Chapter 7 - A Marriage Built on Missing Pages
Margaret opened the door.
The man standing there was in his mid-sixties.
Gray hair.
Thin face.
A scar ran from his temple toward his jaw.
Margaret made a sound I had never heard from another human being.
“Stephen.”
He looked at her.
“Hello, Maggie.”
She slapped him.
Hard.
Then she hugged him.
Stephen stood motionless before slowly wrapping his arms around his sister.
Daniel watched.
“So you kidnapped Noah.”
Stephen released Margaret.
“No.”
“You took him.”
“I found him.”
“After someone lured him out of school.”
“That wasn’t me.”
Claire had received the threatening message.
Someone else had sent it.
“Who?”
Stephen looked at Daniel.
“Your father left more than money behind.”
Richard had apparently maintained a network of people who benefited from his schemes.
One was still trying to protect the company from old evidence.
“Name.”
Stephen shook his head.
“I need proof first.”
Daniel stepped toward him.
“You used a nine-year-old boy.”
“I kept him alive.”
“That doesn’t make you a hero.”
“No.”
Stephen looked at me.
“And I’m not asking to be one.”
I studied him.
“Why contact me?”
“Because Thomas trusted you.”
“My father died when I was nineteen.”
“He prepared for this before you were born.”
Stephen pulled an envelope from his coat.
My name was written on it.
My father’s handwriting.
I knew immediately.
My fingers shook.
Inside was a letter.
Emily,
If this reaches you, then I failed to finish something that began long before you were old enough to understand it.
Do not inherit my anger.
Only inherit the truth.
I stopped reading.
Tears blurred the page.
Daniel moved toward me.
I stepped away.
He stopped.
That tiny movement broke something in his face.
I finished the letter.
My father had not wanted revenge.
He wanted restitution.
For employees.
Investors.
Families ruined by Richard.
And for Stephen.
“What happened to you?” I asked.
Stephen sat.
“Richard tried to kill me.”
Margaret covered her mouth.
“The accident?”
“Wasn’t an accident.”
He survived.
Terrified, injured, and convinced Richard would try again, Stephen disappeared with help from my father.
“Why let Margaret believe you were dead?”
Stephen’s eyes filled.
“Because Richard threatened Daniel.”
Margaret began crying.
“You let me bury you.”
“I know.”
“You let me stand over an empty coffin.”
“I know.”
She hit him again.
This time he accepted it.
Then Daniel’s phone rang.
Claire.
He answered.
Her voice was frantic.
“Daniel, someone came into Noah’s hospital room.”
Everyone stood.
“What?”
“He’s okay. Security scared the man off.”
“Did they catch him?”
“No.”
“What did he look like?”
Claire paused.
“He left something.”
“What?”
“A business card.”
“Whose?”
Her answer changed Daniel’s face.
He looked at Stephen.
Stephen understood before Daniel spoke.
“Victor Hale.”
Margaret whispered, “Richard’s attorney.”
Stephen nodded.
“And the only man besides Richard who knew where every body was buried.”
Daniel grabbed his coat.
Stephen stopped him.
“If Hale knows Noah has the drive, he’ll come after all of you.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Then Emily needs protection.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Emily.”
“I’m done being moved around because men decide what I’m allowed to know.”
Stephen almost smiled.
“Thomas’s daughter.”
I looked at him.
“Tell me how we end this.”
He reached into his coat.
May you like
And placed another key on the table.
“By opening the one room Richard made sure nobody ever found.”
