For the first time in many years, Edward looked genuinely worried.
He opened a drawer and removed an old photograph.
It showed a young woman standing beside Daniel and their parents.
Margaret Whitmore.
He stared at her face.
Then he placed the photograph back in the drawer.
“I'm sorry,” he whispered.
***
Back at the apartment, Alexander was still staring at the letter.
He could barely process what he had learned.
His grandfather had created a secret trust.
His father had hidden the existence of an aunt.
A fire had apparently destroyed something important.
And Edward had spent years manipulating the family.
He looked at Claire.
“Did you know?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Did Vanessa?”
Vanessa answered immediately.
“No. I only learned about Margaret when I saw the letter.”
Alexander rubbed his forehead.
“I need to speak to my father.”
“We will,” Vanessa said.
“But first, we need to find Margaret.”
Claire looked at the address.
“It's almost two hours away.”
Alexander picked up his keys.
“Then let's go.”
Vanessa hesitated.
“We should be careful. Edward may already know what we've found.”
Alexander looked at the laptop.
“Then we'll go somewhere he doesn't expect.”
Claire closed the safe.
“Where?”
He looked at her.
“Home.”
Vanessa frowned.
“Your parents' house?”
“Yes.”
“That's the first place Edward will look.”
Alexander gave a small, determined smile.
“Exactly. He'll expect us to run away. He won't expect us to come back.”
Vanessa considered the idea.
Then she nodded.
“Fine. But we do this carefully.”
Alexander looked toward the wedding photograph on the bookshelf.
For a moment, he remembered the man he had been when that picture was taken.
He remembered loving Claire without suspicion.
He remembered trusting his father.
He remembered believing that wealth and success could protect his family from anything.
Now he understood how fragile all those beliefs were.
He turned toward his wife.
“Claire.”
She looked up.
“What?”
“When this is over, I want us to talk.”
She nodded.
“If we're still standing when it's over, we will.”
He wanted to tell her that they would be.
He wanted to promise that everything would return to normal.
But he could not.
Because somewhere inside him, he knew that normal had disappeared long before that afternoon.
And the truth they were about to uncover might destroy whatever remained.
***
It was nearly midnight when they returned to the Whitmore residence.
The police had finished their initial inspection, and two officers remained outside.
Daniel was resting in his bedroom.
Eleanor sat beside him, holding his hand.
When Alexander entered, his mother immediately stood.
“Where have you been?”
“Finding answers.”
Daniel opened his eyes.
“Did you find something?”
Alexander placed the photograph and the letter on the bedside table.
His father's expression changed as he read the name.
Margaret.
For several seconds, Daniel could not speak.
Then he slowly sat up.
“Where did you find this?”
“In the original box.”
Daniel covered his face.
“Oh, God.”
Eleanor looked between them.
“Who is Margaret?”
Daniel lowered his hands.
“My sister.”
Eleanor stared.
“You told me she was dead.”
“She was supposed to be.”
“What does that mean?”
Daniel looked toward the window.
“Twenty-three years ago, there was a fire at my father's old property. Margaret was living there at the time. The official report said she had died in the fire.”
Alexander frowned.
“But you just said she was supposed to be dead.”
Daniel nodded.
“Because I never saw her body.”
Eleanor stepped closer.
“Daniel, why didn't you tell me?”
He looked at her.
“Because I believed she was gone.”
“But now?”
“Now I think someone helped her disappear.”
Alexander placed the photograph in front of him.
“Is this her?”
Daniel looked at the young woman's face.
His eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
He touched the photograph gently.
“She was twenty-eight when I last saw her.”
“Where is she now?” Alexander asked.
Daniel looked at the address.
“I don't know.”
“Then we're going to find her.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Alexander frowned.
“Why?”
“Because if Margaret is alive, it means she has been hiding for more than twenty years. She must have had a reason.”
“Exactly. And we need to know that reason.”
Daniel looked at his son.
“Alexander, you don't understand. Margaret knew things about our family that even I didn't know.”
“What things?”
Daniel swallowed.
“She knew who was responsible for the fire.”
A sudden silence filled the room.
“And,” he continued, “she knew what happened to your grandfather on the night he died.”
Eleanor slowly sat down.
Daniel looked at his son.
“If you find her, don't go alone.”
Alexander nodded.
“I won't.”
Then Daniel reached for his hand.
“There's something else.”
“What?”
Daniel hesitated.
“The person who started the fire was not a stranger.”
Alexander felt his stomach tighten.
“Who was it?”
Daniel looked toward the door.
Then he whispered the name.
“Your grandmother.”
Alexander stared at him.
“What?”
“Your grandmother was involved.”
Eleanor shook her head in disbelief.
“Daniel, that's impossible.”
“I wish it were.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“She wasn't the same woman after my father died. She became frightened. She stopped speaking about the company. She refused to let Margaret visit.”
“Why?”
“Because she believed Margaret knew the truth.”
Alexander stepped backward.
His entire family history seemed to be collapsing around him.
He had come home that evening believing his father had betrayed the family.
Now he was discovering that the betrayal might have begun generations earlier.
His phone vibrated.
A message had arrived from an unknown number.
He opened it.
There was only one sentence.
STOP LOOKING FOR MARGARET, OR YOU WILL LOSE SOMEONE ELSE.
Beneath the message was a photograph.
It showed Claire.
Standing outside the apartment building.
Taken less than an hour earlier.
Alexander's blood ran cold.
He looked at Claire.
She was standing in the doorway.
Her face changed when she saw his expression.
“What happened?”
He handed her the phone.
She read the message.
Then she looked toward the window.
Someone was watching them.
Alexander immediately moved toward the curtains.
But before he could reach them, every light in the house went out.
Eleanor screamed.
A second later, a loud impact shook the front door.
Then came the sound of a man's voice from the darkness.
“Alexander Whitmore?”
Nobody answered.
The voice spoke again.
“We know you're inside.”
Alexander reached for Claire's hand.
Daniel slowly stood from the bed.
Vanessa, who had been examining the documents in the hallway, rushed toward them.
“What's happening?”
Alexander whispered:
“They've found us.”
And then, from somewhere outside the bedroom, came three quiet knocks.
Not at the front door.
Not at the windows.
But at the door of Daniel's study.
The room where the original agreement had been discovered.
The room where the security camera had been recording everything.
A voice followed.
An elderly woman's voice.
A voice Daniel had not heard in twenty-three years.
“Daniel?”
He froze.
His face turned white.
“Margaret?”
The voice came again.
“Open the door, little brother.”
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
Alexander looked toward the hallway.
Then he heard the words that would change everything.
“I'm here to tell you who really killed our father.”
END OF PART 2