at Grace.
“You went through my computer.”
Grace folded her arms.
“You left your confession open.”
The attorney raised one hand.
“Do not answer that.”
Sophia walked toward the table.
“You have no right to touch my property.”
Ethan turned the laptop toward her.
“What does ‘transfer the rest’ mean?”
Her attorney repeated.
“Do not answer.”
Ethan looked at him.
“This is my wife.”
“Not tonight.”
Sophia’s eyes remained on Ethan.
“You want the truth?”
The attorney frowned.
“Sophia.”
She ignored him.
“The truth is that your father was never going to let you control anything.”
Richard’s expression remained calm.
“That draft says otherwise.”
Sophia smiled.
“He made you his successor because he expected you to obey him.”
Ethan stared.
“So you wanted me in control.”
“I wanted us free.”
“By stealing thirty million dollars?”
Her attorney stepped closer.
“That is an accusation.”
Sophia’s eyes flashed.
“You think this family money is clean?”
Richard stood.
“If you have evidence of wrongdoing, give it to the police.”
Sophia laughed.
“You really are incredible.”
Richard waited.
Sophia pointed toward the trust documents.
“How many people did you crush building Whitmore Holdings?”
Richard stared at her.
“How many companies did you buy?”
“How many families lost everything?”
Grace spoke.
“So that gave you the right to forge Ethan’s name?”
Sophia ignored her.
Ethan’s voice became quiet.
“Did you forge my signatures?”
Sophia looked at him.
“You signed things.”
“Those transfers?”
“You signed plenty of things.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Sophia walked closer.
“You never asked what you were signing.”
Ethan’s face went blank.
Richard noticed.
“What?”
Ethan rubbed his forehead.
“There were documents.”
Sophia smiled faintly.
Ethan looked at her.
“You brought them to me.”
“Yes.”
“You said they were insurance forms.”
“Some were.”
Richard stepped forward.
“When?”
Ethan thought.
“Last year.”
Sophia’s attorney interrupted.
“This conversation ends now.”
But Ethan continued staring at his wife.
“You gave me stacks of papers.”
Sophia’s expression changed.
“You signed them willingly.”
“I didn’t know what they were.”
“That’s your problem.”
Grace looked horrified.
Sophia’s attorney grabbed her arm.
“We’re leaving.”
Sophia pulled away.
“No.”
He leaned closer.
“You need to stop talking.”
She laughed.
“Why?”
“Because you are making this worse.”
Sophia looked around the kitchen.
Everyone she had manipulated was now staring back at her.
Something in her control seemed to crack.
“You all want to pretend Richard is innocent.”
Richard frowned.
“Innocent of what?”
Sophia turned on him.
“Ask your wife.”
The room froze.
Richard’s face changed.
“My wife is dead.”
Sophia stared at him.
“Yes.”
Ethan felt a new chill.
“What are you talking about?”
Sophia smiled without warmth.
“Eleanor knew.”
Richard stepped forward.
“Do not use her name.”
“She knew what you did.”
Richard’s voice became dangerous.
“What did I do?”
Sophia reached into her bag.
Her attorney tried to stop her.
She removed an old envelope.
Richard recognized the handwriting before she opened it.
His face went white.
“That belonged to Eleanor.”
Sophia placed the letter on the table.
“I found it in your private office.”
Richard stared at it.
“You stole that.”
Sophia looked at Ethan.
“Your mother wrote this six days before she died.”
Ethan’s breathing stopped.
Richard reached for the letter.
Sophia pulled it away.
“What does it say?”
Ethan asked.
Sophia opened the envelope.
She removed two handwritten pages.
Then she read one line.
“If anything happens to me, Richard must never know what I discovered.”
Richard’s face emptied of color.
Grace whispered.
“That isn’t possible.”
Sophia handed the letter to Ethan.
Richard did not move.
Ethan read silently.
His expression changed with every line.
Finally, he looked at his father.
“What was Mom investigating before she died?”
Richard stared at the letter.
“I don’t know.”
Ethan’s voice broke.
“She says someone inside Whitmore Holdings was stealing money twenty years ago.”
Richard’s eyes lifted.
“What?”
Sophia smiled.
“The current theft isn’t where this story started.”
Ethan kept reading.
Then he reached the final paragraph.
His entire body went still.
Grace noticed.
“What?”
Ethan looked toward his father.
“Mom wrote a name.”
Richard stepped closer.
“Whose?”
Ethan turned the page around.
The name was not Richard’s.
It was Daniel Pierce.
And beneath it, Eleanor had written one final sentence.
May you like
Daniel knows what happened to the missing money, and I think he knows someone is watching me.
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