Mara held the telephone receiver against her ear.
“Where are you?”
Elaine breathed quietly on the other end.
“Somewhere your family won't look.”
“Why did you call me?”
“Because they will lie.”
“Who?”
“All of them.”
Mara glanced toward Daniel.
He was watching her closely.
“Did you forge the loan?”
Elaine paused.
“No.”
“Did you steal my grandmother's documents?”
“No.”
“Did you use my identity?”
“No.”
Mara frowned.
“Then what did you do?”
“I found the person who did.”
“Who?”
“I can't tell you over the phone.”
“You called me.”
“Because I needed to know whether you were alone.”
Mara looked at Daniel.
“I’m not.”
“Then don't trust the man standing beside you.”
Mara's expression hardened.
“Daniel?”
“No.”
“Samuel?”
Silence.
Mara's pulse quickened.
“Who?”
Elaine whispered, “Martin.”
The line went dead.
Mara lowered the receiver.
Daniel approached.
“What did she say?”
Mara told him.
Eleanor looked toward Samuel.
Samuel shook his head.
“Elaine is manipulating you.”
Mara looked at him.
“You said she tried to kill my grandmother.”
“She did.”
“Why?”
“Because your grandmother planned to expose her.”
“What had she done?”
Samuel hesitated.
“She had stolen money.”
“How much?”
“Not enough to destroy the estate.”
“Then why would my grandmother disinherit her?”
“Because the money was only part of it.”
Mara waited.
Samuel finally said, “Elaine sold information about the family.”
“To whom?”
“Competitors.”
Daniel frowned.
“That doesn't explain murder.”
“No.”
Samuel's voice became quieter.
“She discovered your grandmother intended to leave the estate to Mara.”
Mara looked at him.
“And she wanted it.”
“She believed she deserved it.”
“Because she was the first child.”
“Yes.”
Eleanor interrupted.
“She believed your grandmother abandoned her.”
Mara looked at her.
“Did she?”
Eleanor shook her head.
“I don't know.”
That answer surprised Mara.
“You don't know?”
“Your grandmother never discussed Elaine with me.”
“Then how did you know?”
“Martin told me.”
Mara's suspicion returned.
Martin.
Everything led back to him.
She turned toward Daniel.
“We need to go.”
“Where?”
“The mill.”
Samuel stood.
“No.”
Mara looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because that's where Martin will expect you to go.”
“Then he can expect us.”
Daniel nodded.
Samuel remained still.
Eleanor rose.
“I'll come.”
Mara shook her head.
“No.”
Eleanor looked hurt.
“You need me.”
“Maybe.”
“But?”
“But I don't know whose side you're on.”
Eleanor accepted that.
“I understand.”
Mara took Daniel's hand.
They left the house.
The road to the mill was almost completely covered in snow.
Daniel drove slowly.
Halfway there, Mara noticed another car following them.
“Don't turn around.”
Daniel glanced at the mirror.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
The vehicle stayed far enough back to avoid being identified.
Daniel accelerated.
It followed.
Mara called the local police.
She explained only that someone appeared to be following them and that there might be financial fraud involved.
The dispatcher asked for their location.
Before Mara could answer, the pursuing car turned away.
Daniel slowed.
“Maybe it wasn't following us.”
Mara watched its taillights disappear.
“Maybe.”
They reached the mill fifteen minutes later.
The building stood beside a frozen river.
Its windows were dark.
Daniel turned off the headlights.
They waited.
Nothing moved.
Mara reached for the door.
Daniel stopped her.
“Stay in the car.”
“No.”
“This time, let me check.”
Mara looked at him.
“Don't disappear.”
“I won't.”
He stepped outside.
The cold swallowed him.
Mara watched him approach the building.
Then the lights came on.
A figure appeared behind one of the windows.
Daniel stopped.
Mara opened the car door.
He turned sharply.
“Stay there!”
The figure vanished.
Daniel ran inside.
Mara followed.
The mill smelled of oil, dust, and frozen wood.
A single lamp burned near the back office.
Daniel stood beside a desk.
Martin was there.
He looked exhausted.
His coat was covered in snow.
“Where is the ledger?” Daniel asked.
Martin looked at Mara.
“I didn't take it.”
Mara stared at him.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I came here because someone told me to.”
“Who?”
Martin's face tightened.
“Elaine.”
Mara stopped.
“What?”
“She called me yesterday.”
“What did she want?”
“To meet.”
“Why?”
“She said she could clear my name.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Your name?”
Martin looked at his son.
“You think I forged the loan.”
“You used the property.”
“I tried.”
“Why?”
“Because I was desperate.”
Mara's voice was cold.
“And now?”
Martin looked at her.
“Now I know I was being used.”
“By Elaine?”
“No.”
He pointed toward the desk.
“There.”
Mara approached.
A folder lay open.
Inside were photographs.
Not of her.
Not of Daniel.
Of Samuel.
Meeting Martin.
Meeting Elaine.
Meeting Mara's grandmother.
The dates stretched across fifteen years.
Mara stared.
“Samuel.”
Martin nodded.
“He has been moving money between trusts for years.”
Daniel looked stunned.
“That can't be.”
Martin pulled out another document.
“Look at the signatures.”
Mara compared them.
They were genuine.
Samuel's name appeared on every transfer.
Mara looked at the final page.
A transfer authorization had been prepared three months before her wedding.
It transferred control of the first trust to a company she had never heard of.
The company was owned by Samuel's legal partner.
Daniel whispered, “He stole the estate.”
Martin nodded.
“Not yet.”
Mara looked up.
“What do you mean?”
“He couldn't access the second trust.”
“Because of me.”
“Yes.”
“And that's why he needed the marriage.”
Martin's expression changed.
“Not me.”
Mara understood.
Samuel needed her to marry Daniel because Daniel was the only person who could become an authorized beneficiary under the old agreement.
Then the marriage would give Samuel a path to challenge the trust.
The entire scheme had been larger than Martin's debt.
Martin had been both participant and pawn.
Mara stepped backward.
“Where is Elaine?”
Martin shook his head.
“I don't know.”
“Then why did she contact you?”
“She wanted me to bring you here.”
Mara looked at him.
“Why?”
Martin reached into his coat.
He removed a small envelope.
“Because she said this belonged to you.”
Mara took it.
Her grandmother's handwriting covered the front.
But beneath it was another line.
Written in a different hand.
You have been looking at the wrong family.
Mara opened the envelope.
Inside was a birth certificate.
She read the name of the mother.
Then the father's name.
Her face went blank.
Daniel stepped closer.
“What is it?”
Mara looked at him.
“This isn't Elaine's birth certificate.”
“Then whose?”
Mara looked down again.
The document carried her own name.
But the date was wrong.
The mother listed was not her biological mother.
And the father was a man she had never heard of.
Click here to continue reading: PART 12: The Birth Record Broke the Last Piece of Her Childhood Apart, and Mara Finally Understood Why Her Grandmother Had Kept So Many Secrets
Before the Christmas guests arrived, I still believed my husband would choose me when his family finally crossed the line
Part 11 of 20
