He took a deep breath.
"I thought I could solve everything quietly. I thought I could protect everyone by keeping the investigation within the family."
He looked down.
"I was wrong."
Olivia began crying.
Daniel continued.
"Mom, I'm sorry. I know you spent your life trying to protect me. But you cannot spend the rest of your life carrying responsibility for something you didn't do."
Margaret covered her face.
Then Daniel said something that made Thomas close his eyes.
"Thomas, if you're watching this, I hope you've finally found the courage to tell the truth."
Thomas began to cry.
"I forgive you for what you did. But forgiveness does not mean pretending nothing happened. You have to help them. You have to tell them everything."
The video paused.
Daniel leaned closer to the camera.
Then his expression changed.
He looked frightened.
"There is one more person you need to be careful of."
Olivia leaned forward.
"Who?"
Daniel looked directly into the camera.
"Someone who has been protecting Arthur for years. Someone who knows every detail of our family. Someone who has access to the documents, the property, and the people who can make evidence disappear."
He hesitated.
Then he spoke the name.
"Victoria Collins is not the person giving the orders."
Olivia froze.
Samuel stopped moving.
Margaret looked up.
Daniel continued.
"She is being threatened, too. And I believe she has been trying to help me."
The room fell silent.
The video continued.
"But there is someone else. Someone who has been hiding behind Arthur and Victoria. Someone who has been using their family to control everything."
Daniel looked toward the door of his office.
A noise could be heard in the background.
He quickly turned back to the camera.
"If I disappear, don't stop looking. The real evidence is not in the company records. It is in the place where my father kept his final promise."
The screen went black.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Olivia slowly turned toward Samuel.
"What does that mean?"
Samuel removed his glasses.
"I believe it means there is another person involved."
Thomas looked at the screen.
"But who?"
Margaret remained motionless.
Then she slowly whispered:
"William used to say that every family has a person who keeps its secrets."
Olivia looked at her.
"What are you talking about?"
Margaret stared at the photograph of William on the wall of the blue room, now resting beside her.
"He had a brother."
Samuel's expression changed.
"An older brother?"
Margaret nodded.
"His name was Edward."
Thomas frowned.
"I've never heard of him."
"Nobody has," Margaret replied. "William and Edward stopped speaking decades ago. They had a terrible argument over the family business. William told me that Edward had left the country."
Samuel slowly opened his briefcase again.
He searched through the documents until he found an old company registration record.
Then he turned it toward Margaret.
"Is this him?"
Margaret looked at the name.
Her face went completely white.
EDWARD WHITMORE.
But beneath the name was a second detail.
The company had been registered only six months earlier.
And its current director was listed as:
EDWARD WHITMORE — ACTIVE.
Olivia looked at the document.
"He's alive?"
Samuel nodded slowly.
"And according to these records, he has been receiving payments from the Collins family for the last twenty years."
Margaret stood abruptly.
"No."
She shook her head.
"Edward would never do that."
Samuel placed another photograph on the table.
It showed an elderly man walking into a private residence.
The photograph was recent.
And beside him stood a young woman carrying a black handbag.
Olivia recognized the residence immediately.
It was the Collins family estate.
But the young woman was even more familiar.
She was Olivia's closest friend.
Samantha.
The woman who had helped her through Daniel's funeral.
The woman who had stayed with her during the first Christmas after his death.
The woman who had encouraged her to stop asking questions about the accident.
Olivia stared at the photograph.
Her voice barely emerged.
"Why was Samantha meeting Edward Whitmore?"
Samuel slowly closed the folder.
"Because I believe she knows where Daniel's original evidence is hidden."
Olivia looked at Margaret.
Then at Thomas.
For the second time that day, she realized that the truth was much larger than anyone had imagined.
And somewhere in the middle of it all was a woman who had spent three years pretending to be her friend.
Her phone suddenly vibrated.
A new message appeared.
It was from Samantha.
Olivia, I know what you found. Please don't go home tonight. There is something I need to tell you about Daniel.
A second message arrived immediately afterward.
And whatever you do, don't trust the man who is sitting beside you.
Olivia slowly raised her eyes.
Thomas was sitting beside her.
But he was no longer looking at the laptop.
He was staring at her phone.
And his expression told her that he had already seen the message.
The message remained on Olivia's phone.
And whatever you do, don't trust the man who is sitting beside you.
She read it again, hoping the words would somehow change.
They didn't.
Thomas was sitting less than three feet away. His hands rested on the table, and his eyes were fixed on her phone. For the first time since she had known him, Olivia could not tell what he was thinking.
"Who sent that?" he asked.
Olivia locked her screen.
"Samantha."
Thomas slowly leaned back.
"What does she want?"
"She says she knows something about Daniel."
"Then we should hear what she has to say."
Olivia studied him.
"She also told me not to trust you."
The silence that followed was uncomfortable.
Thomas looked toward Margaret.
"After everything I've admitted today, I suppose I can't blame her."
"Why would she say that?" Olivia asked.
"I don't know."
"Do you?"
Thomas rubbed his forehead.
"Olivia, I've made mistakes. Terrible mistakes. But I didn't kill Daniel."
"Then tell me why Samantha thinks you're dangerous."
Thomas looked at the window.