The room seemed to shrink around Mara.
“You're saying the accident was meant for me?”
Samuel nodded.
“But I was a child.”
“That was the point.”
Clara closed her eyes.
“She was supposed to be in the car.”
Mara looked at her mother.
“What?”
Clara's voice trembled. “Your grandmother had arranged for you to travel with us that night. At the last moment, she changed her mind and kept you home.”
Mara's thoughts raced.
“So whoever attacked the car believed I was inside.”
“Yes.”
Jonathan stepped into the room.
“I spent years trying to discover who knew about that trip.”
Mara turned toward him.
“And?”
“We found one name.”
Samuel opened the metal box.
He removed a document.
At the bottom was a signature.
Mara recognized it.
Eleanor Vale.
Daniel stared at his mother.
“No.”
Eleanor stepped backward.
“I didn't cause the accident.”
Samuel nodded. “No. You didn't.”
“Then why is my signature there?”
“Because you signed a request for the itinerary.”
Mara looked at her.
“Why?”
Eleanor's eyes filled with tears.
“I wanted to know where you were going.”
“Before the accident?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was investigating your grandmother.”
Mara shook her head.
“You were investigating my family before I married Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Eleanor looked at Daniel.
“Because Martin had already borrowed money from your grandmother's investment company. I knew he was hiding losses. I thought marrying you would give us a chance to recover.”
Daniel looked devastated.
“So it really was planned.”
“Yes.”
Mara's voice hardened.
“And you gave someone my itinerary.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“I gave it to Samuel.”
Samuel nodded.
“I was supposed to investigate your grandmother's assets.”
Mara looked at the document.
“But the person who attacked the car somehow knew.”
Jonathan stepped forward.
“The itinerary wasn't the only information leaked.”
He pulled another paper from the box.
“This was taken from your grandmother's office.”
Mara recognized the letterhead.
It contained the planned route.
And beneath it was a handwritten note.
Take the child before the Reed family reaches the river.
Mara's blood turned cold.
“Who wrote that?”
Samuel pointed to the signature.
The name was unfamiliar.
Clara looked at it.
“Your grandmother's former accountant.”
Martin suddenly spoke.
“He died years ago.”
Jonathan shook his head.
“His death was staged.”
Everyone turned.
Mara stared.
“Why?”
“Because he knew who was behind the trust transfers.”
Samuel opened another document.
The accountant had kept copies of transactions showing money moving from the first trust into a company controlled by a person using an alias.
Mara read the alias.
Eleanor whispered it.
“North.”
Mara remembered the company.
Northbridge Holdings.
“Northbridge wasn't your grandmother's company.”
Samuel shook his head.
“She created the company later to track the stolen money.”
“Then who owned it first?”
Samuel hesitated.
Jonathan answered.
“The accountant.”
Mara looked at the ledger.
Everything was becoming connected.
The first trust.
The stolen money.
The accident.
The marriage.
The forged loan.
The second trust.
But one question remained.
“Where is the accountant now?”
Samuel looked at Clara.
Clara whispered, “He's dead.”
Mara frowned.
“You just said his death was staged.”
“It was,” Samuel said. “But he was found years later.”
“Who killed him?”
Samuel didn't answer.
Elaine suddenly spoke.
“I know.”
Everyone turned.
Elaine looked at Mara.
“He came to me before he died.”
“What did he tell you?”
“He said the person behind everything wasn't interested in the trust.”
Mara waited.
“He wanted the family destroyed.”
“Why?”
Elaine's eyes moved toward Eleanor.
“Because your grandmother had ruined his life.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“No.”
Elaine continued.
“He blamed her for losing everything.”
Mara stared at Eleanor.
“Who was he?”
Eleanor's lips trembled.
“My brother.”
Silence filled the room.
Mara's voice softened.
“You had a brother?”
“He was disowned.”
“Why?”
“He stole from the family.”
Samuel nodded.
“He became the architect behind the first trust fraud.”
Clara stepped forward.
“And he wasn't working alone.”
Mara felt the answer before Samuel said it.
“Who helped him?”
Samuel looked at Eleanor.
“Eleanor.”
Daniel stared at his mother.
“You helped your brother?”
“I was young.”
“You were an adult.”
“I was desperate.”
“You nearly destroyed Mara.”
Eleanor cried.
“I never knew he would try to kill her.”
Mara looked at her.
“Did you know about the accident before it happened?”
Eleanor didn't answer.
That silence was enough.
Daniel stepped away from his mother.
Mara suddenly felt another sharp pain in her abdomen.
She grabbed the table.
Daniel rushed toward her.
“Mara?”
“I’m okay.”
Clara came closer.
“Sit down.”
Mara shook her head.
“I’m not leaving until I know everything.”
Clara knelt beside her.
“You've carried this family long enough.”
Mara looked at her mother.
“Then help me put it down.”
Clara nodded.
She reached into her coat and removed a final envelope.
“This is the letter your grandmother wrote after the accident.”
Mara opened it.
Only one sentence was visible.
I know who ordered the car to be destroyed, and the person responsible is still alive.
Mara looked up.
“Who?”
Clara pointed toward the window.
Outside, a vehicle was parked beside the river.
A man stepped out.
Jonathan whispered his name.
“Your grandmother's brother.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 19: THE LAST ACCOUNT
Before the Christmas guests arrived, I still believed my husband would choose me when his family finally crossed the line
Part 18 of 20
