Evan's apartment was on the third floor of an old brick building near downtown.
The hallway smelled of dust and somebody's burned dinner.
His door was unlocked.
That bothered me more than a locked door would have.
Lucas entered first.
“Stay behind me.”
I almost objected, then remembered the look on Dad's face when he had been found at the lake house.
Chloe stayed close.
The apartment was nearly empty.
No television.
No dishes.
No clothes.
Someone had cleaned it out.
But they had done it quickly.
A kitchen drawer remained open.
One cabinet door hung crooked.
There were small pieces of paper scattered near the trash.
I crouched.
A shredded bank statement.
Another piece.
A date.
Another.
An account number.
I gathered the fragments.
Lucas looked over my shoulder.
“That is the trust account.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why would Evan have this?”
“Because he had access.”
“To my account?”
“Apparently.”
Chloe walked toward the bedroom.
“Daniel.”
I followed.
A small desk stood against the wall.
On it was a laptop charger.
The laptop was gone.
But underneath the desk was a photograph.
Chloe picked it up.
It showed Elaine.
She was standing outside the hospital.
Beside her was my mother.
On the back, someone had written:
She knows.
Chloe turned the photograph over.
“She knew.”
I looked at Lucas.
“Who wrote this?”
“I don't know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I don't.”
We searched the apartment.
Nothing.
Then Chloe noticed something beneath the bed.
A small wooden box.
Inside was a phone.
Old.
Cracked.
Dead.
Lucas plugged it into a charger.
Ten minutes later, the screen came on.
There were only three recordings.
The first was from Evan.
The second was from Harper.
The third had no name.
I opened Evan's.
His voice was low.
“If you're hearing this, I left.”
He sounded frightened.
“I thought I could fix everything.”
Chloe crossed her arms.
“Keep going.”
“I was wrong.”
Evan explained that he had originally approached Harper because he knew she had access to family records.
He had told her he could make money.
She believed him.
Then Lucas discovered the withdrawals.
Instead of reporting them, Lucas tried to recover the missing funds.
Evan panicked.
He began working with someone else.
Someone who promised to protect him.
The recording stopped.
I opened Harper's.
Her voice was younger.
“Mom says I have to get the files.”
She sounded nervous.
“I don't know why.”
Then a second voice.
My mother's.
“Because if Elaine tells Daniel, everything is over.”
The recording ended.
Chloe closed her eyes.
“There's the proof.”
I opened the third file.
Static.
Then Elaine's voice.
My heart stopped.
“Daniel, if you found this, you need to know that I never wanted your wedding stopped.”
Chloe looked at me.
Elaine continued.
“I wanted you to marry Chloe.”
A pause.
“She is the only person in this story who never asked for anything.”
Chloe's eyes filled.
Elaine's voice softened.
“I know your mother believes I am trying to take you from her. I am not.”
Then came a sentence that changed everything.
“The wedding is dangerous because someone intends to use it.”
I stopped the recording.
“Use it how?”
Lucas looked confused.
“Play it.”
I did.
Elaine continued.
“Someone plans to access the trust account during the wedding.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“Because the final authorization requires Daniel's signature.”
Chloe looked at me.
I remembered the wedding paperwork.
There was a financial document my father had asked me to sign after the ceremony.
I had assumed it was related to insurance.
Elaine continued.
“Do not sign anything your father gives you after the ceremony unless you have read it carefully.”
Dad.
The thought struck me.
“Was Dad involved?”
Lucas shook his head.
“No.”
“But Elaine specifically warned me.”
“She may have suspected someone would use his name.”
The recording continued.
“Daniel, the person who will ask you to sign will not be the person you expect.”
Then the recording ended.
We stood in silence.
My phone buzzed.
A message from Dad.
Come back to the hospital. We need to talk.
I called him.
“What did you ask me to sign?”
There was a pause.
“What?”
“The document after the wedding.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Insurance. Financial authorization. Whatever it was.”
“I never asked you to sign anything.”
I looked at Lucas.
“Dad says he didn't.”
Chloe whispered, “Then who did?”
We returned to the hospital.
Dad was waiting.
When he saw the recording, he looked shaken.
“I never knew about this.”
“You knew about the trust.”
“Yes.”
“You knew someone was trying to access it.”
“I suspected.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I believed I could protect you.”
I almost laughed.
“Everyone says that.”
Dad looked at Chloe.
“Elaine was right.”
“What?”
“She told me the same thing.”
He opened a drawer beside the hospital bed.
Inside was another folder.
“This was delivered to me yesterday.”
I took it.
Inside was a wedding document.
It looked legitimate.
My name was printed on it.
My father's signature appeared at the bottom.
But Dad had never signed it.
I looked closer.
The signature had been copied.
“Forgery.”
“Yes.”
“Who made it?”
“I don't know.”
Lucas took the document.
He studied it.
Then his face changed.
“What?”
“This isn't just a forgery.”
“What is it?”
“The beneficiary is not Harper.”
I looked at the page.
It wasn't.
The beneficiary was my mother.
Chloe stared at it.
“So Mom gets the trust.”
“Yes.”
“But why would she need to fake Dad's signature?”
Dad answered.
“Because the trust cannot be accessed without two signatures.”
Mine and his.
I stared at him.
“Then the wedding was the opportunity.”
“Yes.”
“If I signed the document after the ceremony—”
“You would have transferred control.”
My blood ran cold.
The wedding wasn't being sabotaged because someone hated Chloe.
It was being used as a financial trap.
Chloe looked at me.
“Then someone still expects you to sign.”
I nodded.
My phone buzzed.
Another unknown number.
Your father will ask you to sign tomorrow.
I stared at the screen.
The wedding was four days away.
Another message appeared.
If you want Chloe alive, do exactly what you're told.
I stopped breathing.
Lucas took the phone from my hand.
“Don't respond.”
Chloe's face had gone white.
“What did it say?”
I looked at her.
I didn't want to tell her.
But after everything that had happened, I refused to hide another truth.
I showed her.
She read it.
Then she looked toward the hospital window.
“We have four days.”
Dad shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“You have less than that.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever sent that message knows where we are.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Then someone stopped outside the hospital room.
The handle began to move.
Click here to continue reading: PART 11: The Threat Reached the Hospital Before We Could Prepare, and the Person Behind the Door Knew Exactly What We Had Found
Five Days Before the Wedding, One Cruel Joke Turned a Family Celebration Into Something None of Us Could Take Back
Part 10 of 20
