Chapter 8 - THE LAST HIDDEN FILE
Martin contacted Thomas one week later.
No threat.
No ransom.
Just a location.
An old family property in Vermont.
Thomas went with Evelyn and Sarah.
Inside the abandoned house, they found a locked room.
The door opened with Thomas's wife's old key.
Inside were dozens of boxes.
Bank records.
Photographs.
Audio recordings.
Medical files.
Thomas opened the first box.
His entire family history was there.
Martin had not started the conspiracy.
He had inherited it.
From Thomas's father.
Thomas sat down.
His father's name appeared on documents connected to illegal financial arrangements decades earlier.
The family fortune had been built partly through fraud.
Thomas had spent his life believing his father was a brilliant businessman.
He had been something else.
A manipulator.
A man who created secrets and taught his children to protect them.
Thomas felt sick.
Then he found the final file.
It contained a recording.
His father was speaking.
“If Thomas ever discovers the truth, he'll destroy everything.”
Another voice answered.
Martin.
“I can keep him controlled.”
Thomas's father laughed.
“And if you can't?”
“Then I'll make sure his family turns against him.”
Thomas stopped the recording.
Evelyn stood beside him.
“This is why they needed your marriage.”
Thomas nodded.
“Control.”
“Exactly.”
Sarah looked through another box.
“There's something else.”
She held up a photograph.
It showed Thomas's father.
Martin.
Richard.
And a fourth person.
Thomas stared.
He recognized the face.
His father's former business partner.
A man everyone believed had died twenty years earlier.
But the photograph had been taken three years ago.
“He's alive.”
Evelyn whispered.
Thomas felt the old fear return.
The conspiracy wasn't over.
They had caught Richard.
Martin had vanished.
But someone else had been directing them.
Then the lights in the house went out.
A voice came from the hallway.
“You always were your father's weakest son.”
Thomas turned.
The man stepped into the doorway.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Calm.
Alive.
Thomas stared.
“Jonathan Mercer.”
Jonathan smiled.
“You finally found me.”
Evelyn moved closer to Thomas.
Jonathan laughed.
“Don't worry.”
He raised both hands.
“I didn't come to hurt you.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To tell you the truth.”
Thomas's jaw tightened.
“What truth?”
Jonathan looked at the boxes.
“Your father didn't create the empire.”
Thomas frowned.
“Then who did?”
Jonathan looked directly at him.
May you like
“Your mother.”
Thomas froze.
