Chapter 5 - The Secret Behind My Father’s DeathThe attorney told us to stop discussing the matter without legal protection.
So we did.
For the first time in years, my family sat in a room without pretending everything was fine.
My mother told us what she knew.
My father had been investigating financial irregularities connected to one of his former business partners.
The investigation had started six months before his death.
He had discovered money disappearing from a company account.
Then he discovered something worse.
Someone had been using family names to move the money.
My father's notes mentioned three names.
My mother.
One business partner.
And an unidentified woman.
The woman was referred to only as “L.”
Lucille's initial.
But my father had never met Lucille.
The timeline made no sense.
Then the attorney found something.
The letter had been printed on a computer belonging to my mother's former office.
But the printer had been accessed remotely.
That meant someone else could have created it.
We traced the network records.
One name appeared.
Evan Mercer.
My father's former business partner.
The man my mother had mentioned.
I searched the name.
He had disappeared from the company shortly after my father's death.
Then I found him.
He was alive.
Living in another state.
And he had recently contacted my mother.
I called him.
He answered.
“David Bennett.”
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
“You know who I am.”
“I've known who you are for years.”
“Why are you using my family?”
He laughed.
“I think you have the wrong idea.”
“Forty thousand dollars was transferred using my wife's name.”
“That wasn't me.”
“My mother says you threatened her.”
Silence.
Then Evan sighed.
“Your mother doesn't tell the whole truth.”
“What does that mean?”
“Ask her why your father changed his will.”
My blood ran cold.
“What will?”
“The one your mother never showed you.”
The call ended.
I turned toward Mom.
She looked broken.
“You hid his will?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Then where is it?”
She whispered,
“I destroyed it.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
“That you would leave me.”
I couldn't understand.
“My father left everything to me.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“He left everything to your unborn child.”
The room went silent.
I looked at Lucille.
Our unborn child.
The second trust.
The missing will.
The mysterious payments.
The letter.
Everything connected.
My mother continued.
“Your father believed you were going to become a father.”
“But Lucille wasn't pregnant then.”
“She was.”
I looked at my wife.
She closed her eyes.
The miscarriage.
The hospital.
My mother's lies.
My father must have known.
“How?”
Mom whispered,
“He found out.”
I looked at her.
“Before you told him?”
“Yes.”
“Did he know about the miscarriage?”
She nodded.
“He was devastated.”
I sat down.
My father had known.
And I had never known.
My mother continued.
“He changed his will because he wanted to protect your future family.”
“Why?”
“Because he didn't trust me.”
That sentence destroyed her.
She started crying.
“He wrote that if anything happened to him, you were to receive the trust only after becoming a father.”
I looked at the attorney.
“Can that trust still exist?”
“If the documents were properly filed, yes.”
“Then where are they?”
My mother looked at me.
“I gave them to Evan.”
I stood.
“You gave my father's documents to the man investigating him?”
“He threatened me.”
“With what?”
“He said he would expose the withdrawals.”
I understood.
He had leverage.
My mother had stolen from me.
Evan had discovered it.
Then he used that information to control her.
But why Lucille?
Why the letter?
Why the pregnancy?
Then Sarah whispered,
“Because Evan wanted the trust.”
I looked at her.
“How?”
“If the trust belonged to your child, then he couldn't access it.”
I nodded.
“So he wanted the child gone?”
My mother's face collapsed.
“No.”
But her reaction told me enough.
I looked at Lucille.
She had gone completely still.
“No one is touching my wife or my child.”
I stood.
“Not Mom.”
“Not Evan.”
“Not anyone.”
The attorney told us we needed evidence.
So we started digging.
The next day, I discovered something unexpected.
Lucille had been receiving anonymous messages for months.
She had never told me.
They were simple.
You don't belong here.
He will leave you.
Your baby will destroy this family.
Ask David about the trust.
I stared at the messages.
“When did these start?”
Lucille looked down.
“Six months ago.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I thought it was someone from your family.”
I felt sick.
“Did anyone ever threaten you directly?”
She hesitated.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Last month.”
“What did they say?”
She swallowed.
“They said if I didn't leave you, something bad would happen to the baby.”
I stood so quickly my chair fell backward.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
She started crying.
“Because I was scared you'd blame yourself.”
I pulled her into my arms.
“I should have protected you.”
“You're protecting me now.”
I held her tighter.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A man's voice said,
“You're looking in the wrong direction.”
“Who is this?”
“You think your mother is the villain.”
I said nothing.
“She isn't.”
“Then who is?”
The man laughed.
“Ask your wife where she was the night your father died.”
My heart stopped.
I looked at Lucille.
She stared back at me.
Confused.
Terrified.
The caller continued.
May you like
“Because she knows more than she thinks.”
Then the line went dead.
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