Chapter 4 - The Woman in the Locked RoomThe shooting changed the house.
Security doubled.
Every door locked.
Staff were questioned.
Robert barely slept.
Sam refused to sleep unless Robert was nearby.
One night, Robert found the boy sitting outside his office.
"What are you doing?"
"Waiting."
"For me?"
Sam nodded.
"I had a bad dream."
Robert sat beside him.
"What happened?"
"People came for my dad."
Robert swallowed.
"Tell me."
"They wanted a book."
"What book?"
"I don't know."
"Where was it?"
"My dad hid it."
"Do you know where?"
Sam shook his head.
Then he looked at Robert.
"Maybe."
Robert frowned.
Sam pointed toward a painting.
"My dad told me that if I ever saw that picture, I should look behind it."
Robert stood.
They approached the painting.
It depicted Robert's grandfather.
Robert had seen it a thousand times.
He moved it.
A hidden compartment appeared.
Inside was a black notebook.
Robert opened it.
Names.
Payments.
Dates.
And a list of shell companies.
At the bottom was a sentence:
THE TRUST IS INSIDE THE FOUNDATION.
Robert's face went pale.
Someone had used his charitable foundation to hide hundreds of millions.
Then he saw another name.
Elizabeth.
Not as a beneficiary.
As a witness.
Robert looked toward his wife.
Something was wrong.
He searched the foundation's records.
Elizabeth had been involved years earlier.
Not willingly.
She had been forced.
A letter explained everything.
Victor Cross, an old family attorney, had threatened her.
He claimed that if she exposed the financial scheme, Robert would be killed.
She stayed silent.
Robert confronted her.
"You knew."
Elizabeth cried.
"I knew pieces."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because they threatened your life."
"You should have trusted me."
"I did."
She touched his face.
"I just didn't trust the world around you."
Robert sat down.
The marriage he'd thought was built on honesty was now built on secrets.
But beneath the anger was something else.
He understood her fear.
He had done the same thing.
Protected people by hiding the truth.
That night, Elizabeth suffered a sudden medical episode.
Her breathing became shallow.
Robert called emergency services.
At the hospital, the doctor told him:
"Her condition is serious."
Robert sat in the waiting room.
Sam sat beside him.
The boy took his hand.
"Is she going to die?"
Robert looked at him.
"I don't know."
Sam's eyes filled with tears.
"Don't let her."
Robert swallowed.
"I'll do everything I can."
Hours later, Elizabeth woke.
Her first question was:
"Where's Sam?"
Robert smiled weakly.
"He's here."
She held the boy's hand.
"I knew your father."
Sam stared.
"What do you mean?"
Elizabeth looked at Robert.
Then back at Sam.
"Your father saved my life once."
Robert froze.
"What?"
Elizabeth continued.
"Years ago, when I was first diagnosed, I had a terrible reaction to a medication. Daniel was there."
"Why?"
"He worked for us."
"Then why did he disappear?"
Elizabeth closed her eyes.
"Because he found out who was behind the accounts."
Robert leaned forward.
"Victor?"
She shook her head.
"No."
"Who?"
She looked at him.
"Someone you trust."
Robert felt cold.
"Who?"
Before she could answer, the hospital lights went out.
The hallway plunged into darkness.
Emergency alarms screamed.
A security guard shouted.
Then a figure appeared at the doorway.
Robert stood.
The man fired.
Robert pushed Sam down.
A second shot.
The attacker fled.
Security chased him.
Robert looked at Elizabeth.
She was bleeding.
Not from the bullet.
From broken glass.
Then Sam screamed.
"Grandma!"
Robert froze.
Sam had recognized someone outside.
A figure in the hallway.
A man.
Walking away.
Robert knew that face.
May you like
His own brother.
Thomas.
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