Chapter 6 - The Truth Beneath the Lie
The safe door opened slowly.
Olivia didn't move.
Adrian stepped between her and the safe.
Her mother backed away.
Inside was a small metal case.
No money.
No jewelry.
No documents.
Only a photograph.
Olivia took it.
Her father stood in the picture.
Beside him was Adrian.
Olivia looked up.
“You knew my father.”
Adrian nodded.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He hired me.”
“For what?”
“To investigate Felix.”
Olivia stared at him.
“So you knew everything.”
“No.”
“You knew enough.”
“I knew your father suspected someone was betraying him.”
“Who?”
Adrian looked toward Olivia's mother.
She whispered:
“Me.”
Olivia closed her eyes.
Her mother began crying.
“I didn't mean for him to die.”
“Then what happened?”
“I met Felix.”
“Why?”
“He told me your father was going to disappear with you.”
“That wasn't true.”
“I know that now.”
Olivia's voice broke.
“But you gave him the records.”
Her mother nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To save you.”
Silence filled the room.
Adrian opened the metal case.
Inside was a recording device.
He pressed play.
Olivia's father's voice returned.
“If you're hearing this, I need you to understand something.”
The recording crackled.
“Your mother betrayed me.”
Olivia looked at her mother.
“But she did not kill me.”
Her mother covered her mouth.
Olivia's father continued.
“She believed Felix when he told her I was planning to disappear with Olivia.”
A pause.
“That lie was created by someone else.”
Adrian looked at Olivia.
“Someone who wanted your mother to act.”
The recording continued.
“Felix is dangerous, but he isn't the person who started this.”
Olivia's heart raced.
“Someone in my company has been moving money.”
A name followed.
Olivia listened.
The name belonged to her father's business partner.
The same man she had seen in the old video.
The supposedly dead man.
Her mother whispered:
“Thomas.”
Adrian nodded.
“Thomas Reed.”
“But he's dead.”
“No.”
Adrian's expression was grim.
“He disappeared.”
Olivia looked at him.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I needed proof.”
The recording ended.
Then another file played.
Thomas's voice.
“Your husband should have listened.”
Olivia's blood ran cold.
Her father's voice answered.
“I'll expose you.”
“You'll expose nothing.”
A gunshot sounded.
The recording ended.
Olivia's mother screamed.
Adrian immediately shut it off.
Olivia stared at him.
“My father was murdered.”
“Yes.”
“By Thomas.”
“Yes.”
“Then Felix?”
“Was used.”
She shook her head.
“Why would Felix chase me?”
“Because Thomas told him your father left evidence with you.”
Olivia understood.
The entire chase.
The diner.
The photographs.
The wrong number.
Everything.
Felix wasn't trying to silence her because she knew the truth.
He believed she had the evidence.
But Ryan had found it first.
Her mother suddenly looked toward the window.
“Someone is outside.”
Adrian turned.
A car moved past the house.
Black sedan.
No headlights.
Adrian grabbed his phone.
“Leo.”
Leo answered.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Ryan was moved.”
Olivia's heart stopped.
“Where?”
“We don't know.”
Adrian looked at Olivia.
Then her mother.
“Who took him?”
Leo hesitated.
“Someone using Thomas Reed's old identity.”
Olivia whispered:
“Thomas is alive.”
Adrian nodded.
“And he knows where we are.”
A loud crash came from downstairs.
Glass shattered.
Her mother screamed.
Adrian pulled Olivia behind him.
Leo moved toward the stairs.
Another crash.
Then footsteps.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Someone walked into the house.
A man's voice called from below.
“Olivia.”
She knew that voice.
Thomas.
He laughed.
“Your father should have taught you never to trust strangers.”
Adrian's expression changed.
Then Thomas added:
“Especially men who answer phones for a living.”
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The lights went out.
And someone locked the study door from the outside.
