Chapter 4 - Lena Returned With a Bruise on Her Face and a Secret She Refused to Tell MeLena returned at 1:03 a.m.
I found her standing outside the back gate.
Her coat was soaked.
Her lip was split.
One eye was bruised.
I ran toward her.
“Lena.”
She stepped back.
“I shouldn't have come.”
“Who hurt you?”
“Go inside.”
“No.”
“Leon.”
“You disappeared.”
“I know.”
“I thought they killed you.”
“I know.”
“Who are they?”
She looked toward the house.
“The people you've been protecting.”
She gave me the blue notebook.
“I wanted you to find it.”
“I did.”
She nodded.
“Then you know.”
“Not enough.”
She looked at me.
“I can't stay.”
“You can.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because if I stay, they will use Delaney.”
I stepped closer.
“Who?”
She swallowed.
“Victor.”
I froze.
“You know him.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He found me.”
“When?”
“After my father died.”
“What does he want?”
“He wants the truth.”
“About my father?”
“About everything.”
Lena sat beneath the porch light.
She looked exhausted.
“My father didn't steal money.”
“I know.”
“He found financial records.”
“I know.”
“He tried to warn your father.”
“I know.”
“They met the night of the accident.”
I stared.
“What happened?”
“They argued.”
“About Richard?”
“Yes.”
“And Victor?”
“Victor was there.”
“Why?”
“Because he was working for your father.”
I shook my head.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if you know the family.”
“What family?”
“Yours.”
She looked at the house.
“Your father discovered Victor existed.”
I stopped breathing.
“He didn't know?”
“No.”
“Then how did Victor survive?”
“Your aunt knew.”
I understood.
Evelyn had been hiding Victor too.
Lena continued.
“Victor was the child your grandfather wanted erased from the family records.”
“Why?”
“Because he was illegitimate.”
I stared.
“He wasn't your father's son?”
“No.”
He was my grandfather's.
Half-brother to my father.
That made him my uncle.
Not my brother.
Another lie.
I sat beside Lena.
“Why did you help Delaney?”
“Because I saw her.”
“What do you mean?”
“I saw that she understood.”
“She couldn't speak.”
“That didn't mean she couldn't hear.”
Lena smiled faintly.
“She tried to tell me about the medicine.”
“What medicine?”
“The blue capsules.”
I remembered Delaney pointing to the word blue.
“She hated them.”
“They made her slow.”
“They made her quiet.”
“Exactly.”
Lena took a breath.
“I started keeping notes.”
“And your father?”
“He told me never to trust the house.”
I looked at her.
“He knew.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't he tell me?”
“Because he knew your father was dead before you did.”
“Wait.”
I looked at her.
“When did Daniel Bell die?”
“Three years ago.”
My stomach turned.
“Then whose father was I supposed to believe disappeared?”
She looked at me.
“Mine.”
I stared.
“Daniel Bell died three years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Then who was involved in the accident?”
“Your father.”
“Why was Daniel blamed?”
“Because Victor needed a scapegoat.”
I stood.
“What happened the night my father died?”
Lena lowered her eyes.
“Victor confronted him.”
“Then?”
“Your father fell.”
“Did Victor push him?”
“No.”
“What did happen?”
“He suffered a heart attack.”
I froze.
“A heart attack?”
“Yes.”
“The accident?”
“Was staged afterward.”
Everything went silent.
My father's death wasn't a murder in the way I had imagined.
It was a cover-up of something else.
His heart had failed.
Someone had staged the crash to hide what happened before it.
“What was he dying from?”
“Stress.”
Lena looked at me.
“He knew the company was being stolen.”
“And he had evidence.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
She touched the blue notebook.
“Here.”
I looked at her.
“That's impossible.”
“There is a hidden page.”
She opened the notebook.
One page had been glued to another.
Inside was a folded document.
My father's handwriting.
Leon,
If you're reading this, trust the person who refuses to be afraid of you.
I looked at Lena.
She didn't smile.
The letter continued.
Delaney knows more than everyone realizes.
The people around you have convinced you that silence means weakness.
It does not.
Someone will try to make you choose between the family name and your sister.
Choose your sister.
I had to sit down.
My father had known.
He had known the danger.
He had known Delaney would become a target.
And he had known I would need Lena.
At the bottom was one final sentence.
Don't trust Evelyn.
Lena touched my hand.
“Now you understand why I left.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
She frowned.
“I understand why you were afraid.”
“That's different.”
I stood.
“I'm sorry.”
She looked surprised.
“For what?”
“For making you feel like you had to protect my sister alone.”
Her eyes filled.
“You weren't there.”
“I should have been.”
“You couldn't know.”
“I should have asked.”
She smiled sadly.
“Now you're asking.”
“I am.”
Then I made a decision.
“We're going back inside.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Leon.”
“I spent fourteen months believing my sister was helpless.”
May you like
I looked at the house.
“I'm done believing lies.”
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