Chapter 3 - The Investigation That Was BuriedMichael opened an old leather briefcase.
Inside were documents more than twenty years old.
Police reports.
Bank statements.
Photographs.
Interview notes.
Victoria stared at the file.
“You kept this?”
“I never destroy an unfinished investigation.”
“What did you discover?”
Michael looked at Lily.
Then at Victoria.
“Your sister was investigating Richard.”
Victoria's face hardened.
“Investigating him for what?”
“Financial fraud.”
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
Michael opened a document.
“Richard had several offshore accounts.”
Victoria stared.
“How much money?”
“Millions.”
“Was it stolen?”
“Some of it.”
“From whom?”
“Your family businesses.”
Victoria felt sick.
Richard had been moving money without her knowledge.
Elizabeth discovered it.
Then Elizabeth confronted him.
Michael continued.
“She threatened to expose him.”
Victoria whispered:
“And then she disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to your investigation?”
“Richard told me to stop.”
“Why?”
“He said Elizabeth had left the country.”
“Did you believe him?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
Michael looked at Victoria.
“No.”
Victoria's hands curled into fists.
“What changed?”
Michael pulled out another photograph.
It showed Elizabeth standing outside a hospital.
She was pregnant.
Victoria stared.
“That was taken three weeks before she disappeared.”
Lily whispered:
“She was pregnant with me.”
Michael nodded.
“But there was something else.”
Victoria looked at him.
“What?”
“She gave birth to twins.”
Silence.
Lily's face went pale.
“Twins?”
Michael nodded.
“A boy and a girl.”
Victoria stared at Lily.
“Where is the boy?”
Michael shook his head.
“That was the mystery.”
Victoria felt the room spinning.
“Richard took him.”
“What?”
Michael looked at Lily.
“Your mother was terrified because someone took the baby.”
Lily's voice trembled.
“Who?”
“According to the hospital records, a man named Daniel Cross.”
Victoria recognized the name.
Richard's former business partner.
She had met him several times.
She had never trusted him.
But she had never understood why.
“What happened to the baby?”
Michael closed the file.
“He vanished.”
Lily stared at him.
“My brother?”
“Possibly.”
Victoria stood.
“Find him.”
Michael looked at her.
“We don't know if he's alive.”
“Find him.”
“We need DNA records.”
“Then get them.”
Michael nodded.
For the first time, Victoria's voice sounded like the powerful woman everyone knew.
But inside, she was terrified.
She had lost Elizabeth.
Now she might discover she had also lost Elizabeth's son.
That evening, Victoria returned to the lobby.
The hotel was quiet.
She stood where Lily had been accused.
The same marble floor.
The same chandelier.
The same reception desk.
She remembered Lily's frightened face.
Then she remembered Elizabeth.
Twenty-two years earlier.
A young woman crying.
A baby in her arms.
And Victoria saying:
I'll protect her.
She had forgotten the exact words.
Until now.
Victoria pulled out her phone.
“Michael.”
“Yes?”
“Find the boy.”
“We will.”
“No.”
May you like
Victoria stared at the elevator.
“Find my nephew.”
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