Chapter 4 - What Her Father Was Hiding
Vadim refused to let Elara go alone.
Elara refused to stay behind.
They compromised in the least peaceful way possible.
She would enter the Fagan mansion visibly alone.
Vadim would be close.
The doctor finally gave them a name before they left.
Gerald Fagan.
Patrick's older brother.
Elara's uncle had supposedly moved overseas years earlier.
He hadn't.
Gerald had been quietly controlling several family companies while Patrick remained the public face.
More importantly, Gerald had been Catherine's financial adviser.
The old key Mara carried belonged to Gerald's records room.
At midnight, Elara entered her childhood home.
The mansion felt different now.
Not smaller.
Just less powerful.
She walked upstairs.
Her mother's bedroom door stood open.
Mara sat inside.
Alone.
"Mara."
Her cousin lifted her head.
"Don't come closer."
Elara stopped.
"Why?"
Mara's gaze dropped.
A wire ran beneath the chair.
Elara's stomach twisted.
"Is it—"
"No. Alarm wire. Door opens again, it alerts someone."
Elara exhaled.
"Where's Gerald?"
"I don't know."
Mara looked terrified.
"He kept asking about Catherine's letter."
Elara approached carefully.
She freed Mara.
No alarm sounded.
Then they heard footsteps.
Patrick appeared in the doorway.
Elara stepped in front of Mara.
"Where's your brother?"
Patrick looked exhausted.
"Probably watching us."
"You knew?"
"I knew enough."
"Mom knew too."
His face tightened.
"Your mother wouldn't stop."
"Stop what?"
"Investigating."
Patrick sat down heavily.
For the first time, Elara saw something in him she had never associated with her father.
Fear.
"Gerald was stealing from the family businesses. Millions. Catherine found it."
"So you helped him?"
Patrick looked away.
"At first."
Elara felt sick.
"Why?"
"He had information about me."
"What information?"
Patrick gave a humorless laugh.
"Does it matter?"
"Yes."
He looked at his daughter.
"I had debts. Serious ones. Gerald covered them. Then he owned me."
"And Mom?"
"She was going to the authorities."
Elara's voice shook.
"What happened October seventeenth?"
Patrick closed his eyes.
"She met Gerald."
"Did he kill her?"
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I followed her. By the time I arrived, she was unconscious."
Elara stared.
"And instead of calling the police?"
"I called an ambulance."
"Then why lie about where she died?"
"Gerald threatened you."
The room went silent.
Patrick looked at her.
"You were twelve."
Elara's anger faltered.
"He said if I told anyone where Catherine had been, he'd make sure you disappeared next."
Mara whispered, "Oh my God."
Elara didn't know what to feel.
Patrick had spent fifteen years destroying her confidence.
He couldn't blame that on Gerald.
"Why did you treat me the way you did?"
Patrick didn't answer.
"Why did you call me damaged?"
His face hardened again.
"Because weakness gets people killed."
Elara recoiled.
"So you decided to hurt me first?"
"I made you invisible."
Understanding came slowly.
Patrick had convinced society that Elara was withdrawn, unstable, undesirable.
He thought invisibility protected her.
Then greed corrupted even that.
When Catherine's trust approached activation, Patrick saw an opportunity to maintain control.
Protection and exploitation had become indistinguishable.
"You don't get to call abuse protection."
Patrick looked down.
"I know."
A floorboard creaked.
Vadim appeared in the hall.
Patrick reached inside his jacket.
Vadim's men reacted.
"Stop!" Elara shouted.
Patrick slowly withdrew his hand.
He was holding a flash drive.
"Catherine gave me this before she lost consciousness."
Elara stared.
"What's on it?"
"I never opened it."
Vadim looked skeptical.
Patrick handed it to Elara.
"Gerald has spent fifteen years looking for it."
A slow clap came from the hallway.
Everyone turned.
Gerald Fagan stood behind Vadim's security team.
Except the men beside Gerald weren't Vadim's.
Two of Vadim's guards were on the floor.
Gerald smiled.
"Thank you, Patrick."
Vadim moved toward Elara.
Gerald raised a pistol.
"Don't."
Elara gripped the flash drive.
Gerald looked at her.
"You have your mother's stubbornness."
Patrick stepped forward.
"Leave her out of this."
Gerald laughed.
"You spent fifteen years making her feel worthless and now you're discovering paternal instinct?"
Patrick's face twisted.
Gerald extended his hand.
"The drive, Elara."
She looked at Vadim.
He gave no visible signal.
But she'd begun learning him.
His eyes moved once toward the window.
Elara understood.
She threw the drive.
Not to Gerald.
Through the open window.
Gerald shouted and turned instinctively.
Vadim moved.
The next seconds were chaos.
Elara pulled Mara down.
Patrick tackled Gerald's second man.
Vadim disarmed Gerald.
Security flooded the room from another entrance.
Within seconds, it was over.
Gerald lay restrained.
Patrick leaned against the wall, bleeding from his lip.
Elara stared through the window.
"The drive."
Vadim smiled faintly.
"I have men outside."
Gerald started laughing.
"You think Catherine kept only one copy?"
Elara turned.
"What?"
Gerald's smile widened.
"Your mother was smarter than all of you."
He looked directly at Elara.
"She hid the original evidence somewhere Patrick would never search."
"Where?"
Gerald said nothing.
Then Mara gasped.
She was staring at Elara's wedding ring.
"Catherine's letter said the trust activates when Elara marries."
Elara looked down.
Mara whispered:
"What if the inheritance wasn't the only thing her marriage activated?"
The old grandfather clock downstairs struck one.
A mechanical click sounded behind the bedroom wall.
Everyone froze.
A section of the wall slowly opened.
May you like
Inside was a narrow staircase descending into darkness.
And at the bottom, a light had just turned on.
