Chapter 2 - The Woman Who Wasn't My GrandmotherThomas Reed was waiting inside the abandoned nursing facility.
He looked twenty years older than the last photograph I had seen of him.
His hands shook.
His clothes were dirty.
His beard was overgrown.
But his eyes were sharp.
“You came.”
“I almost didn't.”
He looked at Marcus.
“Who is he?”
“Federal agent.”
Thomas exhaled.
“Good.”
He locked the door behind us.
Then he placed a folder on the table.
“Your grandmother knew they were coming.”
“Who?”
“Everyone.”
He opened the folder.
Inside were bank statements.
Medical records.
Private security reports.
And photographs.
I picked one up.
It showed Madison entering my grandmother's room at 2:13 a.m.
The photograph was dated three days before her death.
“What was she doing?”
“Changing the medication.”
My blood turned cold.
“Why?”
“Because your grandmother had become suspicious.”
“Of what?”
Thomas looked at Marcus.
“Ethan.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“What did Ethan steal?”
Thomas swallowed.
“Not money.”
I frowned.
“He moved $4.7 million through Claire's company.”
“I know.”
“That was only the surface.”
He opened another folder.
Inside were photographs of offshore accounts.
Names.
Shell companies.
Political donations.
And one document.
I read the heading.
PROJECT HAVEN.
“What is this?”
Thomas shook his head.
“Your fiancé wasn't stealing from you.”
“He was using your company to move money for a larger organization.”
“Whose?”
Thomas looked at me.
“Richard Vance.”
Ethan's father.
I stared at the documents.
“Why would my grandmother know about this?”
“Because she discovered it.”
Marcus took the papers.
“Where is the original evidence?”
Thomas pointed toward a safe.
“Your grandmother kept everything there.”
I opened it.
Empty.
“Someone took it.”
Thomas nodded.
“Madison.”
I felt sick.
“She knew about the safe?”
“She knew everything.”
Then Thomas grabbed my wrist.
“Listen to me.”
His voice became urgent.
“Your grandmother didn't trust Madison.”
“She knew Madison was dangerous.”
“Then why did she make her medical proxy?”
“She didn't.”
Silence.
“What?”
Thomas pulled out another document.
“The original medical proxy named me.”
I stared at him.
“Then how did Madison become proxy?”
Thomas's face twisted with fear.
“They forged it.”
Marcus looked toward the door.
“We need to leave.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Then another.
Marcus drew his weapon.
“Stay behind me.”
The lights went out.
Someone fired through the door.
Thomas screamed.
Marcus pushed me to the floor.
Glass shattered.
The gunfire stopped.
Then the footsteps disappeared.
Thomas was bleeding.
“Thomas!”
He grabbed my hand.
“Your grandmother knew.”
“Knew what?”
“She wasn't the only one who discovered Project Haven.”
“Who else?”
He whispered:
“Your mother.”
I froze.
My mother had died when I was five.
A car accident.
At least, that's what I had been told.
Thomas looked at me.
“Your mother didn't die in an accident.”
My heart stopped.
“What are you saying?”
“She was killed.”
“Why?”
“Because she found out what your grandmother had discovered.”
Marcus crouched beside him.
“Who killed her?”
Thomas looked toward the window.
Then he whispered:
“Ask Richard Vance.”
A gunshot cracked from outside.
Thomas went still.
His eyes closed.
“Thomas!”
He was dead.
Marcus grabbed me.
“We have to go.”
I stumbled after him.
Outside, a black SUV sped away.
Marcus looked at the license plate.
“Vance.”
I stared at the disappearing vehicle.
Ethan's family hadn't just stolen my money.
They had been connected to my mother's death.
And my grandmother's.
May you like
The wedding wasn't the beginning of the betrayal.
It was the final move in a conspiracy that had started before I was even born.
Related Stories
