Mara and Evelyn reached the car before Daniel joined them.
Jason came running behind him.
Henry and Eleanor remained inside the house.
“Why aren't they coming?” Mara asked.
Daniel shut the driver's door.
“They're safer there for the moment.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“It's the only one I have.”
Jason climbed into the back seat.
Daniel started the engine.
They drove without headlights for nearly a block before turning onto a larger road.
Mara held the flash drive tightly.
“What is on it?”
Jason answered.
“Everything Victor copied.”
“Why didn't you give it to Dad?”
“Because I didn't trust anyone.”
Mara looked at him.
“You trusted Victor.”
“I thought he was helping us.”
“Why?”
“Because he was always there.”
Jason's voice shook.
“When Dad was struggling with the company, Victor helped. When I got threatened, Victor said he'd protect me. When you married Daniel, Victor told me Daniel was dangerous.”
Daniel glanced at him through the mirror.
“You believed him.”
“Yes.”
Jason looked down.
“I was wrong.”
They stopped at a motel outside the city.
Evelyn rented a room under her name.
Inside, Daniel connected the flash drive to an old laptop.
The files opened slowly.
There were hundreds.
Bank statements.
Scanned contracts.
Audio recordings.
Photographs.
A folder was labeled with Mara's name.
She stared at it.
“Open it.”
Daniel did.
The first file contained a copy of the trust agreement.
The second showed a list of assets.
The third was an audio recording.
Mara pressed play.
Arthur's voice filled the room.
“If Mara ever hears this, I want her to understand one thing. The trust was never created to make her rich.”
Mara closed her eyes.
Arthur continued.
“It was created because certain people believed they could buy her future.”
The recording paused.
Then he spoke again.
“Henry agreed to hold the assets until Mara was old enough to decide for herself.”
Another pause.
“Eleanor agreed because she believed she owed Mara the truth.”
Mara looked at her mother.
The recording continued.
“I am her biological father. Henry knows. Richard knows. Victor knows.”
Mara's eyes filled.
“But Mara must never be used as evidence against any of them.”
The recording ended.
Nobody spoke.
Mara stared at the blank screen.
Then she asked, “When did he record that?”
Jason checked the file information.
“Six months ago.”
Daniel looked up.
“That means Arthur knew he was in danger.”
Evelyn nodded.
“And he knew he might die.”
Mara wiped her face.
“Play the next file.”
It was a video.
Arthur appeared older than in the photographs.
He sat alone in a room.
His hands rested on a table.
“Mara,” he said.
She froze.
“I don't expect you to forgive me.”
He explained that he had stayed away because Victor had discovered the trust.
Arthur had tried to move the evidence.
He had failed.
The video ended with one sentence.
“If Victor reaches you before your birthday, do not sign anything he gives you.”
Mara looked at Daniel.
“Why would he ask me to sign something?”
Daniel opened another file.
A contract appeared.
It transferred control of the trust.
The beneficiary line was Mara's.
The trustee line was Victor Hale.
Mara stared.
“He prepared this.”
“Yes.”
“Why would I sign it?”
“Because he would make you believe you had no choice.”
Jason spoke.
“He already did.”
Mara turned.
“What do you mean?”
Jason pulled out his phone.
“He sent me this yesterday.”
The screen showed a message.
*Convince Mara to sign, or your father goes to prison.**
Mara stared.
“So that's why you came to the station.”
Jason nodded.
“I wanted to warn you.”
“But you brought us there.”
“I was trying to get the ledger first.”
Daniel asked, “And Richard?”
Jason shook his head.
“I haven't spoken to him in weeks.”
Mara looked at him.
“Richard said you met him.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“He told me Victor was lying.”
“Was he?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel opened another folder.
Inside was a financial transfer.
Victor had paid Richard.
The amount was enormous.
Mara looked at the date.
Three days before Arthur died.
“Richard wasn't the mastermind,” she said.
“No,” Daniel replied.
“He worked for Victor.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn looked at the document.
“Then why did Richard help expose Victor?”
“Because Victor stopped paying him,” Daniel said.
Mara looked at Daniel.
“And Arthur?”
Daniel's voice softened.
“Arthur found out.”
Another file appeared.
A hospital report.
Arthur had been admitted under a false name.
Cause of death: complications following a gunshot wound.
Date of death: six months earlier.
Mara stared at it.
“Victor killed him.”
“We don't know.”
“Then why was he there?”
Daniel pointed to the next document.
A visitor log.
Victor Hale.
Signed in two hours before Arthur died.
Mara's hands tightened.
“He was there.”
“Yes.”
Jason whispered, “So he killed him.”
Daniel shook his head.
“We still need proof.”
A new notification appeared on the laptop.
Someone had remotely accessed the flash drive.
Daniel disconnected it.
Too late.
A message appeared on screen.
*You should have left the files alone.**
Then another.
*Mara, ask Daniel what happened to your father's original will.**
Mara slowly turned.
Daniel's face changed.
“What will?”
He didn't answer.
“Daniel.”
“I don't know.”
Jason looked at him.
“You do.”
Daniel stared at Jason.
Jason continued.
“I found it in Dad's study.”
Mara stood.
“What does it say?”
Jason hesitated.
“It names Daniel.”
“Why?”
“Because your father left him something.”
“What?”
Jason looked at Daniel.
“The house.”
Mara blinked.
“My father left our family house to Daniel?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I never saw that will.”
Jason pulled out a photograph of the document.
Mara read the final clause.
*To Daniel Reed, I leave the Bennett residence, provided he protects Mara until she reaches thirty.**
She looked at Daniel.
He had tears in his eyes.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I never knew.”
Mara stared at the will.
The house.
The trust.
The protection.
Arthur.
Her father.
Everything had been arranged around her long before she understood any of it.
Then the laptop chimed again.
A final message appeared.
*Your birthday is six weeks away. Victor will not wait that long.**
Daniel closed the laptop.
“We need to find the original will.”
Mara nodded.
“And we need to find out who has been sending these messages.”
Jason looked at the screen.
“I think I know.”
Everyone turned toward him.
“It isn't Victor.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 15: Jason Identified the Hidden Messenger, and the Discovery Forced Daniel to Admit the One Secret He Had Kept From Mara
She Married the Man Everyone Dismissed, Then One Phone Call Made Her Family Question Everything They Knew
Part 14 of 20
