Chapter 6 - The Sealed Envelope
Daniel had kept the envelope locked in his firm’s private vault for eleven months.
Charles Cole had given it to him three days before his death.
Daniel had been instructed to deliver it only if one of two events occurred.
Grace Bennett returned.
Or Nathan refused to marry Victoria Vale.
Both had now happened.
Daniel placed the sealed envelope on the dining room table.
Nathan stared at his father’s handwriting.
For Nathan.
Only when the lie collapses.
Nathan broke the seal.
Inside were four items.
A letter.
A photograph.
A bank statement.
And a small brass key.
Grace immediately recognized the key.
“That opens the archive.”
Nathan unfolded the letter.
Son,
If you are reading this, then I failed to repair what I destroyed.
Nathan stopped.
His hands trembled.
He continued.
Five years ago, I chose the company over your happiness.
I told myself I was protecting thousands of employees.
The truth is uglier.
I was protecting myself.
Richard Vale discovered financial irregularities inside Cole Meridian.
I believed he could destroy us.
He offered silence in exchange for a future merger secured through your marriage to Victoria.
Grace whispered.
“Oh my God.”
Nathan kept reading.
When Grace became pregnant, Richard considered the child a legal and financial threat.
He demanded that she disappear.
I helped him.
I threatened her.
I blocked her communications.
I allowed falsified evidence to be prepared in case she ever returned.
Nathan lowered the letter.
Grace stared at him.
Tears filled her eyes.
“He admitted it.”
Nathan could barely speak.
“Yes.”
There was more.
I later learned the financial irregularities Richard used against me were created by Richard himself.
He had been stealing from both companies for years.
By the time I discovered the truth, I was trapped.
Victoria knew more than I initially understood.
Nathan looked at her.
Victoria’s expression was blank.
The final paragraph was shorter.
The complete proof is in the archive.
Trust Grace.
Protect the child.
Do not trust anyone simply because they carry my name.
Nathan stared at the words.
Protect the child.
Not Lily.
His father had known her name eventually.
Had he ever seen her?
Grace noticed the photograph inside the envelope.
She picked it up.
Her breath caught.
Charles Cole was standing outside a preschool.
In the background, three-year-old Lily was playing beside a fence.
The picture had been taken one year earlier.
Grace covered her mouth.
“He found us.”
Nathan looked at the bank statement.
A private account had been sending $2,500 every month to a trust labeled L.B.
Lily Bennett.
His father had secretly funded her education and medical care through anonymous transfers.
It didn’t erase what he had done.
But it meant Charles had been trying to undo part of the damage.
Daniel held up the brass key.
“We need to open the archive.”
Victoria suddenly laughed.
Everyone turned.
She looked at Nathan.
“You think a dead man’s confession saves you?”
Nathan frowned.
Victoria’s smile became colder.
“That archive doesn’t belong to you anymore.”
“Why?”
“Because your father used it as collateral.”
Nathan felt a chill.
“For what?”
Victoria looked toward the windows.
Headlights were appearing beyond the gates.
Black SUVs.
May you like
Four of them.
“My father.”
