I held the phone tighter.
“How did you get this number?”
“You've been asking the wrong questions.”
“Who are you?”
“You know who I am.”
“No. I know the name.”
He laughed softly.
“That distinction may save your life.”
Harris motioned for me to put the call on speaker.
I did.
Voss continued.
“Your father left you a great deal of responsibility.”
“He left me evidence.”
“He left you a burden.”
“You helped him.”
“I helped everyone.”
“Did you help Derek?”
A pause.
“Derek was never meant to survive the arrangement.”
The words chilled me.
“What arrangement?”
“The original one.”
“What happened to my father?”
“I didn't kill him.”
“I didn't ask that.”
“You were going to.”
I looked at Harris.
Voss knew exactly what we were doing.
“Why are you calling?”
“To offer you a way out.”
“What kind?”
“Sign control of the trust to an independent administrator.”
I almost laughed.
“Independent?”
“One I select.”
“No.”
“Think carefully.”
“You're threatening me.”
“I'm giving you an opportunity.”
“To surrender everything.”
“To remain alive.”
The line went dead.
Harris immediately began tracing the call.
The signal bounced through several systems.
It was useless.
But we now had confirmation that Voss was watching.
The next day, a court notice arrived.
Someone had filed an emergency petition claiming I was mentally incapable of managing the trust.
Again.
The same strategy.
The same language.
The same allegations.
But this time, the petition contained something new.
A medical evaluation from Dr. Evans.
He had signed it before his arrest.
The report claimed I was unstable and susceptible to manipulation.
I felt anger rise.
“They're still using this.”
Harris nodded.
“Because it worked once.”
It wouldn't work again.
I requested an independent psychiatric evaluation.
I provided the surveillance evidence.
The financial records.
The recordings.
The documents from my father's hidden room.
The court agreed to delay any decision.
Meanwhile, federal agents traced Voss's law office.
It was officially closed.
But someone had been using it.
A security camera showed a man entering late at night.
His face was hidden.
He carried a briefcase.
The next morning, agents searched the building.
They found files.
Dozens of them.
My father's name.
Derek's aliases.
Natalie's financial records.
My medical records.
And one file labeled ROURKE.
Inside was Arthur Rourke's original correspondence.
Voss had been communicating with Arthur for decades.
But then we found something unexpected.
Voss had also been communicating with my father.
The letters showed my father had eventually tried to break away.
Voss threatened him.
One letter contained a warning.
If you expose us, Claire will become the replacement target.
I stared at the sentence.
My father had been trying to protect me long before I knew I needed protection.
But another document made the situation worse.
A contract dated twenty years earlier.
It showed that Derek had agreed to work for Voss.
Not Arthur.
Voss.
I looked at Harris.
“Derek worked for him?”
“Yes.”
“So Derek lied about investigating the network.”
“Looks that way.”
We confronted Derek with the document.
He didn't deny it.
“I worked for Voss.”
“Why?”
“To get close to the records.”
“You were already inside.”
“I thought I could expose him.”
“Instead you became him.”
He looked down.
“Yes.”
“Did you know Voss was watching me?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before our wedding.”
I felt my chest tighten.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“And you still married me.”
“I thought I could protect you.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I know.”
“But you were the danger.”
He didn't argue.
That was almost worse.
I asked him the question that had been haunting me.
“Did you ever intend to leave me alone?”
He was silent.
“No.”
The answer hurt.
“What was your plan?”
“To take the trust, destroy the network, and disappear.”
“You needed me.”
“Yes.”
“So I was never your partner.”
“I wanted you to become one.”
“But you never trusted me enough to tell me the truth.”
“No.”
I left.
Outside the prison, Harris waited.
He handed me a file.
“We found something.”
Inside was a photograph of Voss meeting someone.
The person beside him was Dr. Evans.
But they weren't discussing me.
They were discussing Derek.
The date was two years before Derek's crash.
Harris pointed to a line in the accompanying report.
“Evans was paid to evaluate Derek.”
I stared.
“Why would Derek need a psychiatric evaluation?”
“Because Voss was preparing to have him declared incompetent.”
I looked at the photograph.
The network had been fighting among itself.
Derek had not been the mastermind.
He had been one of the targets.
Then I understood.
Derek had staged his death because Voss was about to eliminate him.
But instead of escaping honestly, Derek chose to use me.
He had saved himself by turning me into the next target.
That didn't excuse him.
But it explained why his story had always contained contradictions.
He had been both victim and perpetrator.
The evidence continued.
Voss had planned to seize control of the original trust after Derek disappeared.
But Derek moved first.
He staged the crash.
He built the guardianship scheme.
He tried to take the trust himself.
And Voss had waited.
Now that Derek was imprisoned, Voss was making his move.
Harris found one more document.
A court authorization.
Someone had already requested access to the trust records.
The request was scheduled for a hearing in forty-eight hours.
If Voss won, he could potentially freeze the trust and delay the transfer of evidence.
We had two days.
That evening, Natalie came to my house.
She looked exhausted.
“I found something.”
She handed me a small envelope.
Inside was a key.
Not the brass key.
A black key.
“What does it open?”
“I don't know.”
“Where did you get it?”
“Derek gave it to me months ago.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because he told me never to.”
I stared at her.
“What changed?”
“He called me from prison.”
My stomach tightened.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“What did he say?”
Natalie swallowed.
“He said Voss wasn't the final person.”
I felt cold.
“Who is?”
“He wouldn't tell me.”
She handed me another note.
There were only four words.
Look behind the clock.
I turned toward the grandfather clock.
The same clock where my father's first hidden documents had been found.
I opened the panel.
Nothing.
Then I noticed a thin seam along the bottom.
The black key fit.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a small recording device.
I pressed play.
My father's voice filled the room.
If Voss comes after Claire, tell her the truth about her mother.
The recording ended.
Natalie stared at me.
“What truth?”
I didn't know.
But somewhere in the house, something clicked.
A second hidden mechanism had opened.
Behind the clock was a photograph.
My mother stood beside a man I had never seen.
On the back was written:
The real reason Derek married Claire.
Click here to continue reading: PART 15: My Mother’s Photograph Revealed the One Connection Derek Had Hidden From Me, and Suddenly His Entire Obsession With My Family Made Sense
At 2:14 PM, My Neighbor Heard a Woman Crying Inside the House I Had Sworn Was Completely Empty
Part 14 of 20
