We ran through the rain toward the orchard.
Branches slapped against our shoulders as we crossed the field. Grandma struggled to keep up, but refused Daniel's hand until the ground became too slippery.
Behind us, a car stopped near the house.
A door slammed.
Then another.
Michael pointed toward the far end of the orchard.
“There.”
An abandoned packing shed stood between two rows of apple trees.
The roof sagged in the middle, and one wall had collapsed years ago.
We crowded inside.
Michael shut the door.
“Stay quiet.”
Footsteps passed outside.
Nobody spoke.
Rain hammered the roof.
After several minutes, the sound of an engine faded.
Daniel looked at Michael.
“Who were they?”
“Victor's men.”
“How many?”
“Enough.”
Frank rubbed his face.
“This keeps getting better.”
Michael ignored him.
He walked to a wooden crate beneath the window and lifted its lid.
Inside was a small metal case.
“This belonged to Thomas.”
Grandma stepped forward.
“Open it.”
Michael shook his head.
“Thomas told me not to.”
“Why?”
“He said only the five beneficiaries could open it.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“We don't even know who the five beneficiaries are.”
Michael looked at us.
“Yes, you do.”
He removed five envelopes from his coat.
Each had a name.
Mine.
Daniel's.
Marlene's.
Frank's.
And Claire's.
Marlene stared at the fifth envelope.
“But Claire isn't one of us.”
“She is,” Michael said.
Grandma shook her head.
“No.”
Michael turned to her.
“Thomas changed the trust.”
“After I sealed it?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Eight months ago.”
Grandma sat on an overturned crate.
I opened my envelope.
Inside was a handwritten note.
Your family has spent decades protecting a secret that was never theirs to own.
Below it was a map.
The map showed the orchard.
A red circle marked the packing shed.
Daniel examined it.
“We're standing on the circle.”
Michael nodded.
“Look beneath the floor.”
We searched until Frank found a loose board near the wall.
Underneath was a shallow cavity.
Inside sat a leather ledger.
The cover was cracked.
No one touched it.
Grandma whispered, “That's it.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You knew?”
“I knew Thomas had hidden something here.”
She looked at the ledger.
“I didn't know he'd left the original.”
Michael knelt beside it.
“There are two ledgers.”
He lifted the first.
“This is the copy.”
Then he pointed beneath it.
“The original is underneath.”
I lifted the second book.
It was heavier than the first.
Its pages were filled with names, company numbers, property addresses, and payments.
Several pages contained Victor's signature.
Frank stared.
“He really did it.”
Daniel turned pages quickly.
“Look.”
A property transfer had been recorded thirty-eight years earlier.
The buyer was a company that had never existed publicly.
The seller was Redwood Holdings.
The beneficiary was a private trust.
But the trustee's name had been erased.
Someone had scraped away the ink.
Michael said, “That's what Victor wants.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever controlled that trust controlled the properties.”
Grandma looked at me.
“Not anymore.”
I found another entry.
The date was eight months old.
The trust had been amended.
The new trustee was listed as Claire Bennett.
My sister.
I couldn't speak.
Daniel took the ledger from me.
“Claire?”
Michael nodded.
“Thomas made her trustee because he believed she was the only person Victor wouldn't suspect.”
Grandma's face went pale.
“That means she knew everything.”
“No,” Michael said. “She knew enough to understand the danger.”
A sound came from outside.
Metal scraping against metal.
Someone was opening the shed's rear door.
Michael extinguished the flashlight.
We crouched in darkness.
The door creaked.
A man's voice came through.
“Ruth.”
Grandma's eyes closed.
Victor.
“I know the ledger is here.”
Nobody moved.
Victor continued.
“You can walk away with your lives if you hand it over.”
Daniel leaned toward me.
“What do we do?”
I looked at the ledger.
Then at Grandma.
She was watching me.
For once, she didn't tell me what choice to make.
I understood why.
The decision belonged to us.
I closed the ledger.
“We don't give him anything.”
Michael nodded.
Victor's footsteps entered the shed.
Then the lights outside disappeared.
The entire orchard went black.
Click here to continue reading: PART 7: The Ledger Revealed a Hidden Trust and a Family Connection That Made Victor’s Demands More Dangerous Than Anyone Expected
The Christmas Gift Everyone Thought Was a Joke Until One Envelope Made the Room Go Completely Silent
Part 6 of 20
